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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.

-Kendrick Lamar

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The More I Started

Kendrick Lamar

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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.

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

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African American

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

I Like To Let Things Breathe.

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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.

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

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

I Was Raised Inside The Gang Culture.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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 Really Believe In The Type Of Pressure That People Are Wanting To Put On The Type Of Music That I Make.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Great Experiences

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.

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.

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

The Universe Energy Doesn't Lie.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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