Carmelo Anthony Debates Whether J. Cole Is A Top 10 Rapper Of All Time

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Carmelo Anthony has attempted to answer the question of where J. Cole ranks among the greatest rappers of all time.

On his podcast 7PM in Brooklyn, the NBA legend made the case that Cole is deserving of a spot in the top 10 of Hip Hop’s greatest MCs.

“We never seen anybody bookend their career and be very serious and intentional about it,” Melo said. “So to that point, where we’re bookending careers, then yeah, J. Cole is definitely a top 10 rapper.”

The former New York Knick and Denver Nugget added: “Also, he’s smart. He realized that we’ve never seen the bookends of somebody’s career.”

He also praised the Dreamville rapper for boldly choosing to back out of his battle with Kendrick Lamar last year, applauding his decision to prioritize his inner “peace.”

Predicting what he’ll do after retiring (Cole has long teased that his upcoming album The Fall Off will be his last), Anthony said: “I think we’ll see him back in sports — documenting sports, content wise, telling stories through his eyes. I think we’re gonna see a lot of that.”

J. Cole also has a huge fan in Big Daddy Kane, who previously proclaimed him a better lyricist than Kendrick Lamar and Drake.

“I’m actually more of a J. Cole fan, honestly,” he told The Art of Dialogue last year when asked if he was rooting for Drizzy or Dot in their high-profile beef. “I think he is probably, you know, the greatest lyricist of this era. He’s my personal favorite, you know, of all them cats.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Benny The Butcher, who said in an interview with HipHopDX last year: “I’ma have to say Cole [is the best rapper alive]. It gotta be that kid there, man. It’s a different aura with him, right?

“He always been a contender but I feel like he’s coming into his own and standing over it. You know how [Lil] Wayne said he’s claiming it? I kinda feel like he’s claiming it right now. And he’s done enough where he could claim it.”

The Griselda MC added: “I was at the Revenge of the Dreamers writing camp not too long ago and [J. Cole] was in there every day gong crazy. It was fire. A whole bunch of rappers in there — JID, Smino, Daylyt, me, Cole […] Westside Gunn, Lil Yachty was through there.”