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Everybody Has Their Own Way Of Hearing Songs. My Fans Are Usually Pretty On Point. Sometimes They Go All The Way To The Bottom Of It. It's Fascinating To Me How Far An Idea Can Go. I Wrote Most Of My First Album In My Mom's Kitchen, And Now I Can Go Around The World And Hear People Recite Those Lyrics, And Understand The Story, Even Though They're Not From The Same Area I Grew Up In.

-Kendrick Lamar

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Everybody Has Their Own

Kendrick Lamar

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Everybody Has Their Own Way Of Hearing Songs. My Fans Are Usually Pretty On Point. Sometimes They Go All The Way To The Bottom Of It. It's Fascinating To Me How Far An Idea Can Go. I Wrote Most Of My First Album In My Mom's Kitchen, And Now I Can Go Around The World And Hear People Recite Those Lyrics, And Understand The Story, Even Though They're Not From The Same Area I Grew Up In.

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Colorism Is Not A Good Thing, Especially When You're Black.

Music Was Just Played All Around Me, And I Couldn't Run From It. My Pops, He Never Learned To Sing, But He'd Have His Little Drink On The Side, And He'd Put On The Best Of His Hits - Gangster Rap Or Oldies - And He'd Sing All Day On His Mic Plugged Up To The Wall Set-up. It's A Trip. I've Just Seen That My Whole Life, So I've Always Just Had A Love For Music. By The Time I Was 13, I Really Just Jumped In It. And It's Something I Took On To Have As A Hobby.

The Opposite Of Love? Vice. Temptation. The Negative Influences That We Have. The Bad Energy That Comes Around Us And Makes Us Do Certain Things. To Me, It's Always Been A War Between The Two.

If I Can Look At A 6-year-old And Learn From Him, That's Life. That's God For Me, That's Inspiring.

The Universe Energy Doesn't Lie.

I Stole A Bible, Is That A Sin?

I Started Doing Music When I Was Thirteen; I Actually Started Writing My First Rhymes.

We Hurt People That Love Us, Love People That Hurt Us

People Gonna Be They Own Individuals And Have They Own Worlds And I Can't Knock It.

I Knew I Was Blessed With A Gift Of Having Both Parents.

My Whole Thing Is To Inspire, To Better People, To Better Myself Forever In This Thing That We Call Rap, This Thing That We Call Hip Hop.

I Think My Worst Problem Is Actually Living In The Moment And Understanding Everything That's Going On. I Feel Like I'm In My Own Bubble.

Live In The Moment

My Mind Is Living On Cloud 9 And This 9 Is Never On Vacation.

It's The Beauty In Her, But When The Makeup Occur, I Don't See It, All I See Is A Blur

I Want You To Recognize That I'm A Proud Monkey...

When I Look At Comedy, It's All Self-expression. I Apply That Same Method To My Music. I Came Up Listening To N.w.a And Snoop. Like Them, It's In Me To Express How I Feel. You Might Like It Or You Might Not, But I Take That Stand.

Life Will Put Many Red Lights In Front Of You, But Sometimes We Must Push On The Gas And Trust God

I Am From The Inner City, The Ghetto. If I Can Use My Platform To Carry On A Legacy And Talk About Something That's Real, I Have To Do That, Period.

We All Get Distracted, The Question Is, Would You Bounce Back Or Bounce Backwards?

While You Have People Who Are Actually Fronting For Your Needs And Wants, Sometimes Your Needs And Wants May Not Be Right For You. The People Around You Are Just Trying To Keep Their Jobs.

God To Me Is Love. It's The Ruler Of All Things, Whether It's With A Person Or With Music Or With Your Tv. I Feel Like It's This Energy. God Is Energy, Love Is Energy.

Consequences From Evil Will Make Your Past Haunt You

I Penetrate The Hearts Of Good Kids And Criminals

What Is Love? Love To Me Is God.

The Best Thing Is To Always Keep Honest People Around, Because When You Have A Bunch Of Yes Men Around That Know That You're Making A Mistake But Let You Go On With It, That's When It Ruins Your Mind State As An Artist.

Everybody Has Their Own Way Of Hearing Songs. My Fans Are Usually Pretty On Point. Sometimes They Go All The Way To The Bottom Of It. It's Fascinating To Me How Far An Idea Can Go. I Wrote Most Of My First Album In My Mom's Kitchen, And Now I Can Go Around The World And Hear People Recite Those Lyrics, And Understand The Story, Even Though They're Not From The Same Area I Grew Up In.

What Separated Me From All My Homeboys Is The Fact That I Didn't Get Caught Inside The Reality. I Was Always Dreaming About Doing Something Else Or Going Somewhere Else.

My Rights, My Wrongs, I Write ‘til I’m Right With God.

[drizzy] ,it Was Dope. A Great Experience, Especially With The Topic He Was Talking About And To Be... Organic.i'm Glad That It Worked Out The Way It Did Where I Got To Tell My Story, Tell His Story At The Same Time... And Actually Have It Make Sense As Far As The Whole Concept Of The Album.

I'm Constantly Thinking.

Constantly Thinking

Let Bygones Be Bygones...but Where I'm From, We Buy Guns And More Guns, To Give To The Young.

I Don't Sugarcoat It You'd Die From Diabetes If These Other Niggas Wrote It

Toronto's One Of My Favourite Places. If I Were To Move Anywhere Out Of California, It Would Be Toronto. Definitely.

The Best Way To Describe Myself Would Be...unpredictable.

Every Time I Write These Words They Become A Taboo, Making Sure My Punctuation Curve, Every Letter Here's True, Living My Life In The Margin, And That Metaphor Was Proof.

When You Go On Your Twitter Or Look Down Your Timeline And It's All Great Positivity - I Love That. But At The Same Time, It Can Really Divert You From What Your Purpose Is Or What You're Trying To Do. And I've Seen Artists Get Caught Up In That.

Everybody Looking At You Crazy, What You Gon' Do? Lift Up Your Head And Keep Moving, Or Let The Paranoia Haunt You?

No Matter How Much Good Things Are Going On Around You, You Still Have Them Little Negative Things That Just Wanna Come Out In Front. But You Bottle Them In Because You Have So Many Other Great Things, But They Still There.

The People Definitely Shape The Two, Put Stamps And Classify Mainstream And Underground Music.

I Sit And Talk To Kids All Day, Because I Feel Like They Carry The Most Wisdom.

Hip-hop And Being A Pro Athlete Go Hand In Hand. When They Come Together, It's A Win, Not Just For Your Business Brand But Also For Culture.

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.

A Dollar Might Turn To A Million And We All Rich That's Just How I Feel

What Happened To [michael Brown] Should've Never Happened. Never. But When We Don't Have Respect For Ourselves, How Do We Expect Them To Respect Us? It Starts From Within. Don't Start With Just A Rally, Don't Start From Looting - It Starts From Within.

I Felt Like, What Better Way For People To Understand Me By Taking The Initiative In Giving My Real Name, My Name That Moms Taught Me So Y'all Actually Know What's Going On In My Life And My Music.

Tell Me How I Stay Positive When They Never See Good In Me

I Can Be Calm And Reflective From Time To Time And Other Times I Can Have A Burst Of Energy, That's Just Me.

Kids Don't See Hate In Their Eyes. They See The World, And Living In It To The Best Of Their Abilities. And That's Where Love Comes From For Me.

There Are So Many People Pulling At Me At One Time - Some Want The Business, Some Want My Love, Some Just Want My Support, Just To Be There Or To Acknowledge Them The Same Way I Used To. To Be Able To Figure That Out Is An Ongoing Process, Because There's Always Another Show, Another Album, Another Moment That I Don't Want To Miss. But I'm Pacing Myself. I Hope The Powers That Be Keep Me On A Straight Course.

It's A Great, Great Experience To Finally Get The Reception That You Know You Rightfully Deserve.

Great Experiences

Brother Kendrick Lamar: He's Not A Rapper, He's A Writer, He's An Author. And If You Read Between The Lines, We'll Learn How To Love One Another. But You Can't Do That, I Said You Can't Do That, Without Loving Yourself First.

Loving Yourself

The Message I'm Sending To Myself - I Can't Change The World Until I Change Myself First.

How Am I Influencing So Many People On This Stage Rather Than Influencing The Ones That I Have Back Home?

The Sky Is Falling, The Wind Is Calling Stand For Something, Or Die In The Morning

I Went To South Africa - Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg - And Those Were Definitely The "i've Arrived" Shows. Outside Of The Money, The Success, The Accolades ... This Is A Place That We, In Urban Communities, Never Dream Of. We Never Dream Of Africa. Like, "damn, This Is The Motherland." You Feel It As Soon As You Touch Down. That Moment Changed My Whole Perspective On How To Convey My Art.

Since Day One, Since The First Time I Touched The Pen, I Wanted To Be The Best At What I Do.

I Be Off The Slave Ships, Building Pyramids, Writing My Own Hieroglyphs

You Grow Up Inside These Neighborhoods And These Communities, And You Have Friends, Friends That You Love, Friends That You Grew Up With Since Elementary. And You Have Their Trust, And You Have Their Loyalty. So It Brings Influence. So No Matter How Much Of A Leader I Thought I Was, I Was Always Under The Influence, Period.

That's The Ultimate Thing I Want To Do In Making Music - To Be Able To Inspire Somebody Else.

I'm Standing On A Field Full Of Landmines Doing The Moonwalk Hoping I Blow Up In Time

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'm Listening To A Lot Of Oldies.a Lot Of Al Green, Marvin Gaye. Luther Vandross... They Were Some Of My Icons.

My Folks Ain't Graduated From High School Or Nothing Like That, So We Always Had To Struggle In The Family - And I Come From A Big Family.

My Grandma Always Said, "where There's A Will, There's A Way." I Think It's Just Naturally In Our Dna To Be Able To Survive. We Was Always Taught That: To Survive. When You Talking About Slavery, It's To Survive.

As Long As My Music Is Real, It's No Limit To How Many Ears I Can Grab.

The Hiiipower Movement Is A Movement That's Going On All Throughout The World Like A Virus. It's About Being On A Higher Level Than The Industry. It's A Movement We Started To Be Above All The Bullshit That's Been Going On.

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 Always Tell People That If I Move Anywhere It Would Be Toronto.

I'm A Person Of My Own Opinions, That's How I Was Raised. I Speak What I Feel... A Lot Of People Feel The Same Way But They're Scared To Talk. They're Really Scared Of The Truth - They Only Want Half Of The Truth. I've Been Living Like That - Forever In Fear - But I Know What To Say And How To Say It Now. I Ain't Scared Of Myself. Y'all May Be Scared; I'm Not Scared.

Color Don't Tell If People Black. It's The Soul.

I Think All Geminis Are Kids At Heart. And That's Why They're Able To Simplify Some Of The Most Complex Things And Connect With People. It's Having That Kid Spirit.

I Probably Spent More Time Listening To Albums Than Writing Songs. But I Think That Gave Me All The Tricks In Terms Of Wordplay, From How I Pronounced My Words To The Actual Delivery.

The More I Started Going Through My Own Things In Life, My Faith Got Put To The Test, And I Had To Believe That God Is Real In My Heart, My Lord And Savior Jesus Christ, And I Can't Run From That. I'll Always Put That In My Music Or It Just Wouldn't Be Right. People Can Take It Or Leave It, I Really Don't Care, Because It's For Me To Put It On Records. And I Will Continue To Put More Of A Spiritual Nature In My Music.

Being Able To Tell One From Start To Finish, And Making That Puzzle Come Together At The End. That's The Art For Me.

If I Told You That A Flower Bloomed In A Dark Room, Would You Trust It?

Hip-hop Is Not The Problem, Our Reality Is The Problem.

We Look So Much On Color That We Forget About The Soul.

[drizzy] Reached Out To Me Through Chase N Cashe, They're Brothers, They're One. Chase N Cashe Made The Connection, Played Some Of My Music And He [drake] Got Up On It, Got Interested In The Music And Just Reached Out And Said "you Know What, Let's Work."

Poetic Justice, Poetic Justice.. If I Told You That A Flower Bloom In A Dark Room Would You Trust It. I Mean I Write Poems In These Songs.

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.

You Really Can't Categorize My Music, It's Human Music.

You Can't Change Where You From. You Can't Take A Person Out Of Their Zone And Expect Them To Be Somebody Else Now That They In The Record Industry. It's Gonna Take Years. Years Of Travelling. Years Of Meeting People. Years Of Seeing The World.

I Aint A Drinker Im A Thinker, Call It What You Want

I'm African American / I'm African / I'm Black As The Moon.

African American

Just Let Me Be Me, That's The Only Way I Know.

My Pops And My Mom Started Playing Marvin Gaye And The Isley Brothers And All These People, But At The Same Time, They Always Had Snoop On Right Behind It In The Same Mix.

I Cut Off My Ears Before I Hear Your Advice And Vice Versa

You Don't Hear No Artists From Compton Showing Vulnerability.

We're All Human At The End Of The Day, Making Mistakes. But Learn From Them Is The Key.

The End Of The Day

I Had To Come From Something, Come From A Place That Was Negative And Positive But The Majority Of It Is A Negative Place.

Negative And Positive

I Really Focus On What My Fans Will Take From It, People Living Their Day-to-day Lives. At The End Of The Day, The Music Isn't For Me; It's For People Who Are Going Through Their Struggles And Want To Relate To Someone Who Feels The Same Way They Do. I've Got To Go All-in, Expressing Myself, Right There In The Moment.

I Live This Life At A Pace That Anyone Can Go. Know Your Place, And Dedicate Your Role ...to The Faith That You'll Die Alone

Don't You Know Your Imperfections Is A Wonderful Blessing, From Heaven Is Where You Got It From

Once I Looked In The Mirror And Decided This Is Who I Am, And I'm Not Scared Of Who I Am, And I'm Not Scared That I Can't Be Like You, And I'm Good With Just Doing Me, That's When I Found Myself, As A Man.

I Was Raised Inside The Gang Culture.

I Learned, When I Look In The Mirror And Tell My Story, That I Should Be Myself And Not Peep Whatever Everybody Is Doing.

Groups Break Up Because They Never Got Across What They Wanted To Do Personally, And They Have Creative Differences, And Egos Start To Clash.

So Next Time You Feel Like Your World Is About To End, I Hope You Studied Because He's Testing Your Faith Again.

K. Dot Was A Kid Who Was Trying To Find Himself In Music, Finding Trends, Um, Bending Towards - Ready To Bend Towards What The Industry Was Telling Me To Do And After You Mature At A Certain Time In Your Life, You Come Into Your Own...your Own Niche, Your Own Personality, Not Only As An Artist But As A Person.

We All, We All Good People Just Trying To Escape The Negative Influence That Come Around Us And That's The Story Of My Life, You Know? Trying My Best To Get Around The Ills And I Bumped My Head A Few Times But I Think, You Know, Music Is My Savior For Right Now, For Me And My Whole Group.

You Can't Have People Listen To You Unless You Come To Their World And Then Bring Them To Yours.

Am I The Only One Who Measures Time Using Songs? “oh It Only Took Me 4 Songs To Get Here! That’s Not To Long!

I Am A Sinner....who's Probably Gonna Sin Again...lord Forgive Me!

I Think My Vice Would Be Outdoing Myself.

It's A Long Time Coming As Far As The Work That I Put In. Now I Know That I Got The Stamp But What Counts Is What Comes Behind. That's What's Really Important. Upholding That Stamp And Not Only Keeping The Energy My Way But Also Spreading That Energy Out To Other Artists That Are Coming Up On The West Coast.

I Was A Black Sheep, But Now I'm Just A Goat

I Wanted The Next Family To Hurt, Because You Made My Family Hurt. Them Emotions Were Still Running In Me... Whether I'm A Rap Star Or Not, If I Still Feel Like That, Then I'm Part Of The Problem Rather Than The Solution.

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.

Look Inside My Soul And You Can Find Gold And Maybe Get Rich. Look Inside Of Your Soul And You Can Find Out It Never Exists.

Got In The Studio At Sixteen, [and] That's When I Felt Like I Wanted To Make This A Career. I Had A Passion For It.

I Don't Vote. I Don't Do No Voting.

Whatever Pressure I Feel All Comes From Me, From Within. I Always Was That Person Who Was Hard On Myself And Challenged Myself No Matter What I Was Doing, Whether It Was Passing Third Grade Or Playing Basketball.

The Limit Is The Sky, And I Live On Cloud. And I Recognize My Nemesis Gon Try, To Put A Finish In My Shine. But Pussy We'll Hurt You, Life In The Power Circle.

The More People I Meet, The More Cultures I Start To Embrace, The More People I Open Myself Up To - It's A Growing Process I'm Excited About. But It's Also A Challenge For Me, To Be At This Level And Still Be Able To Connect With Somebody Who's Living That Everyday Life. At First It Was Something I Struggled With, Because Everything Was Moving So Fast. I Didn't Know How To Digest It. The Best Thing I Did Was Go Back To The City Of Compton, To Touch The People Who I Grew Up With And Tell Them The Stories Of The People I Met Around The World.

As I've Grown As An Artist, I've Learned That My Mission Statement Is Really Self-expression. I Don't Want Anybody To Classify My Music. I Want Them To Say, "this Is Somebody Who's Recognizing His True Feelings, His True Emotions, Ideas, Thoughts, Opinions, And Views On The World, All On One Record." I Want People To Recognize That And To Take It And Apply It To Their Own Lives. You Know What I'm Saying? The More And More I Get Out And Talk To Different People, I Realize They Appreciate That - Me Being Unapologetic In Whatever Views And Approach I Have.

If I'm Gonna Tell A Real Story, I'm Gonna Start With My Name.

My Mom's One Of 13 Siblings, And They All Got Six Kids, And Till I Was 13 Everybody Was In Compton.

I've Got An Extra-specific Story About Dr. Dre. I Saw Him When I Was 9 Years Old In Compton - Him And Tupac. They Were Shooting The Second 'california Love' Video. My Pops Had Seen Him And Ran Back To The House And Got Me, Put Me On His Neck, And We Stood There Watching Dre And Pac In A Bentley.

It's Easy To Forget Who You Are.

Being Where You From Is A Strong Genetic. You Can't Run From It.

Eventually You Get To This Point Where You Understand What You Want To Do And Get Across And Sound Like.

Believe In God, It's Only One God. F*** All That Religion S***. Believe In One God, And Do Right. Try Your Best To Do Right, We Ain't Perfect. Just Do That And Everything Will Be Straight.

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.

I'm Usually Homeboys With The Same Ni**as I'm Rhyming Wit/but This Is Hip-hop And Them Ni**as Should Know What Time It Is/and That Goes For Jermaine Cole, Big Krit, Wale/pusha T, Meek Millz, A$ap Rocky, Drake/big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller/i Got Love For You All But I'm Tryna Murder You Ni**as/tryna Make Sure Your Core Fans Never Heard Of You Ni**as/they Dont Wanna Hear Not One More Noun Or Verb From You Ni**as

When I Go Into The Studio - It [words] Has To Sound The Way I Heard It In My Head. So That's Probably One Of The Biggest Things That Separates Me When I'm Working In The Studio - Just How I Hear Certain Things.

I Don't Even Have Kids. But At Heart, I'm A Kid Myself.

The Worst Part Of Success Is, To Me, Adapting To It. It's Scary.

From What I Remember, I Remember Always Being A Big Fan Of Kardinal Offishall. He Just Had That Different Flow And Different Flavor. He Put Himself On The Record And That's The Type Of Energy That We Love.

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.

The Thing About Hip-hop Is They Always Want To Classify You As One Particular Artist, But Hip-hop Is About Going Outside The Box And Expressing Yourself However You Want To.

I Like To Let Things Breathe.

It's Deep-rooted, The Music Of Being Young And Dumb, It's Never Muted, In Fact, It's Much Louder Where I'm From.

I'd Rather Not Live Like There Isn't A God Then Die And Find Out There Really Is Think About It

Found Myself Screaming In A Hotel Room. I Didn't Want To Self-destruct.

I Went Back And Studied The Game, Was A Student Of The Game And Worked On My Craft And Dedicated Myself, You Know? A Lot Of My Music Revolves Around Me Growing Up In Compton. I Want To Tell A Different Story That's Never Been Told Before, Of A Good Kid In A Mad City.

The One In Front Of The Gun Lives Forever

But What Love Got To Do With It When You Don't Love Yourself ?

Sometimes You Have The Trends That's Not That Cool. You May Have Certain Artists Portraying These Trends And Don't Really Have That Lifestyle, And Then It Gives Off The Wrong Thing. And It Becomes Kinda Corny After Awhile. It's Really About Keeping Hip-hop Original And Pushing Away The Corniness In It.

I Can't Help The Way You Was Born If You Was Gay.

My Lyrics Say I Have Morals, I Have Confidence, I Have Weaknesses, I Have Strong Points, That I Am A Human Being.

I'm Machiavelli's Offspring, I'm The King Of New York, King Of The Coast, One Hand, I Juggle Them Both.

I Don't Really Believe In The Type Of Pressure That People Are Wanting To Put On The Type Of Music That I Make.

We All Seem To Stumble, Planning Our Own Demise, Getting The Big Picture, And Making It Wallet-sized.

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.

And I'm Not Sure Why I'm Infatuated With Death, My Imagination Is Surely An Aggravation Of Threats... Maybe Cause I'm A Dreamer, And Sleep Is The Cousin Of Death, Really Stuck In The Scheme Of Wondering When I'mma Rest.

[ Drizzy] Is A Good Dude , He's Been Looked Out And Reached Out, And I Admire The Talent.

Although The Butterfly And The Caterpillar Are Completely Different, They Are One And The Same.

I Can Say Is If Anyone Gets A Chance To Work With [dr.]dre, It's A Moment You Will Always Take With You Throughout Your Career. And As Of Right Now, The Compton Album Is The Only Thing To Talk About.

There's Kids Out There That Have So Much Life To Live. That's A Beautiful Thing.

Beautiful Things

The Times That We Are In, It's Something That You Can Only Feel In The Air. You Don't Even Have To Talk About It. You Don't Need The News Or The Internet To Watch It. You Can Walk Outside And Just Feel It.

Build Your Own Pyramids, Write Your Own Hieroglyphs.

I Always Thought Money Was Something Just To Make Me Happy. But I’ve Learned That I Feel Better Being Able To Help My Folks, ’cause We Never Had Nothing. So Just To See Them Excited About My Career Is More Of A Blessing Than Me Actually Having It For Myself.

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.

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