Pharrell, who worked with Kendrick Lamar on good kid, m.A.A.d. city, recently said that the Compton, California rapper reminded him of Rock music icon Bob Dylan.
“Kendrick Lamar is this era’s Bob Dylan,” Pharrell said, as reported by Complex. “Masterful story telling. Listen to it. It will elevate you. And just like that, music has changed.”
Kendrick Lamar recently responded to the Bob Dylan comparisons.
“That was crazy,” Lamar said during an interview with Arsenio Hall. “I always said, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m going to say something. I’m not going to just rap a bunch of verses.’ That was Dylan. He’s a legend and he said something. He voiced his opinion and the world gravitated towards it and I want to do that with my music.”
Kendrick Lamar Explains Significance Of “Swimming Pools (Drank)”
After speaking about Bob Dylan’s influence, Lamar also discussed the message behind “Swimming Pools (Drank).”
“Coming up in Compton, my parents [being] fairly young, I actually grew up with them,” Kendrick Lamar said. “I was in the household where they partied and they had fun, and I seen the different vices that was in the house. I said my first single I wanted to actually have it where I put in the air whether you can be a drinker that’s aware or you can be an alcoholic. I just threw the vices in there and wanted people to reach out and actually know what I was talking about and convey it on the record. I was having fun, but at the same time it was a message.”
Beyond this, Lamar also spoke about the Hip Hop scene in the West Coast.
“The culture of Hip Hop, the culture of L.A. Hip Hop on the scene right now, as far as TDE, as far as my camp, as far as people outside of my camp,” Lamar said. “We really, really want to keep our foot in the game. I seen Tupac on this same joint, and Dr. Dre, and we want to bring their energy back to the world, back to the culture of Hip Hop. So you have artists like myself, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Nipsey Hussle, Dom Kennedy, Problem, IamSu! from The Bay. We really represent this legacy that we want to uphold and continue to bring to the table, so I appreciate you for having me on here and being able to spread this word.”
The interview can be seen below.
RELATED: Kendrick Lamar Says He’s “Trying To Murder” Drake, J. Cole, Wale On Big Sean’s “Control”
Kendrick is the best rapper right now, No. 2 is how much time is this nigga spending on the intro
and you wonder why people think Kendrick is overrated?
media blog sites making two posts for one simple fucking interview. shit hhdx..
try one Jay-Z interview ‘news’ for 2 weeks
Jesus…I like Kendrick but bob Dylan? C’mon people …absurd
Pac is more Bob Dylan
DYLAN CAN’T BE COMPARED. THINK OF YOUR TOP 5 RAPPERS OF ALL TIME. DYLAN. DYLAN. DYLAN.
LMAO if only some of these dudes knew about Dylan the top 5 rapper in the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6bCcteNFHY
HOW DARE HE COMPARE HIMSELF TO ME. I HAD TO FIGHT PEOPLE TO BE IN DIDDY’S MADE UP BAND. THAT’S REAL HARD WORK. KENDRICK THINK HE DYLAN? SCHOOLBOY Q MUST BE FRED. AB SOUL CHOPPA.
i hope you joking
this is better than control
[Verse 1]
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People would call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall,”
You thought they were all akidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal
[Chorus]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?
[Verse 2]
Aw, you’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobodys ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you’re going to have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With a mystery tramp, but now you realize
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say, Do you want to make a deal?
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
Aw, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it is no good
You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
That is it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal?
[Chorus]
[Verse 4]
Aw, princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They’re all drinking, thinking that theyve got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you’d better take your diamond ring, you’d better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse
When you have got nothing, youve got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, youve got no secrets to conceal
[Chorus]
this is 15 verses kid
[Verse 1]
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying
[Verse 2]
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fools gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proved to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying
[Verse 3]
Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you’d just be
One more person crying
So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to you ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing
[Verse 4]
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred
[Verse 5]
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their marks
Make everything from toy guns that sparks
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred
[Verse 6]
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked
An’ though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it
[Verse 7]
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you
[Verse 8]
You loose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand without nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you
[Verse 9]
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to
[Verse 10]
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despite their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in
[Verse 11]
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platforms ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God Bless him
[Verse 12]
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it’s alright, Ma, if I can’t please him
[Verse 13]
Old lady judges, watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony
[Verse 14]
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely
[Verse 15]
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only
this fuckboi below is a god damn idiot for comparing hip-hop lyrics to rock/folk/blues lyrics. seriously you can’t be this dumb
there are absolutely no ways to compare these two. different genres, different timelines, one’s a legend and the other’s making his mark in the rap game. but I will say if Kendrick keeps going the way he’s going, he may have just as much IMPACT on the hip-hop genre as Bob Dylan did in the music industry.
naw no way
I love Pharrell but WTF kendrick should not be mentioned with Bob Dylan, at least not at this point, I think Kendrick is Dope, but i wasn’t that impressed with good kid m.A.A.d city. It was a solid album but nothing special.
I don’t like kendrick but gkmc is objectively a classic.
dude you never met Kendrick, your just basing your opinion off what you see. Pharrell has worked with him and talked to him, he can say whatever he wants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYPoDFil1r0
1 2
i understand the bob Dylan comparison don’t take it so literal tho, they both were outspoken an said what they felt they needed to say and you dudes who judge his music mention the control verse, gkmc and sect.80 if you heard his whole catalog you’d have a better understanding of why hes regarded so highly. GKMC, SECT80, OD, Kendrick Lamar EP, C4 mixtape, his growth over these projects is amazing
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shut the fuck up
Bob Dylan was out there though. How many of you goobers saw him on the MLK March on Washington videos? Was just on 2 weeks ago it was on. Dylan rode for justice in the Medger Evers murder.
@ BP
this is what we’re talking about when we say dickriding. Pharrell’s howling at the moon with this one because the music ain’t really the same. He must of been high off wasabi & snow peas.
love kendrick hes the next makaveli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QNb_pmed_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGxTlho12c
as a bitchass young money groupie with no accounting skills, I can confirm that drake does not want beef with kendrick. Kendrick will rip drake apart. let’s be real, drake the most effeminate, daddy kissing, white canadian faggot in the game. And that’s why i like him, cause i’m like that to.
Wow, all these years and Arsenio still sucks as an interviewer.
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/IFShbC6Ceds/mqdefault.jpg
my step-dad just got Porsche Panamera from only workin on a computer… useful reference http://www.star48.com
I was a drake stan until I heard gkmc, that classic changed my opinion about my old fav rappers.
good kid, m.a.a.d city has changed the newer generation’s perception on what good rap music is.
thank you kendrick, you make hip hop interesting again
kendrick lamar, bringing real hip hop back !
will probably give gkmc a listen, I heard 2-3 guest verses yesterday anhd I agree, he is head and shoulders above EVERYBODY, mainstream or underground
I get the comparaison with bob… kendrick is probably the best lyricist in hip hop since Lupe Fiasco
Kendrick is really underrated.
I saw his albums on every “best albums of all time” lists but this shit need to be top 5, not just top 20 of all time
he’ll be remembered.
he is basically making hip hop interesting again !
I thought he was overrated but I heard gkmc last week… dude is a beast 😮
damn near a year later
the real king of hip hop, he reminds me of Tupac a lot
minus the thug
More like Billy Ray Cyrus.
hes better than bob dylan imo, and I ain’t even a fan
@the-shadi. Kendrick is good but by saying he’s better than Bob Dylan you show you have no knowledge whatsoever of music.
Tupac was the Dylan of his time.