On seeing Tupac in a vision when he was 21: “I was coming from a late studio session, sleeping on mom’s couch. I’m 26 now—it wasn’t that long ago. I remember being tired, tripping from the studio, lying down, and falling into a deep sleep and seeing a vision of Pac talking to me. Weirdest shit ever. I’m not huge on superstition and all that shit. That’s what made it so crazy. It can make you go nuts. Hearing somebody that you looked up to for years saying, ‘Don’t let the music die.’ Hearing it clear as day. Clear as day. Like he’s right there. Just a silhouette.”
On the state of his relationship with Drake: “Pretty cool.” Shrugs. “And I mean, I would be okay if we weren’t.”
On whether he views Drake as a role model: “No—peer. If anything. We all peers.”
On the rumored confrontation at Diddy’s VMA after-party: “It was all love at that party.”
On the sound of his second album, which he plans to start recording in January: “I don’t know. It depends on where my emotion is. How angry I’ll be, or how happy I’ll be, or how confused I’ll be.”
GQ’s “2013 Men of the Year” December issue hits newsstands on November 19. Visit GQ.com to read Kendrick Lamar’s “Rapper of the Year” cover story.
