Att Kendrick Lamar sällan gör intervjuer har nog de flesta noterat. I mellandagarna har New York Times Magazine fått äran att sitta ner med rapparen för att samtala om det nya albumet, sociala medier och samarbetet med Dave Free för den kreativa plattformen pgLang. I omslagsintervjun berättar han bland annat om albumet från i våras:
“I’ve never expressed myself the way I expressed myself on this album. From the moment I started picking up a pen and started freestyling. This was the moment that I was trying to get to without even knowing at the time.”
Inför albumreleasen meddelade Kendrick Lamar också att det mångåriga samarbetet med skivbolaget Top Dawg Entertainment avslutades. Istället satsade han och vännen Dave Free på att starta den egna kreativa plattformen pgLang. Kendrick berättar vidare i intervjun om Dave Free och hans öppna sinne:
“To see somebody that much devoted to artists’ crafts, where he’s willing to sit with them and edit the video himself, it lets me know what type of not only businessman, but what type of friendship and what type of dedication he has for something he believes in. It was my song. Not his song. I go on tour and perform that song and make millions of dollars. So, for him to be willing to sit there and do that, day in day out, that let me know. OK, this is a person you want to be around. He got the best interest to really thug it out with you without even thinking about a check at that point. We just thinking about being creative and the best, and from that day forward, everything flipped.”
“He got the best interest to really thug it out with you without even thinking about a check at that point.”
Kendrick Lamar om Dave Free, för NY TImes Magazine
Compton-rapparens närvaro i sociala medier och är också sporadisk. Han berättar i intervjun om valet att inte låta egot hamna i fokus, och istället lägga tiden på att uttrycka sig:
“My social media, most of the time, is completely off… //… Like, I’m not one of those dudes that be like, Oh, yeah, I know how good I am, but I also know the reason why I’m so good is because God’s blessed me with the talent to execute on the talent, and the moment that you start getting lost in your ego, that’s when you start going down.”
Foto: Greg Noire
