Kendrick Lamar doesn't do too many interviews, but his latest GQ piece isn't just any interview. For the Style section, Kendrick had a conversation with legendary producer Rick Rubin, who had some great questions for the rapper about his creative process, whether or not he could make an album without rapping, and his early influences.
You can read the whole interview on GQ. Highlights from the conversation can be found below.
On making an album with no rapping:
Yeah, I think I got the confidence for it. If I can master the idea and make the time to approach it the right way, I think I can push it out.
On being inspired by Eminem:
The clarity, I got my clarity just studying Eminem when I was a kid. How I got in the studio was all just curiosity. I had a love for the music, but it was curiosity. The day I heard The Marshall Mathers LP, I was just like, How does that work? What is he doing? How is he putting his words together like that? What's the track under that? An ad-lib? What is that? And then, Why don't you go in the studio and see? So I do that. Then it became, How's his words cutting through the beat like that? What is he doing that I'm not doing, now that I'm into it? His time is impeccable. When he wants to fall off the beat, it's impeccable. These are things that, through experience and time, I had to learn.
On songs that were left off TPAB:
I have so many floating around—24 bars, 16 bars, hooks and choruses and bridges and ideas. References that I had in mind for people to sing.