We haven't heard much from Kendrick Lamar lately, but while he hasn't spoken publicly lately, the public has talked a lot about him. After all, despite it being more than several months ago, his appearance on a Big Sean song "Control" garnered more news than most rappers' album releases, as of late. Although to be fair, few rappers can as explosively call out so many rappers by name. Kendrick broke his streak of public silence when he granted an interview to THR, where they asked about his the verse.
"It wasn’t pre-meditated, it just came to me when I was writing that bar,” says Lamar. “I didn’t think it would ever go to where diss records were coming at me. I thought people would be like… 'he threw some challenges out there… that was dope.'"
He continued, "Kanye taught me to never to downplay your ideas. I learned to always stay as creative as possible and never have any boundaries. Those things that people called ‘rants’ on-stage are real conversations that we had behind closed doors — about business and how when you get to a certain level people won’t want to see you break through because they only see you as a rapper."
It may not be a coincidence that Kanye West's advice played a part in what would become one of the most controversial moment in Kedrick's career, as displayed in this quote, excerpted by MissInfo. THR asked him his thoughts on his Grammy nominations, to which he replied, "I was actually on stage, so I had no idea. Everybody else knew but me. By the time I got off I kinda got the news late. It was a great feeling, everybody was happy, excited. We celebrated in that dressing room."
And if you're wondering, like the rest of us, what Kendrick Lamar is going to do this year album-wise, he offered this: "I got ideas, I haven’t really locked in the studio yet. Really challenge myself to do something better. I mean, of course you want to do better than your last. But creatively, I want to be in another space. That’s the challenge, if anything."
You can see his full interview with THR below.