Kendrick Lamar Talks New Album, Working with Pharrell, & Macklemore's Text
During his visit to New York to prepare for his November 15 appearance on “SNL,” Kendrick Lamar stopped by “Ebro in the Morning” on Hot 97. Rocking an “i” hat to cover his longer hair (“I’m just in the studio. I ain’t got time to look cute”), he spoke about everything from Lady Gaga and Macklemore to his new single “i” and upcoming album.
He’s been in the studio with Dr. Dre and Pharrell (“We went in and did a few records”), but he’s working mostly with in-house producers. “I really stick with four producers that I’ve been working with since day one,” he said. “I don’t really go outside the box of that—Sounwave, Thundercat, Rahki, Tae Beast.”
The follow-up to his critically-acclaimed debut good kid, m.A.A.d city will encompass his diverse tastes. “It’s really been a process about me grabbing from these different types of inspirations that I’ve been growing up off of and putting them into my own batch of hip-hop,” said K-Dot.
Kendrick, who doesn’t smoke and occasionally drinks wine, revealed that he wants to have a big family one day. “I love kids. I wanna have like 10 kids.”
He also called out Macklemore for publicly sharing a text conversation they had following the Grammys. “I think it was uncalled for,” he said.
Plus, find out why he stays off social media and what he thinks of Lady Gaga.
On “i”: “I wrote a record for the homies that’s in the penitentiary right now. And I also wrote a record for these kids that come up to my show with these slashes on their wrists saying they don’t want to live no more.”
On his new album: “If anything, aside from good kid, it probably feels even more raw because it’s a little bit more dirty with the drums on it.”
On ScHoolboy Q: “Q is one of them cats that didn’t know his full potential. He was still in the streets while he was doing the music. To see him go from that to hop on hit records and have a No. 1 album, that’s a blessing.”
On Lady Gaga: “I never smashed Lady Gaga … She’s good people, man. She really just took a liking to the music.”
On Macklemore sharing their text after the Grammys: “I think it was uncalled for. When he sent it to me, I was like, I can see him feeling that type of way because he a good dude. I think for confirmation from the world, he probably felt he had to put it out there, which he didn’t need to do. That don’t take nothing away from him anyway because I know where his heart is at.”
On winning awards: “It’s great, but it’s not confirmation of success for me.”
On social media: “All this technology stuff, I’m just terrible with it. I’m not savvy enough.”