Last night (June 23), Virginia Beach hip-hop duo Clipse (composed of sibling rappers Pusha T and Malice) and longtime collaborator Pharrell leaked an unreleased Kendrick Lamar verse set to appear on Clipse’s upcoming track “Chains & Whips”, landing on their upcoming album Let God Sort Em Out. 

The clip, which features Pharrell and Clipse lip-syncing along to the unreleased “Not Like Us”-era Kendrick verse on a rooftop, sheds new light on the existing feud between Clipse and their former record label Def Jam. Speaking to Rolling Stone earlier this month, Clipse rapper Pusha T revealed that the duo were dropped from the label after refusing to remove Kendrick’s appearance from their album. 

“They asked me to ask [Kendrick] to change his verse, and I was like, ‘No, it’s not happening.’ This went on for months,” Pusha T explained. “I think the connection of the parties – Clipse and [Kendrick] doing the song together was a little bit too much for them, and what they’re going through with their lawsuits.” The feud caused the album to be delayed from its planned release date in 2024, with Pusha T later claiming that the duo had paid a “seven figure sum” in order to exit their record deal with Def Jam.

Def Jam is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, which is currently being sued by Drake for defamation over the inclusion of lyrics calling the Canadian superstar a “certified paedophile" in Kendrick’s beef-ending diss track “Not Like Us”. Both Kendrick and Drake are signed to UMG. 

The collaboration between Kendrick and Clipse is doubly sensitive as Drake had previously been engaged in rap beef with Pusha T, who called out Drake for allegedly hiding his son, Adonis, from the public eye in scathing 2018 diss track “The Story of Adidon”. Drake subsequently confirmed the child in his fifth studio album Scorpion later that year. 

In the new Kendrick verse leaked last night, the 22-time Grammy award winner appears to send shots at an unknown recipient, rapping: “I’ll send your ass back to the cosmics” and “Move n***as up out of here, this shit get gentrified”. 

Let God Sort Em Out will now be released independently July 11 with distribution from Jay Z-owned label Roc Nation.