[1] Six months later, Lamar responded to "First Person Shooter" through a surprise appearance on Future and Metro Boomin's single "Like That", from their collaborative album We Don't Trust You (2024), where he dismissed Cole's "Big Three" remark and claimed that he alone rules the rap scene.
[8][9][10] He begins by comparing Lamar's career trajectory to The Simpsons (1989–present); despite being the longest-running American animated series in history, critics and audiences have noticed a "waning quality" with its recent seasons.
Cole continues the verse by throwing backhanded compliments and "light" jabs at his "brother" instead of hard insults, alluding his conflicted feelings to Nino Brown killing Gerald "Gee Money" Wells in the crime film New Jack City (1991).
Complex's Jordan Rose, in his breakdown of "7 Minute Drill", suggests that he "doesn’t want to fully commit to dissing [Lamar] because they’ve been cordial up until this point.
"[11] The second half of the song takes aim at Lamar's small stature ("Your arms might be too short to box with the God") and sparse release schedule ("He averagin' one hard verse like every thirty months or somethin' [...] Four albums in 12 years, nigga, I can divide").
[11] Cole closes the song by saying, "This is merely a warning shot to back niggas down," which Rose took as him "indulging in this lyrical warfare simply because he loves the sport of rap competition, rather than because he has any real malice in his heart for his opponent.
They also found it ironic that Cole claimed Lamar's work put listeners to sleep, considering his own discography was also criticized and turned into Internet memes for its alleged "sleepy" nature.
He concludes that the song "feels less like a diss track and more like the sad, conflicted texts you send after a breakup, when you still have a little hope that, one day, eventually, you will be back together like none of this ever happened.
"[14] In a more positive review, Clash's Robin Murray felt the production was "slightly out-of-step" with Might Delete Later, but "it taps into some of the project’s over-arching themes—self-worth, separating talent from hype—and feels more ingrained, really, than [Lamar]’s own bars on the hit ‘n’ miss Metro Boomin and Future tape.
[19] Luminate was able to track its opening week commercial performance despite the removal, allowing the song to debut at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 for the chart dated April 20, 2024; it is Cole's thirteenth top-10 hit.
[21] Cole's apology sparked divided conversations amongst journalists and other rappers centered around hip hop's competitive spirit, Black masculinity, and men's mental health.