Kendrick Lamar Removed Damaging Drake Disses From 'Euphoria,' TDE's Punch Reveals

Kendrick Lamar removed certain lines aimed at Drake from his diss track “Euphoria,” according to TDE president Terrence “Punch” Henderson.

In a rare and in-depth interview with Curtiss King, the record executive confirmed that Kendrick’s response to Drizzy’s “Push Ups” was supposed to be longer and initially contained additional (and seemingly more damaging) shots at his archrival that Punch persuaded him to omit.

Asked about rumors that an almost 20-minute version of the track exists, Punch replied: “I don’t know the length, but there was definitely a version that was longer than what the world got. There was a lot of stuff that didn’t make it on there.”

He added: “There was just some things in there that I didn’t think would have been beneficial in the long run to put in there. So I gave him my input on that and he took some of those things out.”

During the three-hour-plus conversation, Punch divulged on a number of other subjects relating to Kendrick’s beef with Drake — including where he thinks the 6 God made “mistakes” and Dot’s numerous Easter eggs throughout the battle.

Check out more highlights below.

On Kendrick’s “Like That” verse:

“[The energy] had been bubbling for a while. We had been pretty close-mouthed about it […] He played the record for Top [Dawg]. I talked to Top and he told me a little bit about the record so I hit Dot like, ‘It’s going down?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’ll see what’s up.’ [He was] laughing.

“People think that this is so serious but it’s funny. This n-gga is from Compton, California, bro. Where he grew up, it’s serious over there — you getting shot at, you getting home invasions, you getting gang wars. We’re talking about music, bruh, so it’s funny! So I hear the record and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s up. It’s go time now, baby.'”

On Drake’s “Push Ups”:

“My first response was, ‘It’s not enough.’ It was cool, it was cute. I see where you going, but those angles are not gonna be enough. It’s as simple as that.”

On why “Taylor Made Freestyle” was Drake’s “first mistake”:

“I read it as his first mistake. To me, it felt like a mockery of the West Coast. So when you do that, you’re gonna unite it. If there was any type of division at that time, once you do that, you’re gonna get all the people together.”

On why Drake’s “Family Matters” was also a “mistake”:

“I had the same thought with ‘Family Matters’ that I did with ‘Push Ups,’ and that was: It’s not enough. I think another mistake that they made was giving the idea that they was finna push this red button. When you do that, you build the anticipation a bit too high, so now people have expectations. Like, ‘I’m finna hear some stuff now! It’s over now!’ […] That thing drops. [It was like], ‘Okay, you got dirty, you went far. Aiight, let’s go further!'”

On Kendrick’s Easter eggs in the battle:

“It was super calculated. I’m not gonna sit here and cap and say it was everything, but the majority of things are calculated, are taken into consideration.”