Kendrick Lamar recently sat down with notable journalist Touré for an in-depth discussion for VICE, talking about everything from Barack Obama and Donald Trump to his experiences growing up in Compton and what he believes is his perfect verse.
The “HUMBLE.” rapper says he was in near disbelief when Donald Trump won the presidential election on November 8, 2016. He explains he went from feeling welcomed at the White House under former president Barack Obama to feeling ostracized, calling the shift a “complete mindfuck.”
“We all are baffled,” Lamar said about the election. “It is something that completely disregards our moral compass. The key differences [between Obama and Trump] are morals, dignity, principles, common sense. How can you follow someone who doesn’t know how to approach someone or speak to them kindly and with compassion and sensitivity? It’s just building up the fire in me. It builds the fire for me to keep pushing as hard as I want to push.”
The Compton native also recalled something the former president said to him that shook him to the core.
“The craziest thing he [Obama] said was, ‘Wow, how did we both get here?’ Blew my mind away,” he said. “I mean, it’s just a surreal moment when you have two black individuals, knowledgeable individuals, but who also come from these backgrounds where they say we’ll never touch ground inside these floors.”
“That’s what blows me up,” he continued. “Being in there and talking to him and seeing the type of intelligence that he has and the influence that he has, not only on me, but on my community. It just always takes me back to the idea of how far we have come along with this idea about how [much] further we can go. Just him being in office sparks the idea that us as a people, we can do anything that we want to do. And we have smarts and the brains and the intelligence to do it.”
For the past few years, the TDE cornerstone has been heralded as one of Hip Hop’s greatest voices and his fourth studio album, DAMN., has pulled the numbers to prove it, already going double platinum. He believes the song “FEAR.” contains his perfect verse, but at the same time stresses humility.
“It’s completely honest,” he said. “The first verse is everything that I feared from the time that I was seven years old. The second verse I was 17, in the third it’s everything I feared when I was 27. These verses are completely honest.”
He added, “Everything you write is not dope. Even if you’re a great writer, a bunch of the stuff you write is wack. But most people don’t have somebody around to be like, ‘That’s wack.’ I’ve been in that studio writing terrible verses, writing terrible hooks, with homeboys and friends and people that you trust telling you, ‘That’s garbage.’ I grew thick skin and got back in there and did it all over again. And then you eventually grow an ability to know when something is too far. I learnt how to challenge myself to take it to the next level.”
Later in the conversation, he also admitted he’s sober when he writes his music, something that may surprise some of his fans and contemporaries.
“I can sometimes cut the whole world off to write a verse that is perfect to me,” he said. “I could be in the studio all day and turn the phone off and completely zone out, because I feel like this was what I was chosen to do. And I can’t let anyone get in between that. I want to make the music in the most sober mind as possible, that way I know it’s me making it, not just the liquor!”
That focus helped him escape the rough environment he grew up in and he credits music for putting him on the right path.
“We used to have these successful people come around and tell us what’s good and what’s bad in the world, but from our perspective it didn’t mean shit to us, because you’re telling us all these positive things but when we walk outside and see somebody’s head get blown off, whatever you just said went out the window,” he admits. “And it just chips away at the confidence. It makes you feel belittled in the world.
“The more violence you’re exposed to as a kid, the more it chips away at you,” he added. “For the most part, the kids that I was around, it broke them. It broke them to say, ‘Fuck everything, I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do to survive.’ Before I let it chip away at me 100 percent, I was making my transition into music.”
For now, he wants to make sure he’s giving back to the world despite any personal issues.
“I’m still a human being, I’m still a person, I still have family, I still have my own personal problems,” he said. “But I have to give to the world. I think that’s my responsibility, [to learn] from my mistakes [and to spread] the knowledge that I have, the wisdom that I have. It’s not just a job or entertainment for me, this is what I have to offer to the world.”
Read the full interview here.
What’s more of a “mindfuck” is trying to figure out what obama did for the black people
Used them to push his agenda and made it legal for illegal immigrants to vote on top of it to push his agenda and failed dramaticaly when everyone caught on
He got them free cell phones! That way, they could have a nice iPhone, and still afford to have a burner for “you know what” lol. Obama was just another puppet.
Hey, if the Republican Party, and Democratic Party both hate trump, and did everything I need their power to keep him from office, that tells me he must truly be a threat to their positions/game.
Leading by example and that’s exactly what Kendrick is doing. So important to the culture!
Hiphopdx and this dude Kyle love putting President Trump’s name in their headlines. So much so that they will take an article (like the one above), which 90% of has nothing to do with Trump, and they will throw his name in the headline….taking away from Kendrick’s glory, misleading readers and headline skimmers.
Another brainwashed rapper do any of those rappers ever learn anything besides rhyming words?
I always hear about this morale compass bullshit but i say all these people who just wanna keep up handouts and bring in more people who will just leech off our already stressed system then lets create a morale compass tax for all these whiney fucking cry baby lib dem obama dick riders a 5% taxation increase… some states have 7%+ sales tax so i think its about adequate if not shut the fuck up
No. The difference between Trump and Obama is that one is a nationalist and one is a globalist. One of them talks around the bush using fancy words, the other just tells it how it is, in simple terms. Many of us hated obama, and hated the direction his policies were taking our nation… difference is, people weren’t being god damn pussies about it.
You know what made a trump presidency possible? All of you that bitch constantly, and are “baffled”. Because you seem to forget that your opinion isn’t the only opinion.
I love hiphop, and have high morals. I look at the presidents policies and their effects. Not how nice or mean he is.
And kendrick probably would have had little to nothing negative to say about Hillary, which is crazy. If you hate trump, and like Hillary, your just being ignorant. She cheated Bernie. Broke laws. The Clintons are gangsters.
But gangsters are cool in hip hop.
Obama like every president before him, he did some good things, he did some dumb things….But Obama’s not the president anymore so let’s stay on Trump. I’m 36 so I can tell you that Trump is the same Trump he’s been for the past 30 damn years…go check articles about him before the reality show phase hit. Go read up on the scandals, the wtf quotes, and everything in the middle. Trump was a silver spoon fed rich boy that never had to worry about a hard days work in his life. His dad was his safety net much into his adulthood…Trump’s not racist at all.. Go check the old photos..He’s around plenty of black people…plenty of everybody that has money…If you don’t have money, you don’t matter to him…I could have said that not even 2 years ago and most people, black or white, dem or rep would have smirked and agreed. Now because he pisses off the left and and talks big, people act like this 70+ year old tiger up and decided to change his stripes and get all patriotic for America…Lmao Trumps the same as the politicians you all claim he’s the opposite of…that’s why we have Trump/Clinton photos aplenty. But I’ll always give it to him…since the 80’s I’ve seen him manipulate his ass off and its sad but funny to see him do it as the President…
If Kendrick didn’t believe the media hype about Trump being a racist, and didn’t talk smack about him in his music, he would be more than welcome at the White House, like Kanye was at Trump Tower before he assumed office. Trump is the most lied about human being in the history of the media, and it is because his economic policy favors small businesses instead of large corporations, so the corporations that run the media recognize an existential threat in his administration, so they do everything they can to make people hate him. Its amazing to me how many people have proven to be weak minded and buy into the hype without skepticism. Trump’s policies may or may not be good, I’m not economically literate enough to tell you, but I believe he has good intentions for every American, as much as they try to say he is only out for personal benefit and to help the rich and the Russians. He has sacrificed the last years of his life to be under frequent scrutiny, he is clearly not just doing this for his own benefit, that is stupid. Sorry Kendrick, I love your music and respect you as intelligent, but you are dead wrong about Trump, he is a great man, and I hope he goes down as the president that saved the people from the corporate machine that always starts wars and has us drinking flouride for population control.
hahaha Save us from the corporate machine…he IS the corporate machine! He IS the 1%!!! How do you not see this?! Jeez you guys.
Trump is a coward and a racist
Examples? Name a racist thing trump said, that’s ISNT true. That’s the liberal playbook: when you have no policy reform, call your opposition racist, misogynistic, sexist, homophobic, etc….
Open your eyes. Clintons the racist. Not trump. Look into Trumps history. Nobody ever once called trump racist, until he ran against a democrat. Before that, he was receiving awards for helping minorities, meeting rosa parks, etc.
Dumbest comment ever.He has been sued for racist practices in buildings he’s owned.It’s a matter of public record.Just say you’re a racist sympathizer and call it a day.That at least would be honest.
Getting sued when your a billionaire doesn’t mean much… find me a billionaire hotel owner who amhasnt been sued for racial discrimination… find me one
Duck Frump so imagine you are an employee at an apartment building, and you have the GM of the building and the owner, who owns several other apartment buildings. Say that the GM tells you to not accept black applicants and you report it to the DOJ. Who has to deal with the fallout? The owner does, even though it was his GM who made that decision. That is what happened to Trump, nobody ever accused him of personally ordering the racist practices, in fact the one witness who said that the GM did later fooled an affidavit saying he was coerced into his testimony. But yeah, keep telling yourself we just sympathize with racism, and keep doing everything the media tells you to do. You probably listen to trap and drill music too.
The amount of lies and vicious attacks that he has fielded since he announced his campaign is staggering, and he has taken it like a champ. You probably would have killed yourself by now if the media was constantly trying to make everybody in the country hate you at all costs, the way they are doing to Trump and his family. What they are doing to him is pure evil, but he is taking it like a champ, as he puts it “I take all of these slings and arrows, gladly for you, I take them for our movement so that we can have this country back”. To call him a coward is pure stupidity, he is persevering through a kind of hell that I or 99.99% of the population would have folded under the pressure by now. I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy the type of hate that the media has subjected him and his family to. He’s not a coward, and as Tommy already explained he’s not a racist either. So you are 0 for 2.
hahahaha So he DIDNT suggest he would grab women’s bodies without consent? DIDN’T call out Muslims, Mexicans, Blacks, fat women. DIDN’T bring up debt to a people suffering from a natural f-ing disaster, DIDN’T lie about Obama’s birth certificate for almost a decade, DIDN’T call black NFL players sons of bitches and in the same interview call the Vegas shooter who killed 50+ and injured HUNDREDS a “smart guy” … The Media did ALL that right? The guy is a buffoon. and By extension so are you. You are the sheep being prodded and pushed to actually lower your standards to accept this type of blatant incompetence.
I’m with Duck Frump “Just say you’re a racist sympathizer and call it a day. That at least would be honest.”
Sure Kendrick , barry the glorified community organizer is really smart huh ….
AMERICANISM NOT GLOBALISM WILL BE OUR CREDO ! MAGA – HISPANIC AMERICAN
I’ll take “glorified community organizer” over “glorified gameshow host” any day. Preferably without all the misogyny, racial prejudice, and overall incompetence.
Your such a pussy ……
Liberlism is a mental disorder ….
Protect our BORDERS, LANGUAGE,AND CULTURE ! MAGA
MMGA (MEXICO)
MEGA(ENGLAND)
Im talking to you potatoe
Thanks for your valuable contribution. Mental disorder? Explain how? Or do you think you can just say things and not back it up? You are laughably ignorant, just like your president. “Who knew Healthcare would be so difficult?” Pretty much EVERYONE but him. Protect our borders – like instigating a nuclear war with Korea? Protect our language – he can’t even put together a coherent sentence. Protect our culture – this ones particularly funny because your are hispanic. Sit your brainwashed ass down, little boy. Adults are talking.
Why the fuck are u Trump supporters on this or any Hip Hop site? Rap does not want or need u so stop visiting the fucking sites u racist, ignorant, bitch asses. And the shit u write u would never speak to our faces so take ur pussy asses to a pop or country site
I agree with you 100% they should not come here to a hip hop site but they are like the KKK who long ago would come to start crap with the black community for no reason…they can’t help it…they still can’t let the hate go and they gotta come to these sites to get it out of their systems…but I guarantee you one thing…they will never approach any of us to our face tho
lol more proof that you guys think every fan of hip hop needs to think and act the same way. it’s also why every rapper co-signed obama, everyone moves as one political unit. pathetic.
Just like you guys will never FIGHT ONE ON ONE. BETTER CALL YOUR GANG
Because I’ve always been a rap fan, voted for Obama twice, and now I want somebody who can actually work for the people. I support Trump to anybody who asks, what makes your pussy ass think i wouldn’t say it to your face that Trump is the only politician that will save our economy from destruction. I know you think he’s racist because that’s what the media has programmed you to think, and you have probably never watched a single one of his rallies. Plenty of rappers support him by the way (50 Cent, Scarface, Ice Cube just to name a few), so you are wrong that it has anything to do with rap. I guarantee I listen to deeper rap than you do.
The good president obama.
Under his administration usa fell deep into the crisis.
Trump was put in place to bring in the destruction of America. China will be the new America in coming years.
I can’t knock Trump, he’s good for King Hov’s money and will take away Nas food stamps.
What a surprise! A Jay Z fan that likes Donald Trump!
trump campaigned on the majority of the things obama ran on (except trump was pro gay marriage and obama wasn’t.) this is more evidence that nobody really knew why they voted for him, they liked him cause he was black. i guarantee if he actually took 15 minutes to read what obama ran on and what trump stands for he wouldn’t be so surprised.
You all are some sheep man. Sure Trump is rough around the edges…BUT…the guy was us Americans biggest F.U. to the US Government to date. That is why the the media is pushing the agenda for everyone to hate on him to get him out ASAP. But the damage is already done and we see through the crap. Name one racist thing the dude has ever said or done….. there is none! That’s just what the media tells you to believe and the sheep just go along with it. Do the research! In less than a year he has invested more $ into black colleges and black communities then Obama did in 8 years! He truly is rebuilding this country from the bottom up and if you are to stupid to realize that and just go along with what the media tells you to and hate on the guy then you are a part of the problem. Think about this, the media only shows and tells you what they want you to hear and see. They have an agenda. Do your own research and make you own decisions instead of just calling the guy a racists because that’s what you hear and see on TV. Stay woke my friends!
I’m still baffled at how people can be baffled at Trump…I’m still waiting for the country to crumble like i’ve been told since November. It seems like all the shit that went down with Obama in office is the same shit going down now…except the media doesn’t cover up Trump shit, they over exaggerate. Like PR became a pool, and the media ripped his wife for wearing timbs. It does seem like less ghettos are being burned down by their own tho, so maybe some things have changed
Not directed toward you. This UX is so poorly designed.