Kendrick Lamar Credits Career To Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle"

Kendrick Lamar recently spoke about the impact of Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, an album that was released November 23, 1993. In an interview with xxlmag.com, Lamar said he was greatly impacted by the album, which he says he heard when he was six years old.

“That’s all they were playing around you as a kid,” Lamar says. “I couldn’t escape it.”

The album has impacted Lamar’s work in various ways, according to the Compton rapper.

“I’m definitely influenced by that album,” Lamar says. “The structure. The cohesiveness. The skits. The flow. The melodies Snoop kicked. The raw raps. There wouldn’t be a Kendrick Lamar without Doggystyle. [What stood out about the album] was its sound. Albums that last that long have their own sound. It was nothing duplicated, that’s why it stood out. It was that G-Funk.”

During a recent GQ interview, Lamar praised Snoop Dogg as one of the rappers who influenced him greatly, along with Tupac, Dr. Dre and Mobb Deep’s Prodigy.

“With the whole ‘Control’ verse, like, I knew it would bring an element of Hip Hop that hasn’t been there in a little while,” Lamar said. “But how much people put the hype on it? That’s the only thing that threw me off. Damn, you all attracted to it this much, but this ain’t nothing no different from what I grew up listening to, from Snoop. So it’s not new to me. I thought it wouldn’t be that much new to you guys too. But I see that it really is a whole ‘nother generation and demographic out there that’s listening. A whole ‘nother mainstream that’s not too familiar. You feel me?”

Lamar is one of several emcees praising Doggystyle’s impact. During a recent interview with MTV, Nipsey Hussle also praised the project, echoing some of Lamar’s sentiments.

“I was young,” Hussle said regarding the release of Doggystyle. “I was a little kid really, but that was one of them albums you couldn’t really escape. You didn’t have to buy it to hear every song. You was kinda surrounded by it. Especially being in L.A. So, he took the streets when that came out. It was like nothing else really that was as dominant in the streets. You heard that out of everybody car. You wake up, aunties was playing it. That’s how I judge the impact of a record. You can pay for radio. You can do a lot of marketing, but when it’s in the world, you drive outside you hear it. Everywhere you go it’s surrounding you. That’s how you know its impact.”