The album Kendrick Lamar called a “defining moment for the West Coast”
Compton native Kendrick Lamar has a wide range of influences. From jazz to soul and more, the Good Kid m.A.A.d City creator has fused an array of genres into his music over the years. However, his love of rap is what made him who he is today.
As a California artist, Lamar has an understandable preference for West Coast rap, but his taste in hip-hop transcends geographical boundaries and is even international. Whether it’s To Pimp A Butterfly or DAMN, Lamar has paid tribute lyrically to some of his favourite artists. However, he has also shown their influence on him sonically.
Lamar has previously opened up about his love for East Coast, West Coast and Down South rappers and has attributed several iconic names to his unique sound. However, he could never deny that, as a Compton native, the West Coast truly shaped him as a person and artist.
That said, during a sit-down conversation with Complex magazine, the lyricist opened up about his childhood, his experiences in the inner-city projects of LA and the music that provided the soundtrack to his formative years. His choices highlight a mixture of music from and about his hometown and extraordinarily rare records. Furthermore, he highlighted the project that he believes was a “defining moment for the West Coast.”
One of the prominent artists that Lamar listened to as a youngster was DJ Quik. The rapper and producer from his hometown of Compton made beats for the likes of Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Tupac, and more. However, it was his 1998 album Rhytm-al-ism is still one of Lamar’s favourite LPs of all time.
Speaking about his favourite tracks from the 1998 body of work, the Section.80 musician detailed, “‘Down, Down, Down,’ that used to be crazy. I came across this record in middle school. Middle school, just playing ‘Down, Down, Down’ all day. Going on the bus and bumping that. ‘Speed’ was crazy, ‘Hand In Hand.’ ‘Speed’ was crazy. The interlude was crazy, too. He always has a lot of crazy interludes.”
Lamar also consumed a lot of music released by Tha Dogg Pound, especially their 1995 debut album Dogg Food. Opening up about his favourite tracks, Lamar added, “‘Let’s Play House.’ Yeah, Dogg Pound, Dogg Food, Kurupt. They was so cold with it. That was all the stuff I was playing in the house, too. I was exposed to all them crazy raps. Daz on the beat, Kurupt spitting crazy bars. ‘Let’s Play House’ was one of the standout joints.”
Lamar mentioned Kurupt on several occasions, and he was evidently a big fan. He was so passionate about the emcee, who was one-half of Tha Dogg Pound, that he called the release of his sophomore album a defining moment for the West Coast.
The album Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha was released in 1999 and boasted appearances from legends like KRS-One, Daz Dillinger, 213, and Snoop Dogg. Speaking about specific tracks from the project, Lamar detailed, “‘Callin’ Out Names.’ That’s when he was going at everybody. I thought that was a real defining moment for what the West Coast do. The West Coast is very sensitive [laughs]. We’re very sensitive about situations, and we backing it up fast. And Kurupt was busting on that.”
He concluded, “He had a lot of lyrical content. My lyrical content come from what he did on the West Coast. Lyrics stand out, he did ‘New York, New York,’ just that alone influenced how I flip words being from the West Coast.”