In case you’re wondering, yes, that’s Lenny Kravitz on the new Clipse album, Let God Sort Em Out.
A peek at the credits for the song “Chains & Whips” reveals that Kravitz plays the electric guitar on the track that also features a verse from Kendrick Lamar and vocals from Pharrell Williams.
Pusha T revealed on the Joe Budden podcast that Lamar was nearly on two tracks off of the Clipse’s return album. Push specified that he sent Lamar “Chains & Whips” and “So Be It” and that the rapper wanted to be on both. It ultimately didn’t pan out because Lamar sent a verse for the former song very fast.
”Yo, but I think it’s a testament to his skill,” Malice explained, detailing how Lamar was in the midst of his Drake beef when he sent over the “Chains & Whips” verse. “Because, in the middle of everything he was going through, [he] delivered not just a verse, but a verse like that. Top to bottom. Like, he went in.”
Pusha T, Clipse, and Pharrell (who produced the album) showered Lamar with praise in Complex’s latest cover story about Let God Sort Em Out. When discussing Lamar’s contribution to the “Chains & Whips,” Pharrell said, “He blow torched that shit.”
“It’s nothing like being able to leave your song with a person and they totally, totally deliver,” said Push. “He’s one of those people that you can send it and turn your back and know when it comes back, it’s going to be everything that it’s supposed to be.”
“Chains & Whips,” in its current version, has found new life on Let God Sort Em Out after the Clipse revealed last month that Def Jam wanted them to remove Lamar’s verse from the song — leading to them parting ways with the label.
“They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” Push said. “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… ”
The Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out has its fair share of legendary features, including John Legend (“The Birds Don’t Sing”), Tyler the Creator (“P.O.V.”), and even Pusha’s son, Nigel Brixx.
