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In a new interview with Frazier Tharpe, for GQ, Pusha T said that he departed his longtime label home, Def Jam Recordings, over the company’s apparent reluctance to release a new Clipse song featuring a guest verse from Kendrick Lamar. “They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” he claimed. “And then they wanted me to take the record off.” Ultimately, the parties agreed to go their separate ways, according to Pusha T, and Clipse’s new comeback album, Let God Sort Em Out, is being released in partnership with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.
Pusha T’s longtime manager, Steven Victor, also discussed the rapper’s Def Jam departure in a new interview with Billboard. “Yeah, I don’t know what their concern is,” Victor said. “But they were like, ‘There’s a line here; we think it’s controversial; [Kendrick] needs to change it, or we’re not putting it out.’ We’re not going to ask him to change the verse. You guys are wrong. Stop looking at this this way. None of this makes any sense.”ss action waiver and arbitration provisions), and acknowledge our privacy policy.
According to Victor, Pusha T “had like three albums left” on his deal with Def Jam. In addition, he also claimed that the musician “had to pay seven figures to get out of the deal.”
Representatives for Def Jam Recordings and its parent company, Universal Music Group (UMG), did not respond to Pitchfork’s requests for comment.
Universal Music Group is facing active litigation from Drake, who claims that UMG “waged an unrelenting campaign” to promote Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” the hit diss track that Drake believes is defamatory. Both Drake and Lamar also release music through UMG-owned labels, Republic Records and Interscope Records, respectively.
Labels owned by UMG released or co-released many of the songs in the Lamar-Drake feud of 2024. For Lamar, those officially sanctioned tracks were: “Like That,” “Euphoria,” “Meet the Grahams,” and “Not Like Us.” On Drake’s side of things, he released “Push Ups” and “Family Matters” in partnership with Republic.
Years before the Kendrick Lamar and Drake imbroglio, Pusha T shared his own vicious diss track against the Canadian hip-hop superstar. Notably, Pusha T did not go through his label to drop “The Story of Adidon,” instead posting it on SoundCloud. Speaking with Billboard, Steven Victor said that Pusha T shared his song independently, in part, “to avoid” objections from Def Jam and UMG.
The new Clipse song featuring Kendrick Lamar is called “Chains & Whips,” and it played during one of Pharrell Williams’ runway shows for Louis Vuitton. It is currently unclear if the song (with or without a Kendrick Lamar verse) will appear on Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out, which gets released on July 11.
Taylor Swift believes Nashville has a music scene that stands apart from anywhere else.
The 36 year old singer moved to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was young to chase her dream of becoming a country music star. After being inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on Monday (26.10.26), Taylor took the opportunity to recognise the city and the talented writers who have helped shape its music scene.
In her acceptance speech, Taylor said: "I believe you really get to master a craft by doing it again and again. That's exactly what the incredible songwriters in this wonderful town do every day."
Taylor also spoke about what makes Nashville such a special place for musicians.
The award winning singer, who ranks among the best selling music artists of all time, said: "You won't find another music community quite like this one. Trust me, I've checked them all."
Taylor also shared how being part of Nashville's songwriting scene had taught her valuable lessons about life and working with others.
She joked: "I've learned to be flexible when your co writer turns up with a hangover, or when they need to spend ages talking about their divorce before we can even get started on a song."
Taylor previously spoke about how Faith Hill and Shania Twain inspired her decision to move to Nashville.
Speaking to Time magazine, the singer said: "I couldn't get enough of watching TV biographies about Faith Hill and Shania Twain, and I realised they had both moved to Nashville to get their careers started. After that, I kept asking, pleading and begging my parents to take me there.
"When I was 11, my mum took my brother and me to Nashville during spring break, and we spent the trip driving around Music Row. She stayed in the car while I rushed into record companies one after another, giving my demo CD to the receptionists. I found it fascinating that so many major record labels were gathered along a single street, often inside little buildings and old houses.
"What really stayed with me was how welcoming people were to newcomers and complete strangers like us. We started visiting Nashville more often, and when I was 13, I received an offer for a development deal from a major record label. That was when my parents finally agreed to leave Pennsylvania and move with me."
