At midnight on May 24, J. Cole and Cash Cobain released their new track “Grippy”, a reimagining of Cobain’s “Dunk Contest”. The song revealed a more explicit side of the Hip Hop veteran, with lyrics about intimate encounters.
“Grippy, I call her that ’cause it’s grippy/ She thinkin’ it hip, she a hippie/ And she thinkin’ of lips, she gon’ lick me/ And she sendin’ a flick when she hit me/ With a kissin’ emoji, she miss me/ When she see me, she say she gon’ strip me,” Cole rapped over the R&B-influenced drill beat.
Fans reacted strongly to Cole’s provocative lyric, “She said she was gay until I slayed, now she strictly dkly.” One Twitter user commented, “Come on, J. Cole. What are you doing?” Another referenced Kendrick Lamar’s verse on “Like That,” saying, “Kendrick wasn’t lying when he said, ‘It’s just big me.’ J. Cole is making freaky drill and Drake is rapping about his a.” Clearly, “Grippy” represents a bit of a departure from the typical style of the Dreamville Records founder. However, he has delivered similarly explicit lines before, such as on Jeremih’s 2015 hit “Planez,” which achieved RIAA Platinum status for the fifth time in 2023.
This latest track also marked Cole’s second guest appearance since removing “7 Minute Drill,” a diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar, from streaming platforms. His first appearance post-removal was on Metro Boomin and Future’s “Red Leather,” which was released the same day.
Meanwhile, Cash Cobain has been enjoying a surge in popularity. In April, he collaborated with Ice Spice on the “Fisherrr (Remix)”, which has amassed over 5 million YouTube views. Recently, he also teamed up with A Boogie wit da Hoodie for “Body” and Don Toliver for “Attitude.”