Kendrick Lamar is readying himself for the highly anticipated follow-up to his instant classic debut, good kid m.A.A.d city. New York Times writer Lizzy Goodman shadowed the Compton rapper during his stint opening for Kanye West's Yeezus tour. Here are the 10 things we learned from her profile, "Kendrick Lamar, Hip-Hip's Newest Old-School Star," published earlier this week.
1. Kendrick Lamar had a stutter when he was a kid. "I think that's why I put my energy into making music," he said. "That's how I get my thoughts out, instead of being crazy."
2. He has a longtime girlfriend, Whitney Alford, but he tries to keep their relationship private. He said that she is the one person in his life who has the power to call him out. "She's been here since Day 1."
3. Lamar and West didn't have the mentor-mentee relationship that people assumed they did on tour. Goodman only saw the two together for about 30 seconds during the entire tour. However, Lamar knew people wanted to think that sort of relationship was going on, so he told journalists that he was learning so much from West.
4. Lamar's label, TDE, didn't actually want him to go on tour with West. They wanted him in the studio recording new music. However, West's camp wouldn't take "No" for an answer and convinced him to join the tour by giving him a tour bus with a studio inside.
5. Despite having money now, he still doesn't like to spend it on frivolous things. "I just don't think I could ever throw around money at the club," he said, confirming his girlfriend's joking claim that he is "too cheap."
6. Lamar is still very close to his mother, whose voice you can hear in a voicemail recording on "Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter's Daughter." He explained that the way she sounds on the record is exactly what she is like in real life. Since he isn't always at home to take care of her, he calls her frequently and has hired someone in his entourage to take care of her.
7. His parents are originally from Chicago but moved to Compton in the '80s. As to what his father did for a living, he explained, "My pop did what he had to do." However, he noted that he was lucky to at least have a father at home growing up. "Fathers are not there a lot, and Kendrick's dad was no-nonsense," Lamar's former teacher Regis Inge told Goodman.
8. Lamar realized he had a gift during his preteen years. He was a part of the after-school freestyle rap scene at Centennial High School. "He was just better, and everyone knew that," his longtime friend Free said. "It got to the point when nobody wanted to rap with him."
9. He put out his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga in Charge, when he was 16 years old, which got the attention of TDE head Anthony Tiffith, who later signed him to the label.
10. Lamar never saw the appeal of gang life but most of the people in his life were involved in one, including his younger brother. "I remember him saying, like, he wanted to be the hardest gang member," Lamar recalled, shaking his head. "That's what he wanted to be."
Read the full interview for yourself here, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
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