Kendrick Lamar once explained the biggest misconception about him
Kendrick Lamar has been a leading figure in hip-hop for the past ten years and is often regarded as the top emcee of his generation. Hailing from Compton, he earned numerous prestigious music awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 2017.
The artist behind Section.80 has consistently produced exceptional music, and fans continue to appreciate his work. His first major label album, Good Kid m.A.A.d City, is seen as a contemporary classic, with his subsequent releases gaining even more acclaim.
Like fellow artists J Cole and Tyler, The Creator, Kendrick has maintained his position at the pinnacle of hip-hop thanks to the outstanding quality of his art. Since breaking onto the scene in the early 2010s, he has collaborated with many of the industry’s legends and is now recognised as one of the finest MCs of the new generation.
Still, despite fans feeling like they know outside of the industry, he is an extremely quiet, private and straightforward person. The ‘Backseat Freestyle’ rapper doesn’t consistently engage with fans and doesn’t have a massive presence on social media. As such, apart from when he sits down for interviews, the culture doesn’t really hear much from him, but the West Coast emcee has his reasons for this.
Due to his quiet nature, Kendrick doesn’t speak about himself regularly and often doesn’t correct mistakes people make about his life or motivations. The ‘Swimming Pools’ rhymer emerged in the early 2010s, and instantly, people wanted to know more about him than was available. Questions pertaining to whether or not he was in a gang began to appear online, and queries about his relationship status kept on emerging.
However, people often questioned his music, asking whether or not he was a conscious rapper or a ‘Kevin Abstract’ style experimental emcee. But these were all grave falsehoods. During an interview with Acclaim magazine, Lamar revealed that the most significant misconception people have about him is that he is dedicated to a particular sound and to spreading a specific message.
Speaking about the public’s perception of him and the fallacies, Lamar explained, “I think people pretty much understand what I’m doing. But probably that some people think they can classify me.” He continued, “I don’t think there’s really a genre or a type of sound that I do. Everything I do comes off as me, I’m not trying to force myself into anything. So, if there was one, I think it would be that. But for the most part, I think people understand what’s going on.”
Lamar repeatedly emphasised that people’s biggest misconception about him is that he is a musically fixed emcee who doesn’t want to experiment. However, he made sure to highlight that regardless of what he does, he is dedicated to his music.
As such, during the conversation, he admitted that he has a particular disdain for MCs who don’t understand or want to understand the true art of creating music in contemporary hip-hop. Concluding, “[I dislike] an artist that really has no interest in the music. One of those artists, you can tell are only inspired by the lifestyles of some of these rappers on TV and do it purely just for that. That’s what I don’t like.”