Kendrick Lamar Responds to Rumors He Left Top Dawg Entertainment

After rumors circulated that Top Dawg Entertainment lost their biggest star Kendrick Lamar from its roster, the reclusive rapper decided to come out of hiding (kind of) and speak up.

A clip of Lamar hiding behind a Blue’s Clues stuffed animal was posted on TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith’s Instagram on Tuesday (Oct. 6). “Top, you gotta stop them from smutting my name, man,” Lamar says while SpongeBob SquarePants plays in the background. “They been smuttin’ my name all year, man, you ain’t said nothin’. Enough is enough, man. Got ’em sayin’ I done shook the label and all that, man.”

There was speculation the 33-year-old rapper left TDE to be part of his own pgLang label, which reportedly had Lamar’s cousin Baby Keem, Jorja Smith and more artists on a separate roster. Back in March, Lamar and his manager Dave Free mysteriously launched pgLang, a multilingual, artist-friendly service company that includes a record label, movie studio and publishing house.

K-Dot ended the video by teasing his label boss. “They must don’t know about that pickle juice that’s under your red cap, man,” he said. “About that sweat that’s holding that red cap together — the reason why it don’t fall off your head, that lubricant. You need to tell ’em that the reason why that red cap don’t fall off your head, man. So why would I fall off?”

But it’s all fun and games with these two, who posed together for a picture while wearing their face masks in the same Instagram post (swipe right).

TDE president Terrence “Punch” Henderson also shared the video via Twitter, where he posted two cryptic messages Monday once rumors about the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper’s departure hit the Internet. “A rumor gets halfway around the world before the truth get it’s shoes on. Lol,” he wrote.