I learned, when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing.
You don’t hear no artists from Compton showing vulnerability.
I don’t vote. I don’t do no voting.
The moment I made that decision to get in the studio and actually work and study the culture of hip-hop, then everything just started to open up and blossom for me.
A lot of incredible rap albums over the past couple of decades have deserved Album of the Year. To Pimp a Butterfly is an extension of those albums.
At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out. Now I’ll talk about being beaten up or robbed or making a stupid decision because of a girl or whatever.
I’m Machiavelli’s offspring, I’m the king of New York, king of the coast, one hand, I juggle them both.
I penetrate the hearts of good kids and criminals.
As long as my music is real, it’s no limit to how many ears I can grab.
Groups break up because they never got across what they wanted to do personally, and they have creative differences, and egos start to clash.
I don’t talk about these things if I haven’t lived them, and I’ve hurt people in my life. It’s something I still have to think about when I sleep at night.
I always felt like there was a certain standard of music that I had to do from the beginning, even when I didn’t have the recognition that I have now.
I always tell people that if I move anywhere it would be Toronto.
My mom’s one of 13 siblings, and they all got six kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton.
Found myself screaming in a hotel room. I didn’t want to self-destruct.
You can have the platinum album, but when you still feel like you haven’t quite found your place in the world – it kind of gives a crazy offset.
I was raised inside the gang culture.
Teenagers expressing this on a daily basis in the middle of the streets – you can’t help but believe we are in the mind state of taking our losses and changing people’s perceptions of us and our community. We are strong. Our families are tired of being hurt.
I see conflict. But the conflict is what makes it relatable. I’m conflicted; you’re conflicted. I’m not perfect – nobody is. I’m just blessed to be able to express my conflict through song.
There’s a lot of other artists doing things outside of that depth that I enjoy – that music that I can actually have fun to, and not be in depth and think about, then I appreciate that.
How am I influencing so many people on this stage rather than influencing the ones that I have back home?