Kendrick Lamar, called by many, including veteran emcees, the new King of West Coast rap, doesn't take his job lightly, as he expresses in a recent interview on BET's "Don't Sleep!" The rapper speaks on the aforementioned title and his fears when Top Dawg Entertainment partnered with Interscope. As well, he speaks on spreading positivity, and a particular moment which led him to creating music.
K. Dot is known for his intricate and complex music, whether it's lyrics or a beat, he is definitely a rapper that seems to have a lot invested in his lyrics, and takes his time to perfect his craft. Thus he did not want to loose any control of his music when Interscope came calling to TDE. Kendrick admits he did have worries of giving so many industry people access to his music. Although he was scared of this, in the end, he just had to stay focused on his music and not get caught up in the politics.
Kendrick revealed, "What I was scared of, was the fact that so many people have their hands on my music, as far as doing a venture with Interscope and Top Dawg Entertainment. I was scared of that because I like to keep everything boxed n when I'm in that studio, 'cause my art is everything to me. I didn't want the business to interfere with that. And there were some points where that happened but I had to stayed focused on that music. And that coulda been a very disappointing situation towards the music if I had got caught up."
He ends the interview on a positive note though, discussing a turning point in his life which he raps about on the song "Dying Of Thirst" off good kid, m.A.A.d city.
"That's what saved me [positivity]. I'd be lying if I said I had a back-up plan, 'cause I really didn't. I was in a situation, where I was caught in sin, so I thought I was gunna be influenced by that or end up falling victim to that," Kendrick said on BET, "One particular moment in my life changed everything to where I started thinking different. And that positivity led me to doing music." He continues to explain, "The moment was on "Dying Of Thirst." A situation happened, one of my homeboy passed, and this lady straight up asked us, 'what do you believe in? Do you believe in a higher power or you gunna believe in these guns for the rest of your life?'"
Watch the interview with Kendrick below.