Unreleased Kendrick Lamar & Kanye West Collaboration Leaks Online, Sparks Fan Debate
An unreleased collaboration between Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West has surfaced online, sending fans into a frenzy. The track, reportedly titled “Intro,” was shared by a fan on Reddit earlier this week and appears to be a relic from years past. Though the exact recording date is unclear, a line from Kendrick—“We approaching 2020, 20-20 vision is coming up out my hoodie”—suggests it was recorded sometime before the start of the new decade.
The leaked song quickly circulated across social media platforms, prompting divided reactions. While Kendrick Lamar’s verse earned widespread praise for its lyrical sharpness and signature delivery, Kanye West’s contribution was met with a mix of confusion and criticism. “Lmao laughed when Ye verse came on,” one Reddit user joked, while another added, “It sounds like Kendrick let the make-a-wish kid in the booth.”
Still, some fans defended West’s unpolished performance, arguing it may not represent the final version. “Kind of sounds like his verse ain’t ready and he put down what he wants the flow to sound like,” one user suggested. Another speculated that the leak reflects Kanye’s typical creative process: “Pretty sure this has been Kanye’s way of collaborative writing since at least the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy era—mumble freestyle first, then lyrics get finalized.”
The leak also reignites curiosity around Lamar and West’s long-standing creative partnership. The two previously joined forces on 2016’s “No More Parties in LA,” a standout track from Kanye’s The Life of Pablo. In 2024, rapper and frequent Kanye collaborator Consequence revealed that Lamar and West have “an album’s worth of unreleased songs together,” many of which were produced by legendary beatmaker Madlib. “It just needed to be structured,” Consequence said during a Bootleg Kev interview. “But the ideas are… Yeah, I heard the whole thing. It’s there.”
Madlib himself confirmed the rumors back in 2020 during an interview with Complex. “They did like 30 minutes of stuff, just going back and forth, going crazy,” he shared. “They were going off, too. Because I do my beat tapes like one-minute beats, and they were just, one minute on that one, that one, that one. It was crazy.”
Despite their fruitful history, the relationship between the two rap icons has recently shown signs of strain. Kanye West publicly sided with Drake during his feud with Kendrick Lamar earlier this year, voicing disapproval of Kendrick’s chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us.” The move fueled speculation about growing tension between the two artists, with fans questioning whether their unreleased material will ever see an official release.
For now, “Intro” remains an intriguing glimpse into what could have been—a rare window into the studio sessions of two of hip-hop’s most influential voices. Whether it’s an outtake, a shelved project, or a preview of something bigger, one thing is clear: the Kendrick-Kanye dynamic continues to captivate the rap world.
