King K. Dot speaks with the New York Times about the GRAMMYs!
Following the release of his 2012 debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar was unfortunately snubbed of multiple nominations for music’s biggest night. However, his critically-acclaimed sophomore album, To Pimp a Butterfly, is an entirely differently story.
The Compton rapper generated eleven nominations for the upcoming show next month, which he’s only one shy of Michael Jackson’s record for most in a single show ever. While the project had success commercially, Kendrick touched on how the album did exactly what he wanted it to do.
He went to say, “That’s not necessarily to sell tons of records — though it didn’t do bad at that either — but to actually have an impact on the people and on the culture of music.” Lamar’s wish is to win all eleven awards at the GRAMMYs and wants the hip-hop community as a whole to get recognition. Take a look at an excerpt from the interview below, which you can read in full HERE.
Eleven nominations is one fewer than Michael Jackson’s record.
I’m still soaking that all in. Michael will forever be the greatest. I’m glad it was at 11. I would never want to even think about putting myself on the same level as Michael, simply because I haven’t put in the work that he did. It couldn’t be a better number.What was your favorite rap music of this year?
Of course Future killed it. He smashed. Drake smashed. Future’s work ethic was crazy, his energy. This is the thing about hip-hop music and where people get it most misconstrued: It’s all hip-hop. You can’t say that just what I do is hip-hop, because hip-hop is all energies. James Brown can get on the track and mumble all day. But guess what: You felt his soul on those records.So you don’t buy this separation between “real hip-hop” and party records?
No, I don’t. If it makes you feel good, and it makes you move — I don’t know these guys personally. I don’t know what makes them move on a personal level. I can’t knock it. It feels good when I listen to it, when I’m in that vibe. You feel it. You can get the highest level of that — you can get Future — or you can get the watered-down version, somebody else trying to be that. That’s the bad [expletive].
Kendrick Lamar – U + For Sale? (God Is Gangsta)