Over the last few months, Kendrick Lamar has shared details about the follow-up to 2012's instant classic good kid, m.A.A.d city. Now, in a new interview with Complex, he reveals more about the upcoming album and how his life has changed since becoming the hottest name in the game. Here is what we learned.
1. Lamar doesn't have a title or cover art picked out yet, like he did for GKMC. He says he is "flirting with ideas."
2. He has primarily been working with TDE's in-house producers, Tae Beats and Sounwave of Digi+Phonics, but has also been in the studio with Dr. Dre.
3. He has recorded 30 to 40 new songs for the album (For GKMC, he recorded 60 to 70).
4. He says the album should be ready for a fourth quarter release in 2014.
5. A typical Lamar verse costs $250,000, though they've charged $400,000 for one.
6. A$AP Rocky's "F**kin' Problems" was originally made for GKMC but didn't fit in with the narrative arc of the effort.
7. Lamar eats healthy, plays basketball twice a week for exercise, rarely drinks and doesn't smoke or sip lean.
8. He isn't too disappointed about his Grammy snub and Macklemore's response to beating him. "It wasn't really a huge deal for me," he told them. "Macklemore deserves the accolades. That's still my partner regardless. He probably didn't need to Instagram the text. But what's done is done."
9. Despite his infamous "Control" verse, Kendrick doesn't really think he's the King of New York. "I feel [The Notorious] B.I.G. and Jay [Z]will always be the King of New York."
10. Kendrick says he trusts his creative process while trying to follow-up GKMC. "If I keep focusing on, 'I need to make something better than good kid,' it's going to be just that. That's not challenging yourself. I don't want to become that person reflecting on what has been done. What I'm doing now is the question. I'm only as good as my last word, my last hook, my last bridge."
Read the full interview here, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
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