How Drake & Kendrick Lamar Battle Gave TDE’s Reason Chance To Exit Label

Former Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) rapper Reason recently opened about how he strategically leveraged the highly publicized rap battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar to facilitate his exit from the label.

Reason opened up about the situation during his recent appearance on The Bootleg Kev podcast, admitting that he intentionally positioned himself on Drake’s side during the battle, knowing it would create tension within the TDE camp. He revealed that he felt his departure from the label was being prolonged, and he needed to force the issue.

While describing the reality of being signed to TDE as a non-legacy artist typically means there’s already legions of fans automatically against you, Reason started off breaking down the position he was in when he decided to orchestrate his severance from the imprint.

“The fans I really lost were the ones I shot myself in the foot with,” he admitted. “But I had to do that to get out of the label deal. I felt like Top [Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith] and them were kind of like dragging their feet a little bit. I don’t think purposely, I just think they had a lot of s### going on and I knew that if I kind of like sparked a fire a little bit that they’d be like ‘we got to separate from this.'”

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The Porsches rapper went on to recall how one of the key moments that intensified fan backlash sparked by a tweet he posted during the battle was actually apart of a strategic campaign he had implemented months beforehand.

“I tweeted, ‘Y’all hating, this beat switch-up is fire,’” he recalled, referring to Drake’s “Push Ups” diss tracks. “I let it sit for like 10 minutes and deleted it. It went crazy.”

At the time, Reason’s Twitter handle still included “TDE,” making the tweet even more controversial. He also revealed that he encouraged the release of an “On the Radar” freestyle he had recorded over a Drake beat before the beef even started. Once the clip surfaced, it racked up millions of views and fueled further debate about his allegiance.

His comments during the interview sparked a wave of reactions online, prompting him to issue a statement via Twitter explaining his rationale. In his address on the response to his actions, Reason offered the reality of what it’s like being an artist that can’t drop music while deadlocked in contract negotiations.

“I get it,” he wrote in the tweet. “This beef to y’all is everything, so I completely get why some fans feel a way. But for me as an artist and human (I say that because in this we forget people are actually human lol), me not dropping music means I can’t put food on the table and feed me and my family.

“I can’t pay bills, I can’t eat. If it ever comes down to being able to do that or choosing a side in a beef, ima choose my survival. If you can’t understand that then that’s fine. Love to those that do.”

Reason’s downturn with TDE began in August 23, when Top Dawg Entertainment president Moosa belittled him during an episode of the Back on Figg podcast. The two got into a heated argument after Moosa called into the show to object to Reason’s album rollout frustrations. At the time, Reason also claimed label delays prevented him from securing certain features and criticized Moosa using a term Kendrick ultimately was praised for labeling Drake with during their rap battle a year later.

“This n####’s a master manipulator,” Reason said of Moosa. “I never said Doechii would make or break my career. I never said a feature would make or break my career … You’re a manipulator. You’re lying.”

Check out the interview clip in the post above.