Kendrick Lamar is closing in on the last leg of The DAMN. Tour, a 36-date national expedition that kicked off on July 7 and culminates on September 2 in Miami. During a stop in Duluth, Georgia, Rolling Stone sat down with the highly revered Compton MC to discuss everything from his childhood to Drake.
After revealing that his childhood nickname was “Man Man” (his family always said he carried himself like a man), he touched on what a “wack artist” is to him. It was a topic he broached on the DAMN. track “ELEMENT.,” where he makes the distinction between a black artist and a wack artist.
“A wack artist uses other people’s music for their approval,” K. Dot explained. “We’re talking about someone that is scared to make their own voice, chases somebody else’s success and their thing, but runs away from their own thing. That’s what keeps the game watered-down. Everybody’s not going to be able to be a Kendrick Lamar. I’m not telling you to rap like me. Be you. Simple as that.
“I watch a lot of good artists go down like that because you’re so focused on what numbers this guy has done, and it dampers your own creativity,” he continued. “Which ultimately dampers the listener, because at the end of the day, it’s not for us. It’s for the person driving to their 9-to-5 that don’t feel like they wanna go to work that morning.”
With all of Kendrick’s successes, his confidence is clearly intact, but he admits the song “HUMBLE.” was written as a reminder to himself to stay grounded. When he raps, “Hol’ up bitch/ Sit down/ Be humble,” he’s talking to himself.
“It’s the ego,” he said. “When you look at the song titles on this album, these are all my emotions and all my self-expressions of who I am. That’s why I did a song like that, where I just don’t give a fuck, or I’m telling the listener, ‘You can’t fuck with me.’ But ultimately, I’m looking in the mirror.”
The road to superstardom has been a long one. Elsewhere in the interview, he talked about the first time he went in the studio after signing with Top Dawg Entertainment, where he got some tough feedback from label head Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith. Ultimately, those criticisms helped fuel his creativity and get the Grammy Award-winning artist where he is today.
“I ended up getting tough skin, too, even with criticism,” he said. “My first time in the studio, Top Dawg was like, ‘Man, that shit wack.’ Other artists around couldn’t handle that. But it made me go back in the booth and go harder.”
Like moneybag yo and desiigner being the ultimate future hendrix knock offs
Moneybagg has bars though future does not
King Kendrick keeping real hip hop alive on the mainstream level.
Kendrick lamar is garbage! Underground hip hop for life.
I agree dude sold alot of records but doesnt have anything ground breaking yeah hes #1 blah blah blah as a “commercial rap artist” shit is for the masses which is cool. Would rather listen to Kendrick before Drake anyday but I dont really like either artist just cause there popular at the moment and everybody is on this dudes nuts so hard. I had section 80 years ago. It had a few songs I liked but every album after that just gets more watered down and commercialized by the mass consumption it doesnt have any value anymore. You can buy this shit at Wal-Mart edited? Hmmmm… Money Money Money! Dude who wants an edited Kendrick album? Why trade yoyr artistic freedom to make more money? I thought he was against the system and his creative values is what he preaches but he is the system he is “white americas” hip hop now. Only thing he can do know is be political like Jay Z and talk about investments and bettering his community and what not. I dont wanna hear a million stories about how poor you were as a child heard it a million times. You have more money then most people so save that shit for the stans
-Peace!
Kendrick Lame-ar is the definition of a wack artist. King Drizzaveli murders him in every aspect. Real ting ya kno? #DrakeIsLoveDrakeIsLife
kungfu Kenny killin em
Dudes on here be whole groupies calling another man king wtf is wrong with yal probaly go to autograph signings and cry when yal meet these dudes and kendrick got some good bars sometimes delivery be kinda corny to me never would buy his album and funny i read that article and didnt see drake mentioned at all hiphopdx jusr assume shit smh step yal writing game up and i think drake is a great artist and makes good music idc about him having a ghostwriter on if you’re reading this its too late bcuz ultimately the guy that gave him the reference tracks is garbage so to me drake did him a favor ijs but long story short both artists are dope in they own right and they both winning so whats the issue
Sick sentence, bro.
Don’t they teach you guys spelling in elementary school, or what the hell makes people write text like this? Insane stuff. It’s not that hard – and doesn’t even take longer to write it properly, so stop with this “10-year old kid” -attitude towards writing text.
Your em dash usage is erroneous.
Oh, right. Thank you for noticing that.
Wtf u talking bout ..everybody wanna be like bone thugs..even u kendrick
One thing he also said was if you are from the south, mostly likely your music will be wack
THE SOUTH RUNS HIPHOP FUKK BOI .
Fucc diz fuccin fa66ot doe. WEST CIZZOAST AINT CLAIMING DIZ MIZZARK doe real spit doe. Fruitcake mufucca eat a dicc and be humble qu33r. Fucc dude and fucc hiz wite fans ain’t no REAL A55 dude fuccin wit did HOOK a55 buzta doe.
True statement from Kendrick Lamar, But a lot of time its the machine that control what the public hear and see and go in say you need to sound like this artist or that artist we don’t have much diversity in hip hop a bunch flimsy so call artist talking and rapping about nothing so the public is led like sheep forced fed garbage and told this is good music radio is wack playing the same 5 or 6 songs 24/7
Now I know that some of you will be hating on me for this comment but I mean to be honest, I’ve been a hip hop fan for over 15 years and Kendrick is definitely a great rapper, however I’m noticing that many people already made him a legend and comparing him to PAC/Biggie/EM/Nas etc… which he’s not close yet, maybe if he keeps it up for another 5 years atleast – I agree that he’s the best ACTIVE lyricist now but I’ve never played an album of his including Damn and not had to skip some songs which is not the case for atleast 1 album of hip hop legends – Damn was good, matter fact I’m bumping Humble now but lyrics is not everything and he needs to step it up on the production part and get some good beats as I believe the beat is as important as the lyrics, well I don’t think it’s a hard task for him since he’s down with Dre!
I think that he gets the beat he feels will compliment his delivery and emotion. He wants more attention on the lyrics because thats what comes first to him. He can choose dope beats if he wants, but that wont make him a legend if the whole album is made up of dope beats. He does have songs with dope beats Blacker the berry, these walls, alright, pride, duckworth, humble, the list goes on
That’s what it is. some good artists lack self confidence ,and with that you are dead.