Symba Breaks Down J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar Moment on “Father Figure”

February 5, 2026

Symba is a real dude.

The Bay-area MC has found himself standing at an interesting crossroads with his new record “Father Figure.” He makes tension impossible to ignore and yet, he makes it sound really good. The West Coast lyricist grew up believing the pen was meant for war, but has positioned it differently this time.

The spark, at least in Symba’s mind, traces back to J. Cole’s “Bronx Zoo Freestyle” from Cole’s Birthday Blizzard mixtape.

On the track, Cole raps, “Y’all toddlers to me, stop botherin’ me/Young Symba, some ni##as threw some hate my way/But only thing they should say is, ‘Cole, you like a father to me.’”

Symba heard it, felt it…and took it to the studio. I don’t want to hear that talk about it being a “Lion King” reference. And so here we are.

Leaked exclusively by DJ Hed and produced by Conductor Williams, “Father Figure” is not the venom-laced diss many were expecting. Instead of unloading pure hostility, Symba offers thoughtful reflection.

He raps, “Kendrick pressed, Cole stepped back, never seen that before/It has me questioning what all of the training was for?/Maybe standing down is standing up, ain’t think of that before/But this Marvin Gaye won’t get smoked by his father, ni**a.” It is less about tearing Cole down and more about wrestling with what Hip-Hop taught him growing up.

This is dope.. Had To Share❗️
Symba – Father Figure
My bad Sym🤷🏾‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/bbTy87JMs5

— DJHed (@DJHed) February 5, 2026

He got my respect.

He speaks directly on the third verse, but even then he leaves the door open to be cool with J. Cole. He framed it as love and honesty – not beef. And yet the streets are swearing he fried Cole.

Cole is about to drop The Falloff so we are seeing a nice bit of promo from within the community. I forgot it was coming out so that was a blessing from Symba!

For now, there is no war. Whether Cole responds or just rides into The Fall-Off era remains to be seen. We’ll see…Symba is definitely watching and listening to every line.

Symba burned this down…