Last week, the rap world was sent into a tailspin when two of its most promising young stars, Vic Mensa and Chance The Rapper, believed to be the best of friends, appeared to be embroiled in a bit of a tiff.

After posing for a picture with Chance, Jay Z and Beyoncé at New York City’s 40/40 Club earlier this month, Vic uploaded the picture to Instagram with Chance blacked out. The caption? “Birthday with friends. Jordan year!!”

In 2013, Vic and Chance emerged as Chicago’s immensely talented new vanguard with free mixtapes, INNANETTAPE and Acid Rap, that helped to change the idea of what it meant to be both a millennial and a Chicago artist. Their careers are inextricably linked, both due to their affiliation with the city’s Save Money crew, and an interesting line on Chance’s “Acid Rain.”

And I still get jealous of Vic
And Vic’s still jealous of me
But if you touch my brother
All that anti-violence sh*t goes out the window
Along with you and the rest of your team

During a recent interview with Real 92.3 LA, we finally heard from Vic. He admitted that he’s in a competition with Chance—”Yeah. Competition is healthy, though.”—but denied the idea that there’s a beef brewing. “I know beef can get all complicated and things get twisted up here, but I really pride myself on, my entire life, having been a real straight up dude to everybody around me. I don’t do my people dirty. If somebody wanted to have beef with me, they wouldn’t have all that much ammo. They would have to start digging and making things up, because I just keep it really, really, really real with my guys. The people that I move with and do business with, they would testify that I’m 100 with mine.”

Sure, it isn’t a full-blown explanation of the black-out heard ’round the rap world, but at least we have something more than speculation to point to. Watch the full interview clip above.