00:00What's going on?
00:01It's Kendrick Lamar right here with Essence.
00:03There's a lot of kids that grew up the way I did, you know, that feel like there's no
00:07way out.
00:08You know, we don't get a lot of celebrities or whatnot to come to the city and actually
00:15put their hand back in the city and say, you know what, you can do it too.
00:19So I feel like it's only right that I champion them and let them know I'll always be behind
00:22them.
00:23Let them know I know the sacrifices and the struggles they go through and give them some
00:27type of inspiration.
00:28The message to take away from To Pimp A Butterfly, if it was one word, it'd be leadership.
00:35That's what the album, that's one of the pieces of the album for me that's important, about
00:39my leadership and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it.
00:44Being from Compton, it's hard to actually escape the ills of what I'm used to.
00:47Now, I can take my fame and my fortune and do this to the neighborhood or I can do something
00:53positive and give back some game.
00:54So if anything, whatever situation you're in, always go back to leadership and who you
01:00have behind you that actually looks up to you.
01:02That's your responsibility.
01:03I heard my vocals play back at my boy Dave Free Garage.
01:08I was like 16, but yeah, it was like that.
01:13I wanted to continue to keep hearing it because I didn't think I sound like that, but it always
01:19intrigued me.
01:20The more and more I kept doing it, the more and more I was like, I want to keep doing it.
01:23Yeah.
01:24You know, when you're a kid, you don't really know what you're doing.
01:26You're just doing it for the love of it, for the passion of it.
01:29The first time I really seen that it was impacting me, I made a young lady actually shed a tear
01:35over a record I did on my mixtape.
01:37I think it was Section 80.
01:39And that's when I knew it was something serious.
01:40You know, it's more than just beats and rhymes.
01:43It's actually something people can relate to.
01:46Prince, the late Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, definitely.
01:53Them particular cats was the main people that was playing in my household.
01:57You know, I actually wanted Prince on Complexion, but it was like deadline and we trying to make
02:01things work.
02:02But he respected the record, so that gave me the fuel to still slap it on there and continue
02:08the concept, you know, but those artists for sure, they inspired it.
02:12Yo, what's poppin', y'all?
02:13It's Kendrick Lamar letting you know.
02:15Make sure you come see me perform Essence Fest.
02:18I will be there rocking out with y'all.
02:20Y'all stay tuned.
02:21Boom.
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