Hip Hop purists are declaring that real rap is back, as listeners were gifted a new verse from Lecrae as he dismantled “fake deep rappers who fabricate their predicaments” and reflected on his own past missteps.

The surprise snippet was set to Kendrick Lamar’s newly released song, where the Compton native signaled the end of the party celebrating the wicked underbelly of the genre. His conscious lyricism comes weeks after he got summer parties jumping with his dark diss “Not Like Us.”

In the untitled new offering, he raps, “Sometimes I wonder what Lecrae would do?/ F**k these n**gas up or show ’em just what prayer do?/ I wanna be empathetic, my heart like Dee-1.” Lecrae previously reacted to the name-drop in a tweet on Sept. 11 that read, “Love you Dot....Always here.”

But on Saturday (Sept. 14), the world found out exactly what the Christian rapper would do in the face of grappling with the haunting consequences of the music industry, which often involves pillaging the culture to glorify the exploitation of artists and their followers.

He shared the audio in an Instagram post whose artwork shown a pair of weathered white Air Force 1s, a flip on Lamar’s black 1s that he used when his record dropped last week. Lecrae opens the two-minute and 32-second song rapping:

“I was wrestling, like, should I write a verse?/ The culture got enough clout-chasing vultures out here tryna prove they worth/ They need attention, they can’t imagine me not trying to make myself look bigger off of this Kendrick mention/ I can’t imagine his position, before I got on my mission, I was a party victim/ I bought the party favors, I used the trauma, my single mama to justify the commas to pay the Devil’s wages, wooh.”

In the comments, a fan wrote, “Out here rapping like the rent due. That was tough!” Another follower said, “REAL. RAP. IS. BACK.” Other reactions included praise for how the Houston native wrapped his verse with, “I can’t condemn the world and burn all of the heretics/ Love is patient so I’m trusting in the narrative/ And Christ ain’t watch the party die, he died instead of it.”

While Lamar is ready to move past the party, has one more major pop out to show up for: The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX halftime show. He announced that he was chosen as the headliner for the big game on Sept. 8. The NFL will broadcast the championship showdown from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025.