Kendrick Lamar Meets Rick Rubin and They Have an Epic Conversation | GQ

all right yeah man yeah you usually start with a track or do you like I was right in work for you um very usually time me and the boys getting the studio and I can just go off a simple drum loop that I like yeah my process it start from just a whole bunch of premeditated does the process of me thinking about the ideas and what I want to say mix yeah you know and by the time I get into the studio I have to find that exact sound that triggered the emotion or the idea that I thought about two months ago would you have more than one of those going on at the same time like might you have six of those before you're going in the studio or do you do it one at a time no I want to talk don't want that so the concept will come you'll sort of live with it and let it grow in you yeah do you bake notes definitely all the time I have to make notes because a lot of my inspiration comes from me people were going outside of the country or going around the corner to my own neighborhood talking to a five-year-old little boy and I have to remember these things you know I have to write them down and then five or three months later I have to find that same emotion that I felt when I was inspired by it so I had to dig all the way deep and see what were the things that triggered the idea is it always coming back it comes back it comes back it comes because I have kilo words that make me realize the exact motion what drew the inspiration you yeah man definitely that makes the process it's a working process I'm my worst critic wish you tell me about that a little bit you're critical of your you just want to be really good yeah it's really about me challenging myself I think my excitement indoor music is me feeling like I'm never stagnant we feeling like I didn't get comfortable in and you know my own skin of what I think is good or what someone else thinks is good you know stepping outside of my comfort zone and and mastering it you know and that excites me when I feel like I've accomplished that it just keeps the the hunger for more going like I don't feel I can ever stop do you ever consider so when you think about the challenge to yourself do you ever consider the listener or who's going to like the audience at all or is it more like just self-expression I used to I used to consider the listener but now I'm in a space where if I'm not inspired I can't really you know do the music you know I can't feel it I think I put enough hours and work to be able to pin 100 bar verse on the spot at any given moment but for me to actually feel an idea and concept has to come from me and a lot of times I have to block out a lot of different needs and wants you know just for my own selfish reasons but at the end of the day it comes out where you know whether you like it or not you know you're gonna know it comes from a real place and it's gonna feel I'm unapologetic I'm not compromising and it's gonna feel me has it ever been anything that you felt like I don't want to say that on a record like it feels like that's a great that's a great question I always said to myself if I set it on record I never retract my statements because it's myself expressions you can have your opinions on it you can feel a certain type of way but it's how I feel and I can't contradict that yeah at all you know and sometimes I do come across them with them them lines you know us as a rappers as you know we always have that another thing about it's where you know it is controversy you know but it came from some type of integration and I have to say I have to be vocal about it you know and you ever look back on and feel like you'd like to change any of the any of the things that you've written or it'll be me saying I want to go deeper I should have went deeper you know I shouldn't have held back you know but moving along I know okay you're not going to be in the box of the sandwich you want to say and that's where I'm at now content wise do you feel like you could talk about anything if you feel an obligation to talk about certain things I can talk about anything that's great any I could talk about anything and this is the challenge for me being able to talk about anything and make it connect you know to a listener with a listener can either feel like you or feel like they understand you or you have a just a deeper connection to the music with listen talking to a little kid and making it represent something feel like something or saying the most brutal harsh things on record where you know society may not want to hear no but still having that connection and that's why I think music is about for me period do you think about how to ask this let's talk about how you got to this place of of doing this like what would have been inspirations along the way for you musically lyrically or or philosophically that got you to this stage man as a journey think first off had to be how I was raised you know and environment we're having the the idea of my father been you know just a complete realist just in the streets and my mother having this idea of being a dreamer and me traveling the world and doing all these things and I'm doing today it starts there first you know before I even heard any type of melody or lyric that wasn't planted in me first that's just DNA you know who I am and the things I talk about today is always the end in the game the good versus the and that's how I feel as a person eventually that you know eventually that uh that push me toward the music that I love to listen to you know you came from Tupac biggie Jay I mean you know your usual suspect these were the people that was played in my household that not only I love to listen to but it kind of complemented my DNA because these artists always had different perspectives on life in general and they put that in their lyrics and they put that in their music and that's a kid I connected with it you know because I see my older cousins going through the same type of feelings and emotion that these artists are going through and as I started to write and dig into my own thing and just progressed in that same nature you know who's that music playing in your house your choice of music was that the music your parents were listening to how did you get exposed to it definitely my parents parents my parents fairly young in the City of Compton and you know they were I was basically growing up with them so the things that they play was more in you know there was the hip crowd you know so I was being exposed to all these ideas you know from Big Daddy Kane to easy to the Bay Area too short you 40 you know back to Marvin Gaye and Isley Brothers up this this field of music you know just brought it you know my ideas to come we never would have thought in a million years you know that I'd be doing it it's amazing well you know sorrow you know my first my first ideas of how I want to attack music today when did jazz find its way into your world that's crazy yeah it's a trip because I was in the studio one day my guy Terrace Martin and he noticed something about the type of sounds that I was picking in my whole catalog for my mixtapes to my EPS to just my process of making my debut down to where I'm at now he notices type of instruments I was picking he was like man a lot of the courts that you pick are jazz influence you're a jazz musician by default you know the way your cadence is rapping over certain type of snares and drums this everything that a person on the saxophone and on the horn you know compete with how they hear music and that's something that just opened me up and then you just start breaking down everything just the science I've been going back to mounts Herbie Hancock I'm listening to you sport like man I like that sound what is that you know that's a roll King oh so that's what I've been liking all these years yeah you've been liking this for years this is this is this is in your DNA this is why you picked Surrey instrumentals you pick so when was that moment in when you had that experience in the studio where you realized that you liked it went around was that uh about three months until my second LP to pimp a butterfly I was gonna say that that after hearing the first album yeah when the second album came it was completely unexpected yeah and everybody was expecting you together yeah definitely oh and I knew I knew from the jump that there was gonna be a challenge you know and for my listeners here but if I'm challenging myself in studio I want to challenge you as well so I just went for flesh with a man and we build everything from scratch yeah so do you feel like this will be this is kind of a funny thing because I'm asking you to project the future it's impossible but do you feel like butterflied you could what do you refer to it as butterfly to pamper butterfly okay please there's a few as a few things maybe to pick how you'd like to call it let's say the second album do you feel like that's more indicative of where things will be in the future or is it is it more like that's where you are then or now and we should based on the difference between the first album in the second album should we continue to expect it to change that's a great question again may not possible to answer but tell me your best thoughts my best thought the past answer I can give you that was me then not to say that it wouldn't be a continuous or would not you know it always has some type of DNA in my music but me as a person just knowing who I am I grow I'm like a chameleon you know and then that is a that's a gift and a curse for me you know what were so a gift because it never pertains me to put me in a box and my ability to express it and still make the connection walk wherever I go that's my high points and that's something that I pride myself on you know it's always come from organic place beautiful it sounds like the connection you're talking about really is your connection to it more than other people's connection to it right right I think the thing that's infectious about it and the reason other people connect is they feel your connection to an exact you know it's not even necessarily that like probably a lot of people who who are your fans who heard your last record might not have been that into jazz but they feel your connection to it and it inspires them to open their selves to hear new music that they might not have heard that is so true and a so true and you can look at a person you have a conversation with them and you know if you know whether it's the music or who they identify themself with from an organic place a real place and we called the consumers you know we've been told Carla consumer is done but then they're not they know when it's real absolutely and they know if they can fill it you know and that's something I always understood you know you're being a family so you know when I looked at still today when I look at my certain aspirations as far as artists when I look at Eminem and I look at Jay I felt you know this is the stories they were telling you know whether it was fiction or not these these these ideas that they was putting down made me believe you know any and everything that I was saying because it just came from a space of whether realize the point was just their imagination being so strong you know it's so heavy you know that you just get bombarded into their ideas and that's how it comes across with you beautiful I feel like even if you don't agree with what someone is saying but if they're saying it and you know that they believe it yeah you resonate with it on some level you don't have to agree with it to to respect it and then appreciate it's just human expression really being them allowing to show themselves it's a beautiful thing whether you agree with them or not exactly and I say that's a great great point because I always I've always been heavy on vocal tone and you know where you manipulate your voicing and things like that because different tones when you just deal gives off different expressions you know I may wake up one morning and feel I feel like the scenery right here or I may make wake up one morning feeling like the depths of hell you know and you may hear that crunch and that emotion but that emotion it translate through the music to the person I was feeling that way you know the day before or the you know when I wake up the next one and I always been a huge huge fan of that when I hear you I don't always know it's you because you seem to inhabit so many different characters with your voice right that it's not it's not always clear that it's right exactly that comes from my personality and DNA and it also comes from being a complete huge fan of prints my father was a heavy heavy still to this day Prince fan that's all he was playing and I just set back and just like I could never tell when it was Prince for me you know he had a fuss settle you know he had this baritone he just gave you so many different emotions you know but I seen the way my father was always connecting with him and I studied it you know you know alongside of lyricist study R&B I've studied soul you know to even pop you know and eventually all these things you know gathered up to how I connected and approach me and it's really beautiful it's a great it's a great journey Iran Fred Shannon how do you go into the studio experience versus the live experience the difference heads yeah your your mental state go and see those thick man that is a whole nother as a whole nother beast for me and I Drive people record because I approach the stage my stage performers the same way I approach the studio I have to think about it handle and know how my mannerisms are know how I'm moving you know all that is is it has to be dead-on from you know from the hits and the licks on how we rearrange the idea just to give the fans a new experience it's a process the same way I sit with mixes and a mastering it's the same way I sit inside that rehearsal room to make sure that everything is hitting on cue beautiful and talking about the musical process how involved you in the big beyond the vocals and lyrics how involved you in the music in them in the making of it in the choosing of it in all aspects man I don't sleep I don't sleep in my team know they can't sleep because I just you know not that I don't trust them yeah yeah you know I have on percent trust in my team but I just have to be there for everything I know sometimes I Drive myself crazy but it just makes me feel like you know not only pushing them but I'm pushing myself I just have to be involved man is it as a freaky nature sometime but I have to be there from everything from snare to the hi-hat till we got to gang up there's two more DVS we got to snatch this out and let this part of the section breathe no man have you ever written written to a track and then afterwards decided to keep the song but change the track has that ever happened oh yeah all the time definitely definitely or in the case of building on the track and the pieces that we build it on yeah it sounds better than the actual bottom yeah and just being able to know how to be a minimalist in certain areas and pull something back and letting a new thing breathe opens it of war and as these are that's trial and error though this summer I could tell you two years ago six years ago but uh it has been plenty of time then no it's really just about pushing myself and pushing the musicians to not settle in you know we can do we can put this into space where it could be better so do you usually have the musicians playing all together or do you do parts individually sometimes we play together sometimes we do parts individually and if they're playing all together would you like conduct or say let's try it like this yeah definitely I have to be I would be everywhere it would be just a bunch of crazy sounds you know no no no no arrangement you know and and when I say musicians it's not all the time someone can play instrument yeah you know a person they can chop and break down a crazy sample as a musician to me because there's a lesser loss art you see someone that can pull out the MPC you know from out the dungeons out to crates gonna be able to break down some crazy drums along with a crazy bass player you know these the people that like around yeah have you ever written have you ever written anything more before hearing a track almost like it was poetry like you know like yeah a few times I've I've written full songs and I had to find the actual instrumentation to match it well you know and that's fine yeah that's fun because it gives me the I don't me but it gives the the producer the freedom to build around the lyrics you know certain words that get tossed out sound just might crack over top of that they know the cables yeah sure it's cool to have just a lot of different ways of doing it like yeah more moves to the basket it's got to be good exactly I never know how a song is gonna turn I may think I know you know but it may come a whole new direction it may give off a whole new entity of his own you know from the approach to how I wrote it to be going in the booth just freestyling it it usually comes across with no sign of how how do you know when it's good how do you know it is good how do you know what it's done you know I think that's the question I think that's the question of our artists and just people who create it's just a feeling man you can feel it just a feeling great is this it's not rocket science yes I'm sure you know it's just that feeling it's just that feeling that everyone gets you know or that feeling that you just get along everybody may not get it everybody may not get it till it comes out and it be that thing and then they say oh you know have there been any any reactions to your music that have surprised you either songs or projects where people reacted either better worse different oh surprise yeah my mom my first album good kid maad city this was me being fresh in the game and I already knew what songs well in my head I knew her songs are gonna be big records you know radio singing I'm playing a game new artist and you know I have enough knowledge she's going through meetings and going to labels and trying to get signed in my early twenties and things like I just know how the game works so I'm creating these records you know for the radio and you know just what people just ear candy for people to enjoy so in my mind I'm thinking these are gonna be the biggest records on the album you know but turns out that a song called mad city where I'm just wrapping it for maybe 40 bars or 30 bars it's probably the most song with the biggest connection on their projects and that that threw me for a loop but it also gave me an insight clear enough to know sometimes it's not about you know what you think is gonna happen know what you feel you know people connect to things in strange ways you know and then at the end of the day you have to go with that feeling absolutely okay now the question based on that and forgetting thinking of what you thought was gonna work commercially how did you feel about that song on the album in the context of the others in the context of the Alec just as a as a for your taste where was that song I'm on your meter I loved it oh mama was it one of your favorite was one of my favorites but I didn't know yeah it didn't fear the formula created with your face yeah it was one of my favorites sure you know I hope that is giving you confidence oh yeah oh yeah definitely nothing has to fit a formula if you go with what feels good to you exactly that's what works he's having a conversation the studio of the night you know you know of course there are certain rhythms in and then tempos and certain note changes in the music that immediately know a piece of the air but when something just feels good it can be a tree branch falling off the ground and somebody hitting that right key or that right lyric on that tree branch and it be the biggest thing in life because you just can't stop sound and you can't stop frequency I'll truly believing music is just like that and it's simple you know let's talk about alright for a second yeah it is it has become a sort of our generations protest song yeah yeah and when you wrote it did you have that in mind was it did you think of it as a protest song or you know what I had that record I was sitting on that record for about six months the beat for real and between my guy Sam Taylor and Pharrell did you doing it when you gonna do it when you gonna do it were you gonna do it it was on me you know I knew was a great record I just was trying to find the spacing and to approach it what was what's the approach you know I mean the beat sounds fun but it's something else inside of them courts that Pharrell put down that feels like it can be a more of a statement rather than a certitude you know so with the blessings of real and sound actually am I go right when I'm a rock on it it put the pressure on me and put the pressure on me to challenge myself and to actually deep and focus on something that can be a staple and hip-hop and eventually I came across it eventually came across that you found the right words and what I want to talk about you know it was a lot going on and still to this day a lot going on and now I wanted to approach it as a more uplifting but aggressive you know not playing the victim but you know still having that yeah we strong you know and that was one record that executed exactly how my approach was the moment I put that pen to the parent so you had to beat for like six months and then yeah Jennsen have any words that I don't have any words I think PP new P knew that that record was special people at the record special salary that the record was special they probably knew her before I even you know had a clue you know so I'm glad that they they put that pressure on me to actually challenge myself because sometimes that's a writer you know you can you can have that writer's block in and you know you like a sound or a type of instrumental you want to approach in the right way so sit on it I think also sometimes like the maybe like the right content wasn't where you were at the for those six months you know what I mean it's like the universe has a way of like the timing of it is not really our control you can't say well I got this track I like so I'm gonna write to it now it's like it comes when it's supposed to come and it's relevant in the world and like it works the way it's supposed to work definitely just have to be open to open to it and ready for it when it comes exactly exactly I remember hitting pee on the text in like man I got the lyrics yeah you know and type of lyrics - he's like I said did you have a Scott over it before or nothing yeah had a scat ad and it had that phrasing different Cadence's you know hook we're not yet Pete had to hook oh cool yeah Pete hook yeah he had - all right that's him on the hook just saying that the alright phrase what does alright represent was we all gonna be alright that was it you know I'm glad that sparked the idea because that song coulda went a thousand other ways absolutely yep thousand other ways what do you what do you listen to mostly would you say now like now my list of music right now is ranging just a whole bunch of oldies that's cool it's kind of trippy same usual Marvin Gaye eyes you brothers I don't know man I just would you say more R&B than hip hop it's more it's more army what's more so yeah could you imagine making an album in the future we are not rapping you consider yourself first and foremost a rapper yeah definitely yeah yeah I think I got the confidence would okay yeah I got the confidence for it now I have the experience and the time to approach it you know mashed up the idea and the time to approach the right way I think I can put it on feel like it's really interesting now in with what's going on in hip hop you seem it's almost like you were throwback to when lyrics mattered because it feels like so much a hip hop today is more about vibe and swag and personality and less about words and sometimes sounds like even the emcee doesn't know what he said yeah that's right so it's interesting to hear the sort of clarity and depth that you go lyrically the clarity I got my clarity just studying him when I was a kid always you know how I got in the studio was just all off curiosity I had a love for the music but it was curiosity you know the day I heard Marshall Mathers LP I was just how does that work what is he doing how is he how is he putting his words together like that what is that what's the track under it oh that's a double was I live I live what is that she's going to do a scene you know I do that how's he projecting eyes his words cutting through the beat like that what is he what is he doing that I'm not doing now that I'm into it yeah he's his time is impeccable you know Jesus when he want to fall off to beat is impeccable you know and these are certain things that do experience in a time that you know I had to learn lucky that you got to learn it as young as you were yeah gave you the ability to grow so much yeah definitely definitely 13 or 14 years always in one one of your lyrics you you mentioned meditation do you do you have a meditation practice yeah man I have I have to have to have at least 30 minutes to myself if it's not on a daily every other day to just sit back close my eyes and I bezoar what's going on you know the space that I'm in when you in music and everybody knows this the years are always cut in half because we always have something to do whether we're in a studio for four months they go by now you got on a roll for five months they go by next thing you know five years no one but you're 29 years old you know and for me now I have to find a way to understand the space that I'm and how I'm feeling at the moment because if I don't it's going to zoom I know I can feel no and I'm sure you know I'm talking about it just goes you know and then you you miss out on your moment because you're so in the moment you didn't know the moment was going on that makes sense absolutely yeah and can also get lost I know some artists get lost in touring and they become less relatable like like the stuff they have to write about doesn't relate because I all they know is being on stage and accolades and yeah hotels and like stuff that's like doesn't it doesn't their reality is so different than everybody else's reality that it's not so interesting especially if that's all you talk about definitely definitely is definitely a different it's uh like to call it a cartoon you know you can really get lost in so fast it's scary out there it's so scary man and I'll how'd you get the idea to do the 30 minutes every day or every other day well just knowing my scheduling at how much I just think about music you know someone brung it to my attention so I think about you know it's nothing wrong with it it consumes me and consumed with my library you know right is it I can't think about nothing else you know and once I started realizing that you know okay I know that I have to give it some time and space every now and then you know and that 30 minutes helps and 30 minutes I was walking tolling zone out and not think about my next lyric you know and I it gives me a restart a jumpstart and refreshing lets me know why I'm here don't what I'm doing beautiful it typically take a long time from the time you have the concept until you get the whole thing written maybe not produced the way you want would at least written I'm is varies I've I've written concepts and four songs three verses each 24 bar 16 bars 4 songs within an hour or six months it just itches it just it just moves like that sometimes funny when you have the concept you said before that you surprised sometimes about how the record comes out yeah but but do you do you know the message you're trying to get across before oh yeah so you always know that in advance definitely that's um those that nature come from the skills of lovin to write in school and knowing how to engage the listener knowing where I'm gonna land it or when I'm you know where it's gonna end where it's not going to end you know that's always been uh something I was always unique about and really focused on know what does this thing go you know and I have that premeditated in the process of pushing the lyrics earliest memory of music being in living room and watching we want easy how old would you say you were had to be four maybe actually said you before him busting out it was a scene where he bust out of jail on stage and he's rapping his verse that's my earliest memories I think and after that it would be Snoop Dogg's nothing but a jeep the hang I was heavy into music this one the box was out there he had to order you know they constantly ordered so the song was coming on back-to-back and I just sit in front of the tube just watch it back to back to back to that alone my parents planted every night a party and party every night literally you know films or television shows that mean mean a lot to you or you I am definitely all those things play a part to start on my imagination you know any particular ones you remember I used to look on the tool it could be from Dennis two minutes it can be from I was I watching fresh prints all these things constructed my imagination of what was outside of the actual house that I was living in or the neighborhood I was in because I'm looking at these figures these figures almost I like you know imaginary you know you're looking at Will Smith as The Fresh Prince you know he's actually a real person but as a kid you see him in a TV screen so to you to me I should say he's almost like a character in a sense you know when I looked at Michael Jackson still to this day Michael Jackson is the biggest imaginary character for me because I never got to meet him I've always seen him on television you know I've always seen him doing magic on stage you know so I'm looking at this guy as just a fig my imagination and me wondering how did they get you know beyond to that television screen so all these things play the part with me beyond my men today from the music to what I'm watching and just my perspective my perspective was always that I'm not just watching TV I'm trying to figure out how does he do that you know just curiosity who would the people with any people that he saw growing up that you had that feeling about the heat get to me and how did what was that like like uh yeah another bugged out oh that's crazy dr. Dre yeah Snoop Dogg Dre for sure tell me about your relationship with dread oh man this is a great thing man because I I once looked at it as a she's me being an ultimate fan I'm still a fan to this day but to actually sit down and have conversations beyond the music he wasn't just a figment of my imagination I was watching on TV screen you know it's almost confirmation the people I watch they just didn't get there out of pure luck they actually worked hard and they are human beings we're really motion is real drive real consistency real hunger you know it's way deeper than just a fan out you know that always tricked me out cuz I I told him about the story when I seen him when I was eight nine years old with two part on Rosecrans fast for fifty years later I'm in a studio will and I'm telling that story and even he remembers him say Butte I just you remember that ah like yeah I remember that everybody was on the street yells cross the street from a burger spot yeah that's my bird yeah I was one of the kids out there I was watching crazy crazy to me yeah crazy to me it's an interesting part of it is there's both the amount of work that goes into doing it and being able to keep doing it's not you know sometimes when you're a kid you see the person on the screen think oh I want to have that life but you don't understand what goes into that right into it but then also even if you have the work ethic there's still a tremendous amount of luck involved you feel the best in the world zactly not everybody gets to find out it's like so many elements have to go right the Crazy Horse it is really alive it's true now it is so much so many talented artists out there like cause every day and then you just don't plan out it can be from their own personal experiences or issues or management it's something that is an undescribable nature you know it's undescribable nature for sure on the on the second album you have the I'll call it the poem that happens over and over again yeah I remember he was conflicted yeah and deaf um when did that idea come up to use that over and over again they came into the process of me actually recording the records I wanted a threat conceptually just ties in in the songs I've always been a fan of just movie flicks and you know writers in general I just love writers man sitting a screening where people just come up with the craziest wackiest ideas you know and that was a that was a process that came along while I was writing the record you know and it worked out you know as a little soak we appreciate it yeah shame but it wasn't uh there was no influence of like there was some old album you heard that did something like that nah that's great it must be if anything it was a movie subconsciously in the back of my mind it resonates and feels unusual but it it pulls you further into it and then also sometimes when I'm listening to it and it comes up I remember the first time I wasn't saying tuna so it's like oh wait a minute I think I I think it messed up yeah yeah it's playing again you know like I mean those are things I like yeah absolutely no they're fun and they're flashy pulls you out of the normal experience of just sitting back and listening it's like it makes you question what's happening here and then it forces you to pay attention and we're in fortune to listen again it really does give or fortune you just don't listen it on it is whatever your yeah yeah yeah you know your taste maybe at the time but you're gonna go back to a division how do you celebrate when something good happens that is the that's the question of my team asks me every day really I own office the actual moment or me getting back in and doing something new or furthering that I think that's the thrill for me I think I feel the same as you yeah is this a crazy feeling for me like it's not I don't know if it's not the actual celebration for me it's about not doing it again but doing something fresh and it's almost like the opportunity to do something new can you think of a disappointment that you've had um finding the balance between family and that is the the disappointment because when you're doing this it comes a lot of sacrifice you're gonna miss a lot of birthdays you're gonna miss a lot of moments those are my earlier disappointed the idea of that nor knows you know times were coming in and they came in it's gonna be more of it and me not learning to find the balance it always was a a stress you know for me because you have you have certain people you care about and you love and sometimes you may get lost in the music so far you may forget how much you mean you know to the people that you came up with on your family your mother or your father you know you can hear it and you can hear you know even if it's not as blunt or as vocal you can hear the sort of disappointment you know for the most part of the people around you supportive before yeah yeah definitely definitely definitely their support about everybody has feelings you know that sometimes and in the position that I'm in you know they may not want to express those you know real finish because it may it may bring worry or they don't want to bring a warrior to my life you know so then finding that balance at the time do that it can be a somewhat of weary situation you know so on a personal scale that'll be disappointment for sure but do you have anyone around you who tells you if who tells you if something's not good yeah like either if you do something that's they perceive as out of line or for sure then I'd be head over heels right now you know if I didn't have a certain type of grounded pretty family team that just have my best interest not only as in music but as a person everyone that's around me everyone that's even around this you know this area has been with me since I was 15 years old you know and these are the same people I I keep around and hopefully eventually I know we you know grow you know as people in our I'll grow some people in different natures but I will hope that you know these same people will continue to grow with me because I I can't stop yeah you know I can't stop and musically you have anyone who's like it's not good enough or you like ridic yeah your team will do it - my team would do it - yeah man yeah I think me that's how I became the biggest critic of myself because through their criticism you learned yeah my skin better is tough yeah top dog himself you know a CEO a company when I was 16 an adverse ain't good that's whack you know you know your kid I whack you know you your feelings get hurt but after costly you know you grow tough kid yeah and you get better you being pushed gets in service to you he said everything that isn't certain - you definitely definitely because it taught me that to know what to do what not to do on record you know as far as lyricism as far as my approach because I've had the training I have to the rat boot camps been in there with my team and just going at it sleeping on couches for hours I've had the process for 10 years plus and in doing that you know I just developed a critiquing and a liking for what I know what I'm capable of do you have any uh any idea of the direction that's going coming next as far as writing goes um it soon I have ideas though I have ideas not have I have a certain approach but like I want to see what it manifests to you know I wanna I wanna I want to put all the paint on the wall and see where that goes you know maybe you can help me with that sure do you usually like for butterfly did you record more songs than the ones on the album I have so many uh floating around 24 bar 16 bars hooks really mainly hooks hooks and courses and bridges and ideas you know verses here and there songs here and there but really kind concepts of hooks and references that I had in mind for other people to sing things like that where do you find the most inspiration you said early when we started talking about traveling around the world talking to people and can you give me an example just like one picture something that happened that man it's mainly kids man I always say this kids bugged me out because they have no fear and nothing like nothing I sit there and I talk to kids like my little niece you know she's 2 years old but she fears nothing and she has no concept of reality as we know it that always inspired me to write for some reason man it don't necessarily have to be whatever the actual child is pertaining to but it it gives me a moment talking to them gets me moment to step back and look at the world for what I know it what this kids easy and he said kids are much closer to God in that way like I said yet indoctrinated into society so they're closer to just pure essence exactly exactly because deep down we're all kids at heart and I know I am I'm the biggest kid ever you know so I can be able to relate and communicate them communicate with them in a way that I watch most adults can't you know I'll sit there and hold a conversation you know and go back to the studio man and write the most bugged out song you know just because it just gave me like I said gives me a chance to sit back and allow myself to look at the perspectives of you know a different spectrum of having responsibilities and not having any at all it's fun talking to you yeah man I'm ready that's a great great great introduction anything else you want to talk about check out the spaceman I'm gonna create his own yeah this is this is to go inside record your eye exactly [Music]

Channel: GQ

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Keywords: rick rubin, kendrick lamar, kendrick lamar and rick rubin, shangri la studios, kendrick lamar lyrics, kendrick lamar interview, kendrick, ruck rubin interview, rick ruben documentary, epic conversation, k dot, kendrick interview, kendrick talk, kendrick talks, kendrick speaks, kendrick lamar on, kendrick lamar documentary, kendrick lamar interviews, kendrick lamar meets, rick ruben, kendrick lamar conversation, rick, gq, gq magazine

Id: 4lPD5PtqMiE

Length: 49min 47sec (2987 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 20 2016