It's been a rollercoaster year for Top Dawg Entertainment and label president Punch. They recently inked a deal with fast-rising rapper Doechii, but Kendrick Lamar also revealed that his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers would be his last for the label as he shifts his focus to pgLang, the new company he founded with former TDE president Dave Free, and just a few weeks ago SZA blamed Punch for the delay of her long-awaited followup to 2017's CTRL. Now, in a new interview with Craig Jenkins for Vulture, Punch has told his side of the story.

Addressing concerns that the label would hold an album back, he said, "It’s weird because why would we hold an album back? We can’t make money if we hold an album back. That doesn’t really register with certain people when they want something so bad, which I get it too."

About SZA's album, he said, "We know exactly when it’s coming out. But on the internet, you only get a certain amount of characters. You don’t have time to really go into a full explanation of what’s going on like that when you’re in the moment and tweeting something."

About whether or not SZA's relationship with the label is a contentious one, he said, "Context is super-important. And you have to know the person, how something that reads online can be different from how somebody said it or meant it; it could be lighthearted. What happens is people put a story into their own narrative and create a situation that’s not really there. I’m not going to say there’s never been contention. There’s always contention, especially when you’re dealing with creative. Difference in opinions, it happens, but that doesn’t mean somebody is unhappy or anything. It could’ve been a conversation in the moment. Then a lot of speculation happens. I get it. We have to remember that context is important and you never get the full story through tweets."

About Kendrick's new album, he said, "I wasn’t really involved in the creative process, so I sat back and I got it the same way the fans got it, personally. In early conversations that I would have with Kendrick, his goal was to turn things on their head and dive deep. The psychoanalysis of the human, the complexities, the dualities, the difference of opinions. I think he accomplished what he wanted to accomplish. At this point, he’s a legend. He’s top five MCs to me. He’s had a crazy career so far. Whatever he wants to do is up to him. I have no opinion. Like, 'Do your thing.'"

The whole interview is worth a read, and you can check it out at Vulture.

Last month, SZA addressed the long wait for her album on social media, saying, "it’s 100% [TDE president Punch] and rca on this one. I wanted the summer. They wanted more time. [At this point] I’m jus tryna have a good time stress free lol." In a since-deleted tweet, Punch responded, "Starting to get tired of this. Getting tired of the whole business." SZA then appeared to acknowledge his reply in a tweet of her own that read "We all tired."

Kendrick played Brooklyn's Barclays Center over the weekend — read our review.