Rakim Shows Love To Kendrick Lamar After “Chains & Whips” Shoutout

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It’s always humbling when gods celebrate gods.

Kendrick Lamar shows love to Rakim on Clipse’s new album, Let God Sort Em Out. 

On the track “Chains & Whips,” Lamar raps: “Let’s be clear, Hip-Hop died again / Half of my profits may go to Rakim.“

Hip-Hop deity Rakim shared a clip of Lamar listening to the song on his Instagram Saturday (July 12) with the words: “I salute you KING!!!” he began. “Thnx for the illest shout I heard in a loooong time, and keep up the incredible work my brother, you ain’t no joke !!!! Peace and blessings to you and yours.”

This isn’t the first time Rakim shared his thoughts on Lamar. During K.Dot’s rap battle with Canadian emcee, light skinned Keith Sweat, Rakim noted that the clash was good for Hip-Hop. 

“I think that it was important, because these brothers are at the top of the game, and revered Hip-Hop,” he said during an interview with Billboard. “You know, a lot of people in that position won’t accept no challenge, because they got too much to lose. So, it was dope that these brothers put the mainstream success down and said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.'”

Rakim also noted that the battle exposed the difference between real Hip-Hop (Kendrick) and whatever it is that the self- proclaimed sensitive rapper from the six creates. 

“The battle put a lot of things in perspective — because it showed the difference between real Hip-Hop and mainstream Hip-Hop,” he explained. “Younger artists now know that there’s a difference. A lot of them didn’t even understand that.”

He added: “They just listened to the majority, not knowing that a lot of people don’t categorize what they were hearing as real Hip-Hop. The battle was very needed for the genre. I tip my hat to them brothers. Let’s just hope that it stays to the music.”