Kendrick Lamar Reflects On Drake Diss Track ‘Not Like Us’ SWEEPING Grammys Before Super Bowl
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00:00but nobody can speak for the man better than himself.
00:06Please welcome Kendrick Lamar.
00:09Now y'all gotta make some more noise than that.
00:25Good morning.
00:26How you doing?
00:28You know, Kendrick, it's a little bit surreal
00:31to actually see you in the flesh
00:33because you've always made it a point
00:36of just letting the music speak for yourself,
00:38which is something I really respect,
00:40but the spotlight has been shining so brightly on you
00:43for the past few months.
00:44I've just been wondering how you've been processing
00:47behind the scenes, how you've been feeling
00:49about everything happening, all the success.
00:53It's just really just,
00:54I want to look at it like it's just a continuum
01:02of who I am, really.
01:03I've always stayed to myself,
01:05always been in my own bubble,
01:07whether it's with the fam or whether it's training.
01:11How I process it all is just,
01:14I continue to do what I was doing 10 years ago,
01:16and that's like bettering myself,
01:19bettering the craft, and not look at it as bright lights,
01:22you know, and it may sound cliche,
01:25but it always worked for me, even when I was younger,
01:26you know, playing sports or being in the forefront
01:30of presentations and stuff like that.
01:32It was like, I got to look at myself in the mirror
01:35rather than looking at it as a crowd
01:36or, you know, fame and attention.
01:40So now, early days of your career,
01:43you know, section 80 days, even early mixtapes,
01:46and you perfecting your craft as an emcee.
01:48Did you ever think we'd be at the Superbowl with this?
01:51I wasn't thinking about no Superbowl.
01:53You never thought about the Superbowl with this?
01:55I wasn't thinking about no Superbowl for sure.
01:57We was thinking about the best verse
02:00and how we gonna split this $5 at Church's Chicken
02:05or something like that.
02:06It wasn't no Superbowl.
02:08Going to the studio and getting a meal.
02:10But I think, well, what I know is,
02:15the passion I have now is still the passion I had then,
02:18and I think that carried on to the Superbowl.
02:20So it was all about being present.
02:22As long as I was present in the studio
02:24and present in whatever that line was
02:26or whatever that mistake was,
02:29rapping or doing hooks or choruses or whatnot,
02:33I was present in that moment.
02:34I felt that passion.
02:35I think being present and not actually foreseeing everything
02:39kept me in the grounded state of mind
02:41in order to be at, you know, big stages like this.
02:44I think we felt that presence and that focus in your work
02:48for the past 15 years.
02:50Like Ibro said, going all the way back to projects
02:52like Overly Dedicated.
02:54And so seeing you perform with Dr. Dre
02:56at the Halftime Show three years ago,
02:58we already felt like that was the most hip-hop,
03:01beautiful halftime show ever.
03:02And now for you to come back
03:04and be the first solo hip-hop artist to headline,
03:06how does it feel being the artist to hit that milestone?
03:10And, you know, just your thoughts on what that means
03:13about hip-hop's progression and impact over the years.
03:15But it made me think about like the grind of it.
03:19You know what I mean?
03:20A lot of people don't see like the story
03:22before the glory, man.
03:23That's like shuffling out your mixtapes
03:27and, you know, going to neighborhoods and parties
03:31and performing near a hole in the wall spots.
03:34It lets me, it reminds me of the essence
03:38and the core response of rap and hip-hop
03:42and how far it can go.
03:43So for me, that means everything
03:46because it puts the culture on the forefront
03:48where it needs to be and not minimized
03:50to just a catchy song or verse.
03:54This is a true art form.
03:56So to represent it on this type of stage,
03:58it's like everything that I've worked for
04:01and everything that I believe in as far as the culture,
04:04like I live and die by it.
04:06It shouldn't have changed my whole family life.
04:08So I don't take it for granted at all
04:11as far as the art form, you know?
04:13It feels like that was a lot
04:15what this year was about too, right?
04:16Like you, I guess, you know,
04:19you took it and put it on your back
04:21and you felt like a line needed to be drawn, right?
04:24Was that, you know, was that your intent
04:27when you rolled out this year?
04:28Was like, yo, I'm drawing a line.
04:30Like this is what it is.
04:32My intent was to always keep,
04:33I think from day one was to always keep
04:35the nature of it as a sport.
04:37You know, I don't care how much I look at it
04:39as far as like, as a collaborative effort,
04:44you know, that's cool too.
04:45But I love when artists grit they teeth.
04:50Like I still watch battle raps.
04:52I still watch Smack URL from Murda Moop
04:55to Lux to T-Rock, you know, my bro Daylight.
04:59This has always been the core definition of who I am.
05:03And it's been that way since day one.
05:04So I don't think it was a thing for this year.
05:07It was always just a continuum.
05:09And what I will say about this year,
05:14it was more from a space where I think a lot of people
05:19was putting rap to the back and you didn't see that.
05:23You didn't see that grit.
05:24You didn't see that bite anymore.
05:25So I always took that into consideration
05:27and going into any type of my music.
05:29That's interesting.
05:30So I hope this makes sense, right?
05:33You know, we've been following your journey
05:35for about 15 years and you have been so consistent
05:39in the messaging and the focus, like you said,
05:43and you've always moved with integrity.
05:44So in a lot of ways, I feel like
05:47we thought we knew exactly who you were
05:49as an artist in a positive way.
05:51And then last year, it felt like you unlocked
05:53a whole new dimension for us.
05:55But that person, like you said, was always in there.
05:58But I'm wondering, do you still surprise yourself sometimes?
06:02Did you surprise yourself last year?
06:03Or was it just us, the fans with our jaws on the floor,
06:07just stunned?
06:09That's a good question.
06:11Surprise myself?
06:13No, I don't think I surprised myself
06:14because for me and for my partners
06:19that's been around me since 2005, 2006,
06:22like my brothers, they know my personality.
06:24They know my capabilities,
06:26even when it wasn't presented to the public at first, right?
06:30So this is just like a revolving door
06:35of what I've been doing in Carson Studios
06:39at the Homie Garage or my brothers at TD
06:43or just anybody around the city of Compton in LA.
06:48It's just magnified to the level where I've progressed it
06:52and did enough hours to know, okay,
06:55I know where to place it now.
06:57I know how to make it connect with people.
07:00It feels like each album too, getting to this point,
07:03was like, it was an album for the culture
07:07and it was an album for the critics.
07:09You know what I mean?
07:10For the critics and then GNX comes along
07:14and it's like, nah, nah, nah, this album for anybody,
07:17everybody and anybody who want it at any time.
07:21And you brought that energy
07:22and the energy you brought on GNX was an energy
07:26that I don't think was really happening in hip hop.
07:29Like it's a public enemy level energy.
07:31It's a Ice Cube, America's Most Wanted energy.
07:34It's a classic, you know, timeless energy.
07:39Talk about your headspace between Mr. Morale and this GNX.
07:43Yeah, nah, that's great.
07:46Go back even further, man, speaking on that energy,
07:50my cousins was like DJ Quick, you know, and Dre, you know,
07:55these folks that my people was playing.
07:57So I always had that DNA.
07:59And you heard that DNA a little bit on Good Kid, Mad City,
08:02but I wanted to tell my story first, right?
08:05And fast forward to GNX, I felt it was just a perfect time
08:10because not only the energy was lost,
08:12but it was an energy that was bubbling
08:14inside of me as well.
08:15I wanted to go back to the forefront of just the bite
08:18and just the grit of rap,
08:19just all raps and hard ass beats.
08:22And that's like the basics for me.
08:24I thought about damn, what I used to like when I was a kid.
08:27Hard raps, good beats, that's smacking, right?
08:31And it was a great transition from Mr. Morale
08:35because that was my most intimate.
08:37I wanted to go inside of my own psyche
08:38and my own personal withdrawals
08:42and see how it connects with the public and who can relate.
08:46So during this time around,
08:49I think it was necessary of coming out of that cocoon
08:51and feeling like, okay, I arrive now.
08:53I can spread my wings and show every state of who I am
08:58as far as Kendrick Lamar.
09:00And you really did spread your wings.
09:01I mean, you just came off a huge Grammy wins.
09:04You walked away with five awards
09:05and you won Not Like Us one for song
09:09and record of the year, which in itself is remarkable.
09:13But I think for people who love and respect hip hop
09:15and the roots of this culture,
09:17the competitive spirit of it,
09:18it has been a little bit mind bending
09:20that you created this massive cultural award-winning anthem
09:25out of a battle rap song.
09:27And how is that something,
09:29after you got off that Grammy stage,
09:31you got home in some quiet time,
09:33what was going through your head?
09:35I was just thinking about the culture, really.
09:38It's always that for me first.
09:39I'm not even bullshitting you.
09:41It's like, when people talk about rap, man,
09:45the conversations I hear, they think it's just rap
09:48and it's not an actual art form.
09:50So when you put records like that at the forefront,
09:53it reminds people that this is more than just
09:56something that came 50 years ago.
09:59They forget that it's even been here 50 years, right?
10:02And kind of like belittle it.
10:04So I love to see that it gets that type of recognition
10:06for just straight raps, from awards to the billboards,
10:11all that, because this is truly just as big as an art form
10:17and a genre as any other genre.
10:19So that's what I think about.
10:21And I feel accomplished being able to do that,
10:24whether somebody else come behind me and do it again
10:26and quadruple it, I love to see it.
10:29If that was my purpose to do that,
10:30then that's exactly what it was for that particular moment.
10:34I think people often miss the significance of that record
10:37and Song of the Year award,
10:39because that Song of the Year award
10:40is a songwriter's award.
10:43Like, it's not just the biggest song.
10:45It's like someone wrote a song and you as a songwriter,
10:50when you see your name up there and it's written by,
10:54Kendrick, and that's it.
10:56That's powerful.
10:57And I think to what you're saying,
10:58I think there's a lot of people
10:59who have become fans of hip hop.
11:01And they, you know, you like the songs you hear and know,
11:04but you're not actually tapped into the work that it takes
11:08to generate the output, the art.
11:10Exactly, man.
11:11As a writer, you know,
11:13and that's what I can appreciate the most.
11:16And knowing how much time I dedicated over the years
11:20in just trial and error,
11:22writing the most terrible to some of the greatest.
11:25You know, we all do it from writer's block
11:27to figuring out how to find inspiration
11:29from the most non-popular aspects around me.
11:34So it's like,
11:36knowing that trial and knowing what I put in
11:38as far as my thinking process
11:40and what it takes to get there,
11:42I do not look at it as a small endeavor
11:47because it's a hit record.
11:48No, it's actually some writing that's, you know,
11:51whether it connect with you on a spiritual level,
11:54where they connect with you on a comedic level,
11:57where they connect with you just on a personal dynamic,
12:00it's still from a writer's point of view.
12:03Yeah, you are an incredible writer.
12:07There are songs on GNX like Reincarnated.
12:11I didn't know what to do with that song
12:12for the first few times I heard of it,
12:14just trying to figure out where you possibly came up
12:17with the inspiration for a record like that.
12:20Like, when you're working on those songs,
12:23are you going through multiple versions
12:25until the right thing comes to you?
12:28It's just, it's hard to fathom, I guess is what I'm saying.
12:31Yeah, well, records like that,
12:34first off, shout out to Tupac.
12:35That's just number one,
12:37that was always one of my favorite records
12:39from him and Outlaws.
12:41Well, records like that,
12:43it's always going into my mind of like, what if, right?
12:47And crafting out my what if ideas to the masses.
12:50So when I think about concepts
12:52and I think about what I actually believe and what I feel,
12:55I just go through a breakdown as if I'm reading a book,
12:59and how I want people to hear this from a book sequence.
13:02So my initial process is, okay,
13:05how can I open them up to the story?
13:07And how can I drive them to the ending point
13:09to make them feel truly exactly what I'm trying to convey,
13:12whether they take their own perspective from it
13:14or they take mine's.
13:15I just want you to feel it first.
13:17You know, the writing is there,
13:19now it's up to me to perform it to where you can feel it.
13:25Yo, give it up for this guy, Kendrick Lamar.
13:26Y'all too quiet, man.
13:28This guy, you know, this guy doesn't really,
13:31he doesn't sit down and do this too often.
13:32So this is a very special conversation.
13:35We appreciate you, bro, I really do.
13:37And shout to SZA too,
13:39because you guys are making history right now.
13:41And you've seen her from her humble beginnings
13:44like she's seen you from your humble beginnings.
13:47You've watched her find success
13:48and now y'all sharing a stage at the Superbowl,
13:51go to this humongous tour that's rolling out next year.
13:55Talk about this moment in both of y'all's career.
13:58Have you guys had a chance to even see each other
13:59in this moment and be like, yo?
14:02We haven't even had a chance to crash out about it
14:05because everything's been moving fast,
14:07like far as production and rehearsals and stuff.
14:09So we speak, but it's not,
14:12we haven't really got a chance to settle into the moment.
14:16For me personally, watching her at, you know,
14:19her career and where she's come from,
14:22it's amazing to see.
14:23I get to finally see how certain individuals
14:26see me come up in a process.
14:28Cause I seen her day one coming in the studio
14:30and writing songs, throwing away songs,
14:33writing another song, throwing away songs.
14:34And songs is hard.
14:36And I understood that process though, wanting to be great.
14:39You know, even when we, you know,
14:41people were saying, this is classic record.
14:43She was like, no, you know, I'm gonna write another one.
14:45And I understood that and I seen it.
14:47So to see it now magnified, it's like,
14:50she always had it, man.
14:51She always had it.
14:52And I'm just honored to be next to a talent.
14:56What should people expect to see
14:58and understand about Sunday's performance?
15:05Storytelling.
15:06I think I've always been
15:11very open about storytelling through all my catalog
15:16and my history of music.
15:17And I've always had a passion about bringing that
15:20on whatever stage I'm on, you know,
15:22whether it's a war tour
15:24or whether it's 500 people at Key Club,
15:27I've always had a form of that.
15:29So I like to always carry on that sense of, you know,
15:32make people listen, but also see and think a little.
15:38I think this is going to be one of those performances
15:39where people are going to be digging up Easter eggs
15:41for years to come, right?
15:43Even when it's not an Easter egg,
15:45people are going to make one up, right, Kim?