Malice and Pusha T previously shared how difficult it was to land the Kendrick guest spot on this new Clipse album, as well. K. Dot’s appearance led to a rift between the duo and their label, Def Jam. The label was nervous about Kendrick Lamar and Pusha T together, given their shared history of beef with Drake. Def Jam wanted no parts of it.

“They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” Push claimed. “And then they wanted me to take the record off. And so, after a month of not doing it, Steve Gawley, the lawyer over there was like, ‘We’ll just drop the Clipse.’ But that can’t work because I’m still there [solo]. But [if] you let us all go…”

Longtime Clipse manager Steven Victor told Billboard that it wasn’t easy brokering their exit from Def Jam.

“If you’re an artist, your whole life is to create art and put it out,” Victor says. “If someone’s telling you that you can’t do that, or you have to do it within the confines of whatever box they put you in, that’s like creative jail.”

Jay-Z recently made an appearance on his megastar wife’s tour. Back in June, Beyoncé concluded the international leg of her Cowboy Carter and The Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour with a show in Paris and a guest appearance from Jay. The performance marked the Grammy-winner’s third concert at Stade de France in Paris and the tour’s final overseas show.