An alleged Kendrick Lamar leak includes direct mentions of Big Sean, Jay Electronica, and French Montana.
As you’ve no doubt seen on your timeline in recent days, the alleged leak is billed as being the original version of the 2017 DAMN. track “Element.” Production wise, however, the beat heard in the clip circulating this week should be recognizable to Kendrick fans as ultimately belonging to the Black Panther: The Album song “Paramedic!”
For reasons that should be obvious, we can’t embed the actual alleged leak into this article. However, we can quote the lyrics. The alleged leak opens with lyrics that appear on the final studio version of “Element,” specifically its second verse, before veering into different territory:
"Goin' digital and physical on all y'all
Fuck subliminals, I put you on that roll call
French Montana speakin' on me in interviews
Very cynical, dry hatin' somethin' I don't approve
Jay Electronica put silencers on my Grammy night
Another dead prophet hopin' the God’ll give him life
Big Sean keep sneak dissin', I let it slide
I think his false confidence got him inspired
I can't make them respect you baby, it's not my job
You’re finally famous for who you date, not how you rhyme
Cute ass raps, get your puberty up
Then make you a classic album before you come at us
Drake and Meek Mill beef might got you gassed up
But I'm a whole 'nother beast, I'd really fuck you up"
Of course, the studio version of “Element” was immediately interpreted as seeing Kendrick subliminally offering similar energy. He rapped, "Most of y'all throw rocks and try to hide your hand/Just say his name and I promise that you'll see Candyman."
As for the potential why of it all, the French Montana callout is seemingly tied to remarks he made in a Breakfast Club interview in 2016 (DAMN. was released one year later), while Jay Electronica made public comments about Kendrick and again referenced him on "The Mayweather Curse" that same year. Jay later apologized.
As for Big Sean, he once admitted they did have a bubbling issue before things cooled off. “One of the people that, especially after Nipsey [Hussle] died was important for me to connect with was Kendrick,” Sean told Joe Budden. “Me and Kendrick got a history...a relationship as peers. When this whole Big Sean, Kendrick beef was going on, it was something I wish I would have spoken up [on].”
Now all is well between him and his "Control" collaborator. In 2020, Sean rapped in his Detroit 2 track "Deep Reverence" (featuring the late Nipsey Hussle) that there were never "real issues" between them. Instead, any perceived beef was due to "lack of communication and wrong information." Sean later revealed on Sway in the Morning that he and Kendrick had a "good reconciliation."
Still, the alleged leak drew a ton of reactions among fans. Some have even speculated that the track was created with A.I. See a sampling below.
