Clipse and Kendrick Lamar have performed ‘Chains & Whips’ together for the first time – check it out below.
On Saturday (August 23), Clipse – the duo of Pusha T and Malice – performed at the Novo in Los Angeles, where they opened their set with a surprise appearance from Kendrick Lamar. Pusha T was the first person onstage, performing the opening verse to ‘Chains & Whips’.
Later, Malice joined him for the song’s second verse. Soon after, the audience erupted as Kendrick Lamar appeared onstage to perform his verse, marking the first time that he’s played the track live with Clipse.
Watch fan-shot footage of the moment below.
Elsewhere during their set, Clipse performed tracks like ‘P.O.V.’, ‘Popular Demands (Popeyes), ‘Inglorious Bastards’, ‘Keys Open Doors’, ‘So Be It’ and more.
‘Chains & Whips’ appeared on Clipse’s recent album ‘Let God Sort Em Out’, which was their first record since 2009. The album also featured guest verses from John Legend, Tyler, The Creator, Pharrell Williams, Nas and more.
In a three-star review of ‘Let Go Sort Em Out’, Kyann-Sian Williams wrote for NME: “‘Let God Sort Em Out’ isn’t a total misfire: it’s composed, thoughtful and often impressively lyrically detailed. But after 16 years, Clipse didn’t come back knocking down doors and shocking the world. They came back to remind you they’re still here, still alive, still ruminating.”
As for Kendrick Lamar, the rapper most recently joined forces with Dave Free to launch a new creative agency dubbed ‘Project 3’. The new project is a creative agency born from the production company that Lamar founded back in 2020 alongside his long-time creative partner.
The rapper made history with his Super Bowl Halftime Show at the start of 2025, being joined by SZA and hitting out at Drake and his lawsuit against Universal Music Group. The performance of ‘Not Like Us’ at the show later caused Drake to amend the lawsuit, claiming it introduced “millions” more to the song and thereby “caused even more people to be duped into believing that Drake was a pedophile”.
Earlier this month, Lamar wrapped up his joint ‘Grand National’ tour with SZA. Before then, K.Dot released his latest album, ‘GNX’, last year. In a glowing five-star review, NME wrote: “Lamar channels what could be interpreted as hate and negativity into a teachable moment, leading you to draw upon the purest emotion known to man: love. In a year that started with so much venom, Kendrick Lamar shares the antidote on ‘GNX’.”
