R&B/Hip-Hop

LeBron James stays tapped in. The NBA goliath has been bumping plenty of Kendrick Lamar this year, and he’ll have a new verse this summer when K. Dot’s “Chains & Whips” collab with the Clipse arrives in July.

GQ got an early listen to Lamar’s verse on Let God Sort Em Out as part of a Clipse cover story released on Monday (June 2), and LeBron reposted one of the Compton rapper’s unhinged bars — as first revealed in the magazine — to his Instagram Story.

“Therapy showed me how to open up! It also showed me I don’t give a F,” he wrote to IG as the lyric clearly resonated with the Lakers star.

According to Pusha T, Kendrick’s verse was at the center of his and Clipse’s split from Def Jam, as the record label wanted Lamar removed from the project completely.

“They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” Push told the publication. “And then they wanted me to take the record off. And so, after a month of not doing it, Steve Gawley, the lawyer over there, was like, ‘We’ll just drop the Clipse.’ But that can’t work because I’m still there [solo]. But [if] you let us all go.”

Def Jam did not reply to Billboard‘s initial request for comment on Pusha’s statement.

Clipse ended up inking a distribution deal for a comeback album with Roc Nation. Many fans online tied the alleged attempted censorship to Def Jam’s parent label, Universal Music Group, being actively sued by Drake for defamation over the alleged artificial inflation of Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” The label has denied Drizzy’s claims, and in early May, asked a judge to dismiss his updated lawsuit.

“Chains & Whips” will serve as Pusha T’s first collab with Lamar since teaming up for “Nosetalgia” in 2013. The track was initially premiered at Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton fashion show earlier this year.

LeBron James has continued to show support for Kendrick after making an appearance at the award-winning rapper’s Pop Out concert last year, which seemingly damaged the NBA star’s relationship with Drake in the heat of battle.mDrizzy appeared to send shots at King James on the leaked “Fighting Irish” freestyle in January, but the Conductor Williams-produced track was quickly scrubbed from YouTube.

Clipse kicked off the project’s rollout with “Ace Trumpets” on May 30. Look for Let God Sort Em Out to arrive on July 11.

Pusha T severed ties with G.O.O.D. Music, where he served as the label’s president and distanced himself from Ye (formerly Kanye West) in late 2022.

King Push and his brother No Malice graced the cover of GQ on Monday (June 2), and Pusha reflected on his falling out with the embattled rapper, who has faced criticism for his repeated hate speech.

“The one thing that I can say about [Ye] is that he knows that every issue that he’s having and crying about online right now, I’ve told him distinctly about those things,” Push said. “He don’t talk to me like he talks to others.”

Pusha T took things a step further while disrespecting Ye and saying that he doesn’t “think he’s a man” following his myriad controversies over the years.

“His intuition is even more genius-level, right? But that’s why me and him don’t get along, because he sees through my fakeness with him,” he continued. “He knows I don’t think he’s a man. He knows it.”

The Virginia rapper went on: “And that’s why we can’t build with each other no more. That’s why me and him don’t click, because he knows what I really, really think of him. He’s showed me the weakest sides of him, and he knows how I think of weak people.”

Billboard has reached out to Ye’s rep for comment.

Pusha T and No Malice kicked off the Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out rollout on Friday (May 30) with “Ace Trumpets,” which finds Push name-dropping Yeezy.

“Sold ecstasy and disappeared, I am Whodini/ Look at them, him and him, still waitin’ on Yeezy/ I hope you got your squeegees/ At your interviews, I just ki-ki,” he raps.

Ye got wind of Pusha’s bars and expressed that he misses the friendship they once had. “I miss me and Pusha’s friendship,” West wrote of his ex-G.O.O.D. Music president to X.

While Yeezy won’t be appearing on Let God Sort Em Out come the July 11 release date, Push confirmed that Kendrick Lamar is slated to be featured on the album track “Chains & Whips.”

However, Lamar’s assist was at the center of Clipse’s rift with Def Jam, as the Universal Music Group-owned label wanted K. Dot’s verse removed from the project. Push stood firm in keeping the Compton rapper on the album, which led to a split with Def Jam for the duo as well as Pusha’s solo career. LGSEO will now be distributed by Roc Nation.

“They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” he said. “And then they wanted me to take the record off. And so, after a month of not doing it, Steve Gawley, the lawyer over there was like, ‘We’ll just drop the Clipse.’ But that can’t work because I’m still there [solo]. But [if] you let us all go.”

Billboard has reached out to Def Jam for comment.