Yesterday, Clipse made waves when GQ revealed that they have left Def Jam Recordings amid a spat over Kendrick Lamar’s appearance on their upcoming Let God Sort Em Out project. The Virginia duo discussed the situation further during a recent Rolling Stone interview in Manhattan.
Before we knew that Roc Nation would be distributing their first album in 15 years, I asked Pusha T and Malice about an ominous photo they posted at the Roc Nation offices, and how it related to the Def Jam deal they inked late last year. Pusha replied, “There is no Def Jam.” He then said the Kendrick feature “had UMG in such an uproar, that once we turned in the album, it was like, ‘We’re not putting this record out. We’re not supporting this,’ so on and so forth. They asked me to ask [Kendrick] to change his verse. And I was like, ‘No, it’s not happening.’ This went on for months.”
From Clipse’s perspective, UMG’s apprehension stemmed from Drake’s ongoing lawsuit accusing the conglomerate of artificially inflating the numbers and promotion of “Not Like Us,” Kendrick’s chart-topping 2024 diss toward him. “I think just the connection of the parties,” Pusha added. “The Clipse and [Kendrick] doing the song together was a little bit too much for them, and what they’re going through with their lawsuits.” He said that he didn’t feel the verse was particularly incendiary: “I felt like the verse was clean, fair game, just good raps.” Malice added that on the “incredible” verse, Kendrick “overdid it” in a good way.
Eventually, they continued, Def Jam’s legal team told the group that since they wouldn’t budge on removing or changing the verse, they would let Clipse out of their deal. But Push insisted that he be dropped from his solo deal as well. Their request was granted, and they’re now releasing Let God Sort Em Out independently with distribution from Roc Nation. “Roc Nation found the business. Hov found the business,” Push said.
Pusha later posted “No Lies Told” while sharing a Billboard story in which his longtime manager said he “paid a seven-figure sum to get out of the deal.”
Representatives for Def Jam did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Clipse’s account of how they parted ways.
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Last August, Push told Ghetto Runways that the album was finished, but he was “just waiting on a feature.” Since then, fans have speculated on who it could be, suggesting Jay-Z’s name and joking that Pusha T was at the Grand National tour to usher Kendrick to the studio. But I heard Kendrick’s verse last July, when the group played me the entirety of the album (along with appearances from Nas and StoveGod Cooks).
After playing the album, with the Kendrick verse, they told me that they were still waiting on one last feature to finalize the project. Since then, whenever Push would reiterate that he was waiting on a verse, I thought he was referring to whoever they were waiting on last summer, not Kendrick. Now, I’m still confused, but the mystery will be revealed on July 11, when the project drops.
