During his day in New York, Kendrick Lamar hit the press circuit pretty hard. One of his stops was to The Breakfast Club to talk about To Pimp A Butterfly, his relationship status with Whitney Alford, his thoughts on having a classic album, respecting fans, future collaborations with J. Cole & Dre. Dre, his marketing plan and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
On his Killer Mike shout out in "Hood Politics":
"He been doing it for a long time, way before me, so it was only right. He'll continue to it, too. Run the Jewels joint's crazy. Atlanta, man, come on.
On the unexpected early release of TBAP:
"They dropped the clean version, and the crazy part about it is, we knew that the iTunes leak was going to be down for a minute once they did that because it's a certain system that they put in at the labels. The date was actually confusing, locked it in and locked it off so the fans was trippin'. I'm sure [Top Dawg] seen it on his Twitter and went crazy."
On their marketing plan for To Pimp A Butterfly:
"We always said as an entity, as far as TDE, to make our own rules first. That's been day one, that's been since iTunes, that's been since our mixtapes. So even though everybody's doing it traditionally now, we always had that knack to put it out how we want to. Our thing is, people are going to like it regardless. They gonna like it or they not. You could put people on stage, you can do the award shows, you can do radio, but if they don't rock with the music, they not gonna get it."
On why he chose "i" as his first single:
"The inspiration behind it was really talking to some of the older cats in the neighborhood and really doing something out of the norm, speaking some type of positivity back in the city rather than doing what we used to doing, period. From the initial concept of the record, I always said it was for some of my homeboys back on the yard and also the community. It was therapeutic for myself, you know, 'cause sometimes we wake up and not feel the same way we felt yesterday. So that was the initial mind state.
"It take a lot of guts to put a record like that out on your second album, too. [The label] was behind it because they know that we came in this business as TDE, doing what we want to do. We was selling records, we was selling mixtapes, and the foundation that we have with the kids is strong. It's stronger than any type of number or marketing service that a label can do. So [the label] was behind it, and I appreciate them for that. They never came in trying to strategically move my creativity around. I respect that because on your second album, everybody's looking. I mean, I know what the kids want. I'm fairly young myself. I got little brothers. I know what they listen to all day. So it takes a strong following and a strong support system not only from in my camp but the folks around me to say, 'Okay, continue to do what you do.'"
On why he wasn't at the Grammys even though he won:
"I had to work. I had to finish that album. I was locked in. I couldn't lose focus. I couldn't go on tour. I couldn't go to no awards. I was on a deadline. Did I expect the win? No, I don't expect nothing. I just put the music out."
On how long it took to make the album:
"Two years. I probably did about 30-40 songs that we actually fought over in the studio because a lot of the records was my favorite records. Sometimes it be like that. You might do something crazy, and it just don't end up because it might not be as cohesive as you thought."
On criticism that TBAP is too preachy:
"I feel great about the reception of the album. I ain't catch the preachy thing because the majority of the album is me talking about my faults especially on records like "You Ain't Gotta Lie," "The Blacker The Berry," all of these are therapeutic songs for me. But we all human, so you gonna find a fault anyway. So [criticism] isn't something I run from or that I'm scared of. I can't live in fear of that. Everybody have they own opinion."
On dealing with depression:
"[It was] not the industry, just the change. You know, it's a drastic change when your around so many different faces, faces that you don't quite understand and meeting people while things are going on back home that's out of your control to handle. You can take some [people] with you, but they're still stuff that goes on. I still got family in Compton. I can't put $1 million dollars in they pocket and say, 'You on now.' All I can do is put them in positions where they can fend for themselves. But sometimes, the lifestyle that they in, they might not know how to handle it. They might not know how to handle some type of working world where they've never been in. All they know is the streets."
On whether artists have a responsibility to their communities:
"I think every artist should always be responsible for how they go about putting words together. Because this is something I didn't understand until I went out on these roads and talked to these kids. They take my music very seriously. So with that being said, I know they take the next artist's music very seriously. Real talk, because they real life that the artist went through, for kids in this new generation, it might just be a trend for them until they go out there and get themselves killed. So how I put my words together, for me personally, it's a strategic way. I'm not just glorifying the streets. It's a reality check, but it's for the better at the end of the day."
On the Tupac vocals for "Mortal Man":
"I got that when I was in Germany. This cat said, 'I got this unbelievable Pac interview, and he handed it off to me. I had to do my research. I had to see, is this official, first off. So I went through it, played it back a few times. You gotta get everything cleared. The trip is Pac was a prophet to me, and everything he's talking about is actually going on today. That right there just sparked the idea immediately for what I was talking about on my record. It was a blessing that I came about it, and I really appreciate his mother, too, for giving me the opportunity to use the vocals 'cause people hold them things dear. And if she would've stood down and said, 'No,' I would respect that, too. The respect that I have for her and her son's legacy because the things that he know, it comes from her. So either way it would've went, I would've shown respect. Period."
On whether he reads a lot:
"No. When I encounter people, I ain't scared to interact, whether it's a five-year-old kid or an 80-year-old man. Of course I read, but I'll put it to you like this. I'd rather be interacting with a person rather than gathering up information from somewhere else, speaking to a person with wisdom that's been here before me."
On whether he expected this kind of success from the beginning:
"To be 100 percent real with you, I didn't. But Top Dawg did. That's real talk. You can ask anybody that's been around us, he always said, 'K.Dot's going to do something in this game,' way before I even believed it. I was in the studio just playing around, you know. He grabbed me and Jay Rock off the streets, Compton and Watts and said, 'Get in the studio. Do something better with your life.' And we're here doing it now. Jay Rock is doing his thing. He's at an all-time level where he's ready to blow and break out. The same thing with him, Jay Rock gave me my shot by jumping out into the wolves of the industry and the politics. I didn't have to go through that. It was so much we had to learn. So by the time we went through all our mistakes, I was ready, and Rock was in my corner giving me game.
On J. Cole trying to sign him:
"He never told me that. I think by the time I met him, he wanted to get his label off ground. He was already signed and doing his thing. I was still independent. But that's a good eye for talent."
On a joint J. Cole/K. Dot album:
"It's always just a schedule issue. Once we get around that... That's my boy I talk to on the regular. We do [have music recorded it just a matter of putting it together] and also going back in and continuing to work. Them songs are so old, we both grown as artists [since]."
On "Control" almost two years later:
"The thing with 'Control' is, I think people forgot, just off the music that I put out, that I'm actually from the West Coast. And the aggression that we have in our music, I can't run from that, whether it be a 'Control' verse, whether it be 'The Blacker the Berry.' I'm influenced by [Ice] Cube, I'm influenced by Dre. I think what happened was that people forgot that. So when you hear something like 'Control' coming from Kendrick Lamar, that's a reminder that I grew up off gansta rap and that aggression will always be in me."
On whether having respect from other artists or respect from fans is more important:
"My fans for sure because those are the people that have been rockin' with me since day one before we even signed to a major. How I got out here in New York, I did my first sold-out show at SOB's, that was just off the love of the music. So they will always be No. 1, period."
On people calling him a best of all time or a classic:
"That's the thing with the word classic and instant-classic album. Me putting To Pimp A Butterfly out, you hear the speculation of kids saying that all over again prior to when we put out good kid m.A.A.d. city. I always told them, 'Listen to the music a few times, man, before we starting throwing words like that out. Don't do this on my behalf because I want you to live with it.' I don't want it to be first listen and you like it or first listen and you have an opinion. Live with it. Grow with it because at the end of the day, I make albums that have that type of longevity. If not, I could just give you a whole bunch of singles on one record. I was talking to somebody the other day. I make my music basically for people in the prison system and kids in college because they got nothing but time to listen to it. So I want it to be an actual course that you taking, that you can live with. For me personally, as long as I do music, I want to make something people can live with and go back and say, 'You know what? He did put out a classic album' however many years from now when you keep playing it back."
On Snoop's verse on TPAB:
"I laid the skeleton down because I haven't heard him like that in a long time. We going in, I just said, 'Do what you do. You've been doing it before me. This is what I've been a fan of.' So all I can do is direct it. I can't sound like him. That's his talent. That comes from him."
On why there wasn't a Dre song on the album:
"It's a thing that we got going on that we waiting on. It's a strategic move. If I could speak on it, I would. That man is a scientist, and we got a plan."
On whether he is engaged to girlfriend Whitney Alford:
"Yeah, definitely. I'm loyal to the soil. The thing at the end of the day, you always want to have real people around you. Period. Whether that's male or female. Everybody that's been around me have been around since day one, and I can't change that. I don't change for nobody. I can't run from that. I always show respect when respect is being given. And people that've been by your side, you're supposed to honor that. That's how you stand up."
Check out the full interview below, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
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