“They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” Pusha T said in an interview GQ, adding that he and Clipse left the label over the disagreement.

Pusha T attends the 2025 Met Gala on May 05, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

After much anticipation, Pusha T and No Malice — collectively known as Clipse — finally announced that Let God Sort ‘Em Out, their first album in 15 years, will arrive on July 11th. But when the press release was sent out last week, there was curiously no mention of Def Jam, who the duo had signed with last year for the project. Instead, distribution and marketing were attributed to JAY-Z’s Roc Nation — and now Pusha T is opening up about why.

In a new interview with GQ, the rapper claimed their relationship with Def Jam crumbled over Kendrick Lamar’s verse on the song “Chains & Whips.”

Universal Music Group, the parent company of Def Jam, is also home to Drake (OVO Sound/Republic Records) and Lamar (pgLang/Interscope Records). Given last’s summer highly publicized beef between Drake and Lamar — which resulted in Drake’s filing a lawsuit against UMG — Pusha T said the label was hesitant on the idea of two of Drake’s biggest enemies putting out a song together.

“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… ”

For those unaware, Pusha T outed Drake for having a “secret” son in 2018 during their own contentious battle on the incendiary track “The Story of Adidon,” while Lamar buried Drake with the proverbial nail in the coffin, “Not Like Us,” last May.

Def Jam ultimately decided to release Clipse and drop Pusha as a solo artist, Pusha said, allowing Clipse to search for another label home. A rep for Def Jam and UMG didn’t immediately reply to request for comment.

The move forced Clipse to push back the album’s release date, which was originally supposed to be sometime in 2024. Still, Pusha T conceded the entire process was worth it: “It felt good to even see how other labels were buying for the project.”

In January, Drake filed an 81-page federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging UMG “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track that falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile and calls for violent retribution against him.”

The situation was only exacerbated by Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance of the song the following month, which drew in a record number of viewers. At one point during the performance, Lamar looked directly at the camera when he got to the lyrics, “Say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young…” a moment that will forever live in pop culture history. To add insult to injury, Lamar also swept the 2025 Grammy Awards’ rap categories, with “Not Like Us” taking home the trophies for best rap performance, best rap song, best music video, record and song of the year.

UMG strongly denies all of Drake’s allegations, calling the lawsuit “frivolous,” “reckless” and “misguided.” The label argues that the lyrics in question are “non-actionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole” typical of rap battles—not statements of fact— and that taking them as literal defamation threatens free speech and artistic expression. UMG has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, asserting that Drake’s claims are an attempt to simply salvage his image after sorely losing the public feud with Lamar.

Drake’s lawsuit remains active as of now Discovery is underway, and both sides are preparing to present evidence. UMG continues to seek dismissal, while Drake’s legal team is focused on proving that UMG’s actions went beyond standard music promotion and crossed into deliberate character assassination with real-world consequences.