Big Sean and Kendrick Lamar have been going toe-to-toe for years.
In a new conversation with Charlamagne tha God, the Detroit rapper clears up some misunderstandings surrounding Dot’s leaked verse from the original version of his 2017 song “Element,” where he takes aim at Sean. The verse first leaked in 2019, and the entire song later came out last September.
The topic was a segway from Sean’s upcoming album, Better Me Than You, in which he apparently discusses his love life on the track “Apologize” and everyone’s assumption that he only dates singers (Jhené Aiko and Ariana Grande)—something that Lamar also pointed to on the leaked “Element” verse.
"I think his false confidence got him inspired/I can't make them respect you, baby. It's not my job," Kendrick raps. "You Finally Famous for who you date, not how you rhyme/Cute ass bars get your subliminals up."
When Charlamagne asks Sean Don if he prepared a response to the leak, he said he “had a whole thing prepared” at around the 37:00 minute mark.
“I definitely was not running from or ducking no type smoke at all. So when I heard that there might be some remnants of something, I did have something prepared, I’m not gonna lie,” he explained. “Kendrick has been at my house. Me and him are cool by the way. He’s invited me to his mom’s house before. … We were cooler back then, let me say that. … I don’t talk to him.”
Sean then proceeded to give the Out of Context host a full timeline of his and Dot’s history, starting with the 2016 song “No More Interviews,” where he rapped about people rapping fast, leading everyone to believe he was talking about Kendrick.
"And I'm just not impressed by you n***as rapping fast/Who sound like one big asthma attack but trash when I’m rapping it back/Who you put in your top five and claim they the savior of rap," Sean says.
The following year, Sean dropped his album I Decided in February 2017 and Lamar dropped DAMN. that April. But just before that, in March, the Compton native shared “The Heart Part 4,” in which he raps, “My fans can't wait for me to son ya punk-ass/And crush ya whole lil' shit/I'll Big Pun ya punk-ass, you a scared lil' bitch.”
“People were like, ‘Oh [Kendrick’s] talking about Big Sean in there, right? So I hit up Top Dawg first, I’m like, ‘Yo, who he talking about?” Sean said. “I’m thinking we like straight. ‘No, no, no it wasn’t about you.’ The little shit I had, I was like let me get out of my head ‘cause I’m thinking it might be something.”
Sean then describes how Joe Budden created this rivalry between him and Lamar, “to the point where I tried to ignore it but he made that narrative so fucking real that I think it really did become a thing. So I get to the point where I’m like, 'Damn, do we got something going on?' That’s why I had something prepared right.”
At some point after “The Heart Part 4” arrives, Big Sean also runs into Dave Free, who doubles down on what Top Dawg said: “He’s like, ‘No bro, it ain’t nothing. It’s all love.’ He said something like that wasn’t directly towards you, it was for anyone.”
Soon after, Nipsey Hussle tragically passed away in March 2019 and Sean runs into Punch on a flight en route to J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival. Punch asks Sean, “‘You ever talk to Kendrick?’" who says, "‘No, I know it ain’t shit there. But no, we never really spoke.’”
In April 2019, the original version of Kendrick’s 2017 song “Element,” where he appears to diss Sean, leaked.
“I’m like, ‘Damn n***a, y’all motherfuckers said it wasn’t shit and it was something. So you got me looking crazy,’” Sean said about his immediate reaction to the leak. “The thing is, that song came out and he changed that bar, right? So that wasn’t on the song anymore, it was a leaked verse. So I had to keep that in mind ‘cause I was pissed when I heard it. So then I’m like, ‘Okay, he changed that on his own so he probably came to the conclusion that it was nothing.'”
Sean explains that he talked to Lamar right after Nipsey died and Lamar “apologized in a sense for going that far, for that shit coming out.” Sean then points out that the song leaks fully later, in 2023, and people are talking about the diss, but that he and Lamar “already discussed it.” During that conversation, Lamar also said he “appreciated the shout-out” on Sean’s Nipsey-featuring song, 2020’s “Deep Reverence,” in which Sean addresses his relationship with Lamar.
"Lack of communication and wrong information/From people fueled by their ego, it's like mixin' flames with diesel,” Sean raps.
“When that shit leaks, people are like, ‘Oh, you heard what [Kendrick] said about you.’ I’m like, ‘N***a, I’m not a clout-chasing ass n***a, bro. I’m solid and I stand on mine, and I’m not about to do something ‘cause everyone thinks a certain thing.’ Like we already talked about it, I already got an apology for it.”
Sean said that while he and Dot haven’t talked much since his apology, he feels like his fans, “think I didn’t stand on my shit and that’s not the case. That’s what I want to clarify.”