I put Drake above Cole, but I can't co-sign Drake being "more" lyrical.
Drake to me has better flows, song-writing and is more creative with his songs/albums.
While Cole has better stories, wordplay and lyricism.
I'm not gonna talk about substance, cause I'm not a Nas stan and substance is overly objective to judge on who's got the best.
I will say that Cole has a unique feature in that he's probably got the most average 0-25 years of any rapper, therefore he can tackle most average subjects better than any new rapper.
And Kendrick is probably both those dudes rolled in one.
Dude, Cole is just not that nice. I rarely hear a track and think "yeah, Cole ripped that."
Where's the lyricism, word play? Please show me. He has good rhyming basics, good voice, flow but there's nothing in him that makes him lyrically better than a Loso, in fact he's inferior lyrically.
Name me some respected MC's you think he's better than.