Kendrick Lamar, The Most Important Rapper Of This Generation – The New York Times

The newest New York Times Magazine features longtime collaborators Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free. The magazine called Kendrick Lamar the most important rapper of this generation.

Lamar and Free, who just worked on the ‘We Cry Together’ short film, recollect doing early videos like ‘HiiiPower’ in 2011.

“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,” said Kendrick.

“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, 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.”

“At 35, Kendrick is the most important rapper of his generation, and he just might be its most elliptical too, sharing revelatory self-portraits in his work but little of himself outside it. Last year marked the 10th anniversary of ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city,‘ the album that established him as a virtuosic M.C., hailing from deep inside Compton, the fiery heart of West Coast rap.”

NYT wrote

Lamar said his recent album, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers,” best reflects his voice.

“I’ve never expressed myself the way I expressed myself on this album,” he remarked.

“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.”

The artist also spoke about his social media absence.

“My social media, most of the time, is completely off,” he told NYT.

“Because I know, like … I can easily smell my own [expletive]. I know. … 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.”

Check out the full interview here.