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Kendrick Lamar did not call MC Eiht for m.A.A.d city without a reason. He wanted a voice that could represent the real Compton, and not just through lyrics but through history. Eiht was that man.

As frontman of Compton’s Most Wanted, and star of Menace II Society, he was one of the stars who defined the sound of the west coast Kendrick grew up on. Kendrick later said Eiht “gave us the stamp” by appearing on the record, which was the final touch that made Good Kid, m.A.A.d city sound as if it really did come from the soil it described.

Eiht had a name that few could match. By 2012, he was no longer chasing hits but one of the city’s respected elders. To Kendrick, who had seen Menace II Society and studied Eiht’s rhymes as a kid, the work was an homage. It was not a commercial feature, it was about continuity. Eiht brought that rough and slow-drawled menace of early 1990s Compton rap and Kendrick balanced this with his own precocious narrative to craft a bridge between two eras of the same street.

Their connection was via mutual ties. Eiht said that when she heard that the veteran was open to a feature she was contacted directly by Kendrick. “Two weeks later, he hit me up and asked me to get on the album”, Eiht said. In the studio, the concept took shape quite rapidly.”

“They talked about Compton,” he continued, “and they traded ideas and Eiht set down his verse in one sitting. Kendrick told him he had been an idol since he was a child and Eiht was surprised and honoured but respected the young rappers humility. Few artists of the new generation bothered to salute their forerunners and Eiht saw in Kendrick a rare authenticity.

When the completed track was played in New York, even East Coast listeners went wild hearing Eiht’s voice cut through the mix. His verse gave a texture of critical importance to that record. That gravelly tone, those measured bars about life in the streets, had grounded the album’s cinematic storytelling in something tangible. For Kendrick it was more than collaboration. It was validation that his image of Compton was true.

The partnership also had symbolism. It was Compton’s speaking past to its future, one generation passing the microphone to the next. Eiht’s involvement indicated that the new guard had found favour with the old. Kendrick had the credibility and perspective to anchor his masterpiece, and Eiht became a revered voice of the West a second time on a platinum record.

Both came away renewed, and the city they represented was heard around the world.