Asked about the high-profile killings of African-Americans by police in 2014, from Ferguson, Mo., to Staten Island, he says, “I wish somebody would look in our neighborhood knowing that it’s already a situation, mentally, where it’s f—ked up. 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.” Lamar, who has said that he wasn’t raised devoutly religious, fingers the small figure of Christ dangling from a chain around his neck. “We’re in the last days, man — I truly in my heart believe that. It’s written. I could go on with Biblical situations and things my grandma told me. But it’s about being at peace with myself and making good with the people around me.”
Lamar says that “the end is in sight” with his unfinished album, which is bittersweet for him. “My enjoyment is creating the music,” he explains. “Once it gets pressed up, with bar codes on it, then it’s not really fun anymore.” The musicians who joined him on Colbert constitute the core of his vampire crew. “These are guys I’ve been around for years, in the L.A. music circuit,” he says. “This wasn’t a situation where somebody put us together. When you’re playing instruments, all that stuff comes from the soul. It’s real individuals pushing these sounds out. I get that same impact when I push the words out behind it.”
Full Story: Billboard
Thoughts on what K. Dot had to say about African American neighborhoods?
