In a recent radio interview with the Femme Fatale Mixshow, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar revealed a more personal side as he spoke on seeing death in his community and hopefully shining a positive light on his city through music.
The rapper revealed that growing up in his neighborhood he constantly heard about death before seeing it first-hand.
“I think nothing can get worse than just seeing death. I don’t like to speak on it a lot because it plays back in your head over and over again,” Lamar explained. “I’ve been in a lot of situations where I’ve seen [cats I’ve] known personally get killed in front of your face. It’s a trip because as a kid you grow into this environment where you think that you supposed to see that all the time because you’re so used to hearing people talk about it. You’re so used to seeing it from a distance. Then when you see it close up it’s like, ‘Damn, that’s what it really is?’”
After speaking on his experience, Lamar was asked if he felt a sense of responsibility to his community since he was able to make it out.
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“I definitely have a great responsibility. I have a greater responsibility for the people that weren’t blessed with the blessings that I have. I didn’t have the roughest life, but I know cats who did who didn’t have they father in they life. I had my pops in my life and my mother. And they was both active,” said Lamar. “I mean they weren’t perfect. My pops was still in the streets doing his stuff, but at the end of the day I had them there to pick my battles and tell me ‘Don’t do that, cause that got a consequence’…At the end of the day I feel it’s only right for me to, if I have some type of positive light, I can shed through my music however it comes for the city I’m gonna do that.”
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