The artist Kendrick Lamar thought was “way ahead of her time”
Kendrick Lamar‘s albums have repeatedly shown his ability to weave various styles and sounds within his projects. The Californian has bounced between avant-garde to mainstream appeal while showing off his versatility as an artist all the way from Section.80 to the tale of personal growth he tells in Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
Naturally such a wide-ranging artist has wide-ranging inspirations and Lamar is no exception to this. During a sit-down with Complex, Lamar opened up about the projects that shaped his breakout album good kid, m.A.A.d city, many of which were West Coast projects, the likes of 2Pac’s All Eyez on Me and Dr Dre’s 2001. The list mentions New York albums too, such as Notorious B.I.G’s Ready To Die and Life After Death, and gives a shout to the southern hip-hop sounds of Juveniles’ 400 Degreez. But standing out amongst them is The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill from Lauryn Hill.
The 1998 album, still considered one of the greatest in hip-hop’s history, ushered in a new school of thought and independence in the genre. Incorporating hip-hop, reggae, and soul sounds she creates a powerful whole greater than the sum of its parts. Lamar used a similar style of interludes on his 2012 album and explains that Hill’s project gave him the idea of a quality concept album.
“That [record] probably had the most hits on it than I’ve ever heard,” Lamar said. “Even going back and listening to it now. Crazy, I think she was way ahead of her time—just the feeling and the cohesiveness and the concept behind it. It was just genius to me.”
The album was the first female rap album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 and is a diamond-certified project. With it came engrossing visuals and music videos which captured Lamar. Elaborating on how amazing the visuals were, Lamar continued “[I] Really just [remember] the videos, how dope the videos were. They were cool and it was just a different feel. It had a natural organic feel.”
Lamar, who has become a master at creating stirring visuals for his own sound, added: “Back then the videos coming out, everybody had the high-class, high-end type look, hers was more natural, being-herself type look. I thought that was dope, and it’s dope that I recognized that at a young age.”
It’s not only musically that Hill affected Lamar and in 2015 ahead of the release of his gripping third album To Pimp a Butterfly, he revealed he spoke to the Fugees member and she gave him some inspiring advice.
“I had a talk with Lauryn Hill and she said, ‘Try to completely throw away your ego’ How many times can you throw away an ego, you know?” he said. “It’s tough. It’s something we all battle with. I battle with it all the time and the idea of being in all these places—the big spots, all the events, the lights—it’s all for your ego. It’s all for your own confirmation to be like, okay, I’m somebody. But truthfully, you’ve always been somebody. You don’t need the lights.”