Troy Ave once dismissed Kendrick Lamar as a "weirdo" rapper.

But Kendrick apparently got over that, because he reached out to Troy through a third party when the NYC rapper was locked up after the Irving Plaza shootout.

That gave Troy an idea. He would go out West and sign with TDE.

So he told his former manager Hovian -- with whom he is now beefing -- to set it up.  He also had Hip Hop journalist and insider Rob Markman involved with the negotiations.

But alas, it all fell through. He explains what went down in his Truth Be Told PSA.

"We gonna go out West when I come home and we gonna sign with TDE. I always liked what they [TDE] was doing," Ave said. "They kinda independent like us, but way bigger because they went and got with a major. They got shit that I like to see, like loyalty and unity, that type of shit. Cool. I give [Hovain] the whole play. Of course, he can't make that happen at all. At all. He doesn't make it happen. The whole shit just fell through."

Skip to about the 14:30 mark to hear him explain the whole thing.

Check Troy's entire Nupac project below.