News

Kendrick Lamar Talks “Very Urgent” Themes Of New Album In ‘New York Times Magazine’ Interview

blame it on Patrick Glynn March 1, 2017
kendrick-lamar-white

In a new interview with New York Times magazine, Kendrick Lamar talked about the themes and influences behind his next album.

The whole article, which also featured short profiles of Beck and Tom Waits, was art’s importance in this day and age. That led Kendrick Lamar’s conversation with interviewer Wyatt Mason about K. Dot’s To Pimp A Butterfly follow-up.

“It’s very urgent,” he said.

“‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ was addressing the problem,” Kendrick continued. “I’m in a space now where I’m not addressing the problem anymore. We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God. Nobody speaks on it because it’s almost in conflict with what’s going on in the world when you talk about politics and government and the system.”

The most in-depth he got into describing the album when when he asked the interviewer if he had kids. He did: a baby girl.

He responded: “This is what goes on in my mind as a writer. One day, I may have a little girl. And it’s a girl in particular — funny you said that. She’s gonna grow up. She’s gonna be a child I adore, I’m gonna always love her, but she’s gonna reach that one point where she’s gonna start experiencing things. And she’s gonna say things or do things that you may not condone, but it’s the reality of it and you know she was always gonna get to that place. And it’s disturbing. But you have to accept it. You have to accept it and you have to have your own solutions to figure out how to handle the action and take action for it.

“When I say ‘the little girl,’ it’s the analogy of accepting the moment when she grows up. We love women, we enjoy their company. At one point in time I may have a little girl who grows up and tells me about her engagements with a male figure — things that most men don’t want to hear. Learning to accept it, and not run away from it, that’s how I want this album to feel.”

Read the full story on NY Times‘ website.