Was Kendrick Lamar's verse on new Clipse album blocked due to Trump reference? Pusha T speculates on the real reason

Rapper Pusha T recently speculated on why Def Jam tried to block Kendrick Lamar's heavily anticipated verse on Chains & Whips from Clipse's upcoming album, Let God Sort 'Em Out. In a previous interview with GQ Magazine published earlier this month, Push disclosed that he and his brother Malice ended their contract with Def Jam over the Kendrick Lamar verse and decided to release their forthcoming album through Roc Nation.

On June 23, 2025, Pusha T further elaborated on the situation when he sat down for an interview with The New York Times’ Popcast.

The Virginia rapper revealed that Def Jam told Clipse they wanted to block Lamar's verse over the phrase "Trump card" to avoid any potential problems with President Donald Trump.

“They pinpointed a line where the phrase ‘Trump card’ was used. It’s so stupid. The phrase "Trump card" was used, and they said that they didn’t want any problem with Trump or something like that,” Push said.

However, Pusha T believed the real reason was related to Drake, agreeing with Popcast host Joe Coscarelli when he questioned whether Def Jam did not like the "optics" of "two Drake foes teaming up."

For context, Def Jam Recordings is owned by Universal Music Group, which is currently being sued by Drake for defamation over Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us.

The feud between Drake and Lamar dominated much of 2024, with the two emcees taking shots at each other in back-to-back diss tracks. As for Pusha T, he famously engaged in a rap battle with Drake in 2018.

Their feud ended with the Virginia rapper releasing The Story of Adidon, where he revealed that Drake had been hiding a son from the world.

On June 23, Clipse previewed a snippet of Lamar's verse from Chains & Whips. The snippet did not bear any mention of the "Trump card" phrase or Drake.

“I'm not the candidate to vibe with / I don't f**k with the kumbaya s**t / All that talent must be God-sent / I sent your a** back to the cosmics," Lamar can be heard rapping in the snippet.

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Pusha T addressed supposed feuds with Kanye West and Travis Scott ahead of Clipse album release

Pusha T and Kanye West were once good collaborators, with the former being the president of Ye's G.O.O.D Music record label. However, Push cut ties with West following his controversial behavior, including his continued antisemitic remarks, and left the record label in 2022.

In his recent interview with The New York Times' Popcast, the Virginia rapper revealed that he and his former collaborator never saw eye to eye on most things, saying:

"I don’t even know if I ever held my tongue. I always spoke to everything. But what you do with that information, in taking advice or perspective from me, that’s what you do. But I don’t regret any of it. I mean, we made great music. Outside of music, we’re nothing. Outside of that, his principles, his morals, his mindset — we don’t see eye to eye hardly ever and we never have."

Pusha T also name-dropped Ye's brand Yeezy in Let God Sort 'Em Out's first single, Ace Trumpets, seemingly mocking the brand for facing increasing complaints of delayed shipping with the line, "Look at them, him and him, still waitin’ on Yeezy."

Ye is not the only rapper that Pusha T has hit back at ahead of the album's release. In Clipse's latest song, So Be It, Push took shots at an unnamed rapper, whom he later revealed to be Travis Scott.

“You cried in front of me, you died in front of me/ Calabasas took your b***h and your pride in front of me/ Heard Utopia had moved right up the street/ And her lip gloss was poppin’, she ain’t need you to eat/ The ‘net gon’ call it the way that they see it/ But I got the video, I can share and A.E. it/ They wouldn’t believe it, but I can’t unsee it/ Lucky I ain’t TMZ it, so be it, so be it,” he rapped.

In a GQ interview published on June 17, Pusha T elaborated on why he dissed Scott, citing the Sicko Mode rapper's 2023 song Meltdown featuring Drake. Push claimed that Scott visited Pharrell Williams in Paris, where he was working with Clipse on their new project, and decided to play them his album Utopia.

However, Pusha claimed Scott skipped over Drake's verse in Meltdown, which included a diss at Williams.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, man, everybody’s here,’ he’s smiling, laughing, jumping around, doing his f**king monkey dance. We weren’t into the music, but he wanted to play it, wanted to film [us and Pharrell listening to it]. And then a week later you hear ‘Meltdown,’ which he didn’t play. He played the song, but not [Drake’s verse],” Push said in the interview.

Additionally, Pusha T accused Scott of having "no loyalty" and dubbed him a "wh*re." As of this article, Travis Scott has not publicly responded to the diss or Pusha T's other remarks.

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Let God Sort 'Em Out is scheduled for release on July 11, 2025, through Roc Nation.