Top Dawg Reacts To Kendrick Lamar Leaving TDE

The boss of Top Dawg Entertainment has confirmed Kendrick Lamar is leaving the imprint. 

Kendrick dropped the news today (August 20) in an open letter on a website called oklama.com. 

The Compton native dropped the bombshell revelation in an open letter titled “nu thoughts” in which he stated he was currently working on his final album for Top Dawg Entertainment, the label has he called home for 17 years. 

“As I produce my final TDE album, I feel joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years. The Struggles. The Success. And most importantly, the Brotherhood. May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life’s calling,” Kendrick Lamar wrote. 

Top Dawg also weighed in on Kendrick’s departure from the label. 

Top Dawg confirmed the split was amicable, and that there is no bad blood between him and the artist he discovered as a 15-year-old known as K-Dot, in 2003. 

“The whole goal when we started this thing was to make music, make money and make history. We did those ten times over and then some. TDE and its artists have provided a way to end generational curses that we were all personally born into over the last 17 years in business.” – Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith

Top Dawg said he will be backing Kendrick in any venture he decides to undertake in the future as well. 

“With this being Dot’s last album on TDE, this is more of a VICTORY LAP, a celebration. I know he will be successful in whatever it is he decides to do and will have our FULL support,” Top Dawg confirmed. 

Kendrick Lamar released four albums for TDE: Section.80 (2011), GOOD Kid, M.A.A.D. City (2012), To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), and Damn (2017). 

In total, Kendrick sold almost 30 million equivalent album sales over the course of his career. He has also won 13 Grammy Awards. 

Kendrick is also the first rapper in history to earn a Pulitzer Prize award for the lyrics on his album, Damn.

Take a look at Top Dawg’s statement below: 

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