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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Entertainment
Mikael Wood

'Falling apart but we deny it': Is J. Cole talking about Kanye West?

So much for not kicking a man when he's down.

Rapper J. Cole on Thursday night released a new documentary about the making of his upcoming fourth album, and 12 hours later the Internet is convinced that one of the album's songs is a shot at Kanye West, who spent a portion of last month in the hospital following what's been described as a nervous breakdown.

In the documentary, titled "Eyez" and available to view on the streaming service Tidal, Cole performs a song called "False Prophets" in which he skewers a rapper "who's falling apart but we deny it." He goes on to say there was a time when the rapper "was my hero, maybe" and "that's the reason why his fall from grace is hard to take."

On social media, fans suspected the rapper in question _ whom Cole accuses of putting his "ego in charge of every move" _ is West, who was released this week from UCLA Medical Center after being admitted Nov. 21.

The hospitalization followed a string of incidents in which West made inscrutable comments during concerts about Jay Z, Beyonce, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump. On Nov. 20 he canceled a show at the Forum in Inglewood three hours before it was set to begin.

Cole's new album, "4 Your Eyez Only," is due Dec. 9, according to a pre-order page on iTunes. It follows the Grammy-nominated "2014 Forest Hills Drive," which was released on the same date in 2014.

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