Transcript: Kendrick Lamar Talks About The State Of Hip Hop and To Pimp A Butterfly
MistaJam: I want to take you back. And I mean, like, real far back.
Kendrick Lamar: That's so funny. I swear to... Listen. Let me tell you something. I promise you, this morning I woke up singing these lyrics. That means this is meant to be. This is meant to be. I woke up trying to remember these lyrics, like out the blue, randomly.
MistaJam: Do you ever go back to your old material?
Kendrick Lamar: No.
MistaJam: Why not?
Kendrick Lamar: It just makes me cringe. It's a weird thing. I think it's a thing, a creative thing. I don't want to get in the mindset of what I did, of my accomplishments then, rather than thinking forward and what's next.
MistaJam: But I mean, look, as someone who, you know, appreciates lyricism myself, I would personally want to listen and go back to what you've written.
Kendrick Lamar: Right. That's true. That's true. Maybe I should think like that.
MistaJam: Well, no, you're doing fine already. I mean, come on.
Kendrick Lamar: I got to try to remember the lyrics. I love that joint, though. I just might bring that back out on the set.
MistaJam: And there you go. There you go. For those people that have been knowing about you for a long while, then that would be an extra treat for them.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. That's my day one fans.
MistaJam: I want to talk to you about the current fans.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: So people that will have heard about you, not even via Good Kid, Mad City, but about To Pimp a Butterfly.
Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly, yeah.
MistaJam: Now, how can I put this? We're in the era of ringtone rap. We're in the era of where rappers, you know, it's all about the hooks.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: How dare you put out an album... So lyrically dense with so many messages.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: What was going through your mind when you're like, were you like, I'm just sick and tired of hearing all of this. Let me make something that means something.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah. Something like that, that part. And also just, uh, having a whole lot of confidence in the music that inspired me to think the way I do, some of the lessons I learned through music, and that was the energy I wanted. You know, and if that took excluding radio singles, then that's just something I had to do.
MistaJam: But the funny thing is, is that in doing that, you've created, in the UK, possibly your biggest radio single with King Kunta. Where you and I was walking Now I run the game Got the whole world talking King Kunta
Kendrick Lamar: Kendrick Lamar. This is extra deep. Yeah, they run across it. If they don't understand it, they run across it. Even if they plant it in the car and their parents hear it, they probably say, what did you know about Kunta? And you break it down to them, then they're going to run into it. But it's always an undertone of something, man. And these are some of the experiences or TV shows or, you know, life's lessons that's been in my household since day one. So me just bringing them out to life, you know, while I'm at a point in my career when I can articulate it, where I comprehend and the people around me comprehend it, I'm going to do it because that's what motivates me.
MistaJam: Yep. That feels important, man. That feels like, I mean, you know, the motif that keeps coming back through the album, the poem that you wrote. It really keeps coming back that it feels like you're doing something to make sure the next generation has something to hold on to.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, definitely. Not only the next generation, but myself. That's the reason why this poem keeps coming back, back and forth, and, you know, repetitive, starting over all again, because it's reminding me of what I should be doing. Because I look in the mirror and I don't see a perfect person.
MistaJam: I mean, look, again, you know, thinking about To Pimp a Butterfly, thinking about the way that the album's put together, musically, you've made it so very interesting that it is one of those things that you can go back over and over and over. And every time you listen to a record, you're hearing something different. And I think, you know, thinking about what it is that you're saying on the record, the fact that it is your catharsis, the fact that it is your therapy and the fact that it is helping other people. The reason why I think it's helping so many people is because it's just so interesting to listen to.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, it's a lot of layers, man. It's a lot of layers. And when we say interesting, it comes to a point where my conflict and my own worries are beyond me, you know? Like how you say interesting, when I go out to these streets and they say, this song did this. This song did that. It blows my mind. You know what I mean? Because for me recording it, this is just my own ills. Like how do it affect you like that? You know what I mean? But I have to understand that even if the story is not similar to the person that's listening, they feel it in some type of way. Something connects there that I maybe don't know about. You know what I'm saying? So I'm always continuing to do it that way.
MistaJam: It feels like where we are at this moment in time in the world, it feels like this is an album that was needed.
Kendrick Lamar: Appreciate it.
MistaJam: It feels like, you know, we're at a point where people are kind of going at each other for no real reason.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: People are forgetting about the sense of community that there is. People are forgetting about, you know, we're in this era of celebrity worship.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
MistaJam: For you to give people something with so much substance, that's got to have nerved you. That's got to have made you feel like, should I do this? Am I going too far?
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah. You definitely have that. You're not human if you don't have that down your head. I'm not going to sit up here and say I'm Superman and from initial state, I didn't say, well, maybe I should do a smash or two or three of them.
MistaJam: It's your second album. You want to get to that celebrity status.
Kendrick Lamar: I'd be a fool telling you that you don't have them type of people in your head saying that. I mean, people around you telling you that, or you even saying it. So it takes, like I said, a lot of nerve and a lot of confidence to do it on your second LP, knowing that the sophomore jinx is always in the air. And it's true. It's real.
MistaJam: Yeah.
Kendrick Lamar: This album could have came either one way. It could have came on this album, the second time around, or the fourth or the fifth one. I just decided to bump it up a little bit. This album is really the fifth album, you know? So I just kinda took that chance, man, and the people appreciate it.
MistaJam: I wanna talk to you about the production onto Pimper Butterfly.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: Now, I was reading something somewhere recently about Flying Lotus.
Kendrick Lamar: Yep.
MistaJam: Says that he bumped into you and gave you a CD of beats.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: Can you tell that story? From your perspective.
Kendrick Lamar: Man, it was just one of those things where Flying Lotus gave me all these beats and I think they were for his album or his project. I didn't really know. In fact, the beats was so crazy, I didn't really care. Yeah, I was selfish, man. I was selfish. He gave me all these beats, man. I remember going on the Kanye tour and really just rocking out the majority of the beats that he gave me. He was on the tour when we was working. Then he jumped off the tour. We'd be talking and he'd be like, man, did you finish that one song? I'm like, yeah, I finished it. He's like, you finished the other song? I'm like, no, I ain't finished that. You thinking about using it for the album? It's like, man, I don't know if I'm going to use it for the album, but I still want it, though. So I was real selfish with his joints, man. I was real selfish with his joints because it's just crazy. And even the joints that didn't make the record, they're still some of my favorite joints, and I'm still holding them hostage.
MistaJam: I was going to say, this is the third album to do. This is the fourth. This is the fifth. The fifth that you've got to replace.
Kendrick Lamar: I tell you, we've got more work to do, man. I need these. So, yeah, shout out to Flying Lotus, man. He's crazy.
MistaJam: I want to play you a little something.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: This is probably going to lighten the mood ever so slightly. Have you heard this?
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, somebody used to... Yeah. Took my tempo and flipped it.
MistaJam: When you hear stuff like that, man, I mean, look, you know, that's influencing someone on a completely different level. How does that make you feel?
Kendrick Lamar: That's dope to me. I like when people dig and find different things to flip like that, man, because it just lets me know that they're really into it some type of way, you know, to go all the way back and figure that out. I couldn't even figure out that that tempo was the same tempo.
MistaJam: You know what, you need to use that in the show.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, right, right. Bruce Seinfeld out and everything.
MistaJam: I want to talk to you about where we're going next, musically, where we're going next, because I love the fact that the first thing that people are hearing from you post this album is the collab.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: On Bad Blood.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Because, I'm sorry, Taylor's a G. She's gangsta, man. She's a G. Yeah, y'all got to meet this lady, man. She's hard. Let alone her music speak for itself. We ain't even got to go there. You know, so, yeah, it was fun, man. We had fun. There wasn't no calculations about it. We just went in there and vibed out.
MistaJam: And looking at your album as well and looking at even the collaborations that you've done, you're very picky.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: Is that on purpose?
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah. Purpose may not be the word, but it may be the word. Yeah, I'm selective for sure. I've been there prepping myself as an artist where I've done records with any and everybody. And sometimes you may not have that chemistry, no matter if it's a local artist or an artist with a huge celebrity. The vibe just got to be right. The vibe has to be right. And I done been in sessions with people I thought that would click like that and we come up with nothing. Then I went back to my neighborhood and rocked on the hottest song in the city from a local cat that's just bubbling in Compton. And we click in the studio, you know, or somebody in Tallahassee somewhere. You know, so really it's just about the vibe, man, and the connection and what works.
MistaJam: You get the chance to listen to any music from the UK or anywhere else?
Kendrick Lamar: Not yet. That's why I asked my guy today because I really want to check some folks out while I'm here. I ain't been here in three years.
MistaJam: That's true.
Kendrick Lamar: Three years.
MistaJam: That's true.
Kendrick Lamar: And it's different from hearing the music in America than actually coming over here and really seeing it.
MistaJam: Is that something that interests you, wherever you travel, to actually check out what the Michael scene's doing?
Kendrick Lamar: Definitely. Definitely. Because there's talent everywhere. There's talent everywhere. And that talent needs to be heard just like I needed to be heard years ago. And if I can give that platform to somebody, I'd do it. If the talent and the work ethic is there, I'm with it.
MistaJam: Even quite literally, man. What was it? Suite Life Festival?
Kendrick Lamar: Suite Life, yeah.
MistaJam: You brought a fan on stage to rap Mad City with you?
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, yeah. Definitely, definitely. Yeah, she rocked out too. She rocked out too. Gotta keep my ear to everybody, man. It's a young lady out here that's pretty, pretty dope by the name of Lil' Sims.
MistaJam: I don't know if y'all heard of her.
MistaJam: Yes, we've been supporting Lil' Sims hard.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah. Lil' Sims... She might be the illest doing it right now. I had to put that, to acknowledge that. And yeah, I wish her much success. I got to meet her one time, but it was brief. So if I'm out here and I run a tour, I'll definitely chop it up.
MistaJam: You not only need to chop it up, you need to get in the studio.
Kendrick Lamar: Huh?
MistaJam: You need to make that happen.
Kendrick Lamar: That's the truth.
MistaJam: Listen, you and Little Sims on a trip.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, she's incredible.
MistaJam: Scorching.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah, definitely. That'd be fire.
MistaJam: Yeah. That'd be easy, Carl. That's one of them things where the vibe is definitely right.
MistaJam: And the Pac interview, just before we shoot.
Kendrick Lamar: Yeah.
MistaJam: Where did you come up with that?
Kendrick Lamar: Um, this guy, man, this guy granted me, uh, definitely a privilege of giving me the CD of Pac out of Germany. I think it was Germany. Yeah. Um, I did an interview with him and he's like, man, I got something for you. And sure enough, it was, you know, some unreleased.
MistaJam: Thank you very much for your time, man.
Kendrick Lamar: Appreciate you.
Event Date: June 9, 2015
