Big Sean Reveals Kendrick Lamar Apologized for Leaked Diss Track.
Last year, Big Sean found himself unexpectedly criticized by Kendrick Lamar in a leaked song. However, he later received an apology from Kendrick for the incident.
The Detroit native sat down with Charlamagne Tha God on “Out Of Context” for an in-depth conversation released on Friday (August 2). During the talk, Charlamagne brought up the 2023 leak, which seemed to be an unreleased version of “Pandemic” from the 2018 Black Panther soundtrack by TDE.
In the track, K.dot raps: “Big Sean keeps criticizing, I ignore / I think his fake confidence inspired him / I can’t make them respect you, baby, that’s not my job / In the end, you’re famous for who you date, not how you rhyme (boy).”
Sean explained the story behind this, believing it started when he released the song “No More Interviews” in 2016. In the song, he mentioned rappers with fast rhymes, leading many to speculate he was referring to Kendrick, which wasn’t the case.
Shortly after, Dot released one of his “The Heart” series songs, which seemed to have disdain for Sean. Sean reached out to Dot through messages—they had a good relationship and had even been to each other’s houses. But when the phone number didn’t work, he asked TDE’s Top Dawg if there was any beef, and Top Dawg assured him there wasn’t.
Sean recounted that Joe Budden further fueled the tension between him and Kendrick, spreading rumors that both he and Dot eventually believed. “He made the story so real that I thought it really became something,” Sean said. “So, I got to the point where I was like, damn, do I need to prepare something?”
However, when he met Kendrick’s manager, Dave Free, he was reassured that there was no issue. So, he let it go. But in 2023, the song leaked, catching Sean by surprise.
“I was like, damn, mothafucka said it wasn’t no trash talk! That’s crazy.”
Sean took a step back, realizing that since it was a leaked track from 2018 and Kendrick had clearly changed the official version, perhaps he had also bought into the narrative others were pushing but had since come to his senses.
To be sure, Sean messaged Kendrick, and the Compton native quickly apologized, and the message thread was deleted.
“I’m not a clout chaser, man. I’m a solid guy,” Sean concluded. “I stand my ground and won’t do something just because people think something. We talked about it. I got an apology for it. I’ve had so much communication with him since then, and I represent a lot of people from my city who think I didn’t stand my ground, and that’s not the case.”
“That’s why I want to clarify that I’m not a pushover or anything. If it was real smoke, if it was really something, I would be there front and center to face it.”
In related news, Big Sean recently signed with a new management company and expressed his excitement about this new chapter in his career.
When asked if he and Kendrick are still cool, Sean replied, “Of course. If it was a diss, it would be a diss,” giving a subtle warning, “If it was a diss, it would be a different diss.”
During the new conversation with Charlamagne, Big Sean revealed that he had prepared some ideas just in case the disagreement escalated.
You can watch the entire interview above, with the conversation about Kendrick Lamar starting around the 37:01 mark.
