A$AP Rocky Says Kendrick Lamar’s New Album Inspired Him During CRWN Interview

During Part 1 of A$AP Rocky’s CRWN interview with Elliott Wilson, the A$AP Mob frontman shed light on a variety of subjects including, among others, what artists he takes inspiration from today.

“I want y’all to inspire me,” he said in front of a live audience at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21. “I saw Earl Sweatshirt video and I felt inspired. I saw Joey Bada$$ video [and] I felt inspired, man. I wanna feel inspired. Kendrick [Lamar’s] album inspired me. J. Cole’s success inspired me. I wanna feel inspired. We gotta keep raising the bar. Everyday I get inspired. I get inspired by normal people walking up and down the block.”

Later in the conversation, Rocky spoke on his upcoming sophomore studio album At.Long.Last.A$AP, which is scheduled to be released on May 12.

“People wanna hear bars, they wanna hear some music, they wanna hear me rapping,” A$AP Rocky says. “I was fortunate enough to be named after one of the greatest emcees of all time. That’s like being named Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson to me, you get what I’m saying? Or Kobe Bryant or something like that. I was named after [Rakim]. I was intimidated because those shoes are too big to fulfil or walk in. I got to a point where I felt like I was 26 [and] I felt Rap was shit. I just hated Rap [in] 2014. I’m getting a headache thinking about it. I got to a point where I just was like, ‘I need to do something about this shit.’ This is the return of the God emcee, I’m talking some lord shit on this next album, At.Long.Last.A$AP. A-L-L-A. It’s lit.”