While finishing up work on his upcoming album, rumored to be titled Detroit 2, Big Sean took some time out of his schedule to sit down with Joe Budden for the first episode of Pull Up‘s latest season. Over the two-hour-plus chat, Sean and Budden discussed a number of topics, including Sean’s tenure in the rap game, his relationship with Jhene Aiko, and his plans for 2020. One highlight came when Sean opened up about the rift between him and Kendrick Lamar a few years ago.
The key bit starts around the 90-minute mark, and it was sparked by Budden expressing his light-hearted frustration with Sean and Kendrick’s choice to be “mature” and not engage in the usual back-and-forth rap battles fans love to see. Countering his point, Sean said that there was truly no animosity or issues between him and Kendrick. “There was nothing,” he said, “and when I say ‘nothing,’ I’m not even bullsh*ting you.”
Sean said that some assumed the two had beef based on lyrics from his track “No More Interviews.” Many considered the line to be a direct shot at Kendrick, but in the interview, Sean says it was simply him “just rapping” and that he would’ve name-dropped Kendrick if he wanted to take a shot at him.
Kendrick would later drop “The Heart Part IV,” a track that poured gas on the flames on the rumored beef between him and Sean. Upon hearing the rumors, Sean said he reached out to TDE’s founder, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, to see if there were truly any issues. “I immediately hit up Top and they like, ‘Nah, it ain’t about you. It ain’t about you at all,'” he recalled. “He like, ‘That was just an addressing to everyone.”
At the time, Sean felt no need to publicly address the situation, but the people continued to fan flames and create something out of nothing. “Even the belief of like, ‘If you don’t put any attention on it it’ll go away,'” Sean said, “but you [Budden] were putting your attention on it and people were putting attention on it.”
Sean later revealed that a conversation with TDE President, Terrence “Punch” Henderson, on a flight to J. Cole’s Dreamville Fest last year, inspired him to reach out to Kendrick once again and clear the air.
You can watch the full interview above.
[Note: “The Heart Part IV” has been removed from all platforms since April 2018. The version linked above is not an official one.]
