Wale Uses “Street Fighter” Reference In Rebuttal To Hot Take Claiming J. Cole Is Superior Rapper

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Wale has broken his silence and chimed in on the trending debate on social media over who has the edge as an MC—himself or J. Cole.


During his latest back-and-forth with his Twitter (X) followers, Wale finally addressed the viral clip from the Rory & Mal’s Podcast during which the two hosts argued about who was a better rapper: J. Cole or the former Maybach Music Group lyricist.

Though the clip went viral several weeks back, it appears as though a fan page recirculating one of Wale’s early versus, in which he appears to cosign Cole, prompted his response to the debate. However, instead of stirring the pot, Wale appeared to offer Olive branch between both he and Cole’s fanbases comparing he and the Dreamville rap boss to fictional characters, a part of the “Street Fighter” franchise.

“Me and Cole is Ryu n Ken,” Wale wrote in his initial tweet. “It’s the same thing .., he just don’t be talkin to yall and I ji like have to. I forgot about this verse … but here yall go . Me rappin like the rent is due again.

“Not fallin for it .. thank God for Hip-Hop,” affirming he wasn’t taking the bait and biting on a line reeling him in to defend himself in the debate.

The Gifted rapper continued to remain humble even as users swarmed the thread, claiming he wasn’t on the same level as J. Cole during the “blog era” of rap during the early 2010s.

“Oh s##t my bad,” Wale responded to the user who made the comment.

Overall, it seems pretty clear Wale is comfortable with his place in the rap game, as well as where the current hierarchy of rappers ranks his perspective peers. In another tweet he shared, he remarked on his belief that Future is a top rapper and incredibly important to Hip-Hop as a whole.

”Future means so much to Hiphop,” he wrote. “A top ten. I’m not debating that one.”

Seemingly aware that his opinions on current rappers, including himself, caused such a stir on social media, Wale went on to issue a statement to iron out the wrinkles he caused on Hip-Hop Twitter’s timeline.

“I got some folks fired up today,” he wrote. “I seen.. excuse me for havin a diverse palette … art is subjective. I’m listening to The Beach Boys right now and then Devin the Dude . Yall like what yall liked…see yall on the road.”

Check out the video that set off the debate above.