Kendrick Lamar & Rick Rubin Have an Epic Conversation | GQ
GQ
0:07 all right yeah man another day at the office
0:13 yeah do you usually start with a track
0:15 or do you like How does writing work for you um it varies usually time me
0:20 and the boys get in the studio and I can just go off a a simple drum
0:24 Loop that I like yeah my process it
0:28 start from just a whole bunch of preed meditated
0:30 thoughts the process of me thinking about the ideas
0:33 and what I want to say next yeah
0:35 you know and by the time I get into the studio I have to find that um
0:39 exact sound that triggered the emotion or the idea
0:43 that I thought about two months ago
0:45 would you have more than one of those going on at the same time like might you
0:49 have six of those before you go into the studio or do you do them one
0:52 at a time do them one at a time one at a time so the the concept
0:56 will come you'll sort of live with it and let it grow in you y do you
1:01 make notes definitely all the time I have
1:03 to make notes because a lot of my inspiration
1:05 come from meeting people or going outside
1:08 of the country or going around the corner
1:10 to my old neighborhood talking to a 5-year-old little
1:12 boy and I have to remember these things you
1:15 know I have to uh write them down and then five or three months later I have
1:22 to find that same emotion that I felt when I was inspired by it so I had
1:26 to dig all the way deep and see what were the things that triggered the idea
1:31 of does it always come back it comes back it comes back it comes because I have
1:35 key little words that make me uh realize
1:40 the exact motion and what Drew the inspiration beautiful
1:43 yeah man definitely definitely it's a process it's
1:46 a working process I'm my worst critic for sure
1:50 tell me about that a little bit uh you're uh critical of your you just want
1:56 to be really good yeah uh it's really about
2:00 me challenging myself I think my excitement in doing
2:05 music is me feeling like uh I'm never stagnant me feeling like um I didn't get
2:13 comfortable in in you know my own skin of what I think is good or what someone
2:19 else thinks is good you know stepping outside
2:21 of my comfort zone and and mastering it you know and that excites me when I
2:26 feel like I've accomplished that it just keeps
2:30 the the the the Hunger for More going like I I don't feel I can ever stop do
2:34 you ever consider so when you think about
2:38 the challenge to yourself do you ever consider the listener
2:40 or who's going to like the audience at all
2:42 or is it more like just self- expression
2:46 it I used to I used to consider uh the listener but now I'm in a space
2:51 where if I'm not inspired I can't really you know do the music you know I
2:56 can't feel it um I think I put enough hours and work to be able to pin
3:01 a 100 bar verse on the spot at any given moment but for me to actually
3:06 feel an idea and concept has to come from me and a lot of times I have
3:12 to block out a lot of different needs and wants you know just for my own selfish
3:17 reasons but at the end of the day it comes out where you know whether you like
3:21 it or not you you know you're going to know it comes from a real place
3:24 and it's going to feel I'm Unapologetic I'm
3:28 not compromising and it's going to fill me has
3:32 there ever been anything that you felt like I don't want to say that on a record
3:37 like it like it feels like that's a great
3:40 that's a great um question I always said
3:42 to myself if I set it on record I never retract my statements um because it's
3:48 my self-expressions you can have your opinions on it
3:51 you can feel a certain type of way but it's how I feel and I can't contradict
3:57 that yeah at all you know and and sometimes
4:00 I do come across them them them lines you know as rappers as you know we
4:04 always have that you know that thing about
4:06 us where you know it is controversy you
4:09 know but it came from some type of inspiration and I have to say it I have
4:14 to be vocal about it you know and you ever look back on any and feel like
4:18 you'd like to change any of the any
4:20 of the things that you've written or uh it'll
4:23 be me saying I want to go deeper I should have went deeper I see you
4:27 know um I shouldn't have held back you
4:30 know but moving along I know okay you're not
4:34 going to be uh uh in the box and saying what you want to say and that's
4:38 where I'm at now content wise do you
4:41 feel like you could talk about anything or do
4:42 you feel an obligation to talk about certain
4:45 things I could talk about anything that's great
4:48 anything I could talk about anything and this is
4:50 the challenge for me being able to talk
4:53 about anything and make it connect you know
4:56 uh to a listener what a listener can either
4:58 feel like you or feel like they understand you or you have a uh just a deeper
5:06 connection through the music with the listener um
5:09 talking to a little kid and and making
5:11 that represent something and feel like something or saying
5:14 the most brutal harsh things on record where
5:18 you know Society may not want to hear
5:20 you know but still having that connection and um
5:23 that's why I think music is about for me period period do you um think about how
5:33 to ask this let's talk about how you you got to this place of of doing
5:40 this like what would have been Inspirations along
5:42 the way for you musically lyrically or or philosophically
5:47 that got you to this stage oh man that's a journey um I think first off it
5:53 had to be how was raised you know in in an environment where having the the idea
5:58 of my father being you know just a complete
6:01 realist just in the streets and my mother
6:06 having this idea of being a dreamer and me traveling the world and doing all
6:12 these things that I'm doing today it starts
6:14 there first you know before I even heard any
6:17 type of Melody or lyric um that wasn't
6:21 planted in me first that's just DNA you know
6:24 who I am and the things I talk about today is always the yin and the Yang
6:27 the good versus the evil and that's how
6:29 feel as a person um and eventually that getting
6:35 that eventually that uh that pushed me toward
6:41 the music that I love to listen to you
6:43 know and it came from Tupac Biggie uh Jay I mean you know your usual suspect
6:50 these were the people that was played
6:51 in my household that not only I love to listen
6:55 to but it kind of complimented my DNA
6:58 because these artists always had different perspectives on life
7:03 in general and they put that in their lyrics and they put that in their music
7:06 and as a kid I connected with it you know because I see my older cousins U
7:11 going through the same type of feelings and emotion
7:14 that these artists are going through and um
7:17 as I started to write and dig into my own thing it just progressed in that same
7:22 nature you know um was that music playing
7:26 in your house your choice of music or was
7:29 it the music your parents were listening to or how how did you get exposed to it
7:32 definitely my parents parents yeah my parents fairly
7:36 uh young in the city of Compton and you
7:38 know they were I was basically growing up
7:41 with them so the things that they played
7:44 was more in you know there was the hip crowd you know so I was being
7:47 exposed to all these ideas you know from Big Daddy Kane to Easy E to you know
7:54 the Bay Area Too Short E40 you know back to Marvin Gay and ay Brothers so
8:01 this this field of music you know just
8:04 broaden you know my ideas to come we never
8:07 would have thought in the million years you
8:09 know that I'd be doing it it's amazing
8:11 yeah it's amazing but you know so I owe you know my first um my first ideas
8:19 of of of how I want to attack music to them when did Jazz find its
8:26 way into your world that's crazy yeah uh it's a trip because I was in a studio
8:32 one day with my guy Terrace Martin and uh
8:38 he noticed something about the type of sounds
8:41 that I was picking in my whole catalog from my mixtapes uh to my EPS to just
8:47 my process of of of of making my debut album to where I'm at now you notice
8:52 the type of instruments I was picking he was
8:53 like man a lot of the chords that you pick are Jazz influence you you're a jazz
9:01 musician by default you know the way your Cadence
9:06 is rapping over certain type of snares and drums
9:09 this is everything that person on the saxophone
9:13 and on the horn you know uh commute with how to hear music and that's something
9:20 that just opened me up and then he just
9:22 started breaking down everything just the science of it
9:25 going back to mes hery Handcock I'm listening to these C like man I like like
9:29 that sound what is that you know that's a road key oh so that's what I've been
9:34 liking all these years yeah you've been liking
9:36 this for years this is this is this is in your DNA this is why you picked
9:40 certain instrumentals you pick so when was that moment
9:43 in when you had that experience in the studio
9:45 where you realized that you liked it when around was that uh about 3 months
9:52 until my second LP to pimper Butterfly I was
9:56 going to say that that after hearing the first
9:59 album yeah when the second album came it
10:02 was completely unexpected nobody was expecting you to make
10:05 that yeah definitely um and I knew I knew from the jump that there was going
10:10 to be a challenge you know for for my listener's
10:13 ear but if I'm challenging myself in the studio I want to challenge you as well
10:18 so I just went full-fledged with it man
10:21 and we build everything from scratch amazing so
10:24 do you feel like this will be this is kind of a funny thing because I'm asking
10:27 you to project the future it's impossible but do
10:30 you feel like um butterfly you could what
10:35 do you refer to it as butterfly to pimp a butterfly okay pimp it's a few it's
10:40 a few D okay maybe two pimp I was to ask you like to call it
10:46 um let's say the second album do you
10:48 feel like that's more indicative of where things will
10:51 be in the future or is it is it more like that's where you are then
10:56 or now and we should based on the difference
10:59 between the first album and the second album should
11:01 we continue to expect it to change that's
11:06 a great question again may not be possible
11:09 to answer but tell me your best thoughts
11:11 my best thoughts the best answer I can give
11:13 you that was me then yeah um not to say that it wouldn't be a continuous
11:21 or it would not you know it'll always have some type of DNA in my music yeah um
11:29 but me as a person just knowing who I am I I I I grow I'm like
11:35 a chameleon you know and and that is a uh that is a gift and a curse
11:43 for me you know but more so a gift yeah because it never pertains me to put
11:48 me in the Box yeah and and my ability to express it and to still make
11:54 the connection where wherever I go that is
11:57 my high points you know and that's something
11:59 that and I'm pride myself of you know it's
12:00 always come from an organic Place beautiful it sounds
12:03 like the the connection you're talking about really
12:05 is your connection to it more than other people's
12:08 connection to it right right but I think
12:10 the thing that's uh infectious about it and the reason
12:13 other people connect is they feel your connection
12:16 to it exactly you know it's not even
12:18 necessarily that like probably a lot of people
12:21 who who are your fans who heard your last
12:23 record might not have been that into jazz
12:25 exactly but they feel your connection to it
12:28 and it inspires them to theirselves to hear new
12:31 music that they might not have heard that is
12:32 so true that is so true and you can you can look at a person you
12:37 have a conversation with them and you know
12:40 if you know whether it's the music or who
12:42 they identify themselves with if it comes from uh
12:45 an organic place a real place and we call the consumers you know we've been told
12:51 to call the consumers done but they're they're not
12:55 they know when it's real absolutely and they know if they can feel it you know
12:59 you know and that's something that I always
13:02 understood you know just being a fan myself you
13:04 know when I looked at still to this day when I look at my certain uh aspirations
13:10 as far as artists when I look at Eminem When I look at at Jay yes I
13:16 felt you know the the stories they were
13:18 telling you know whether it was fictional or not
13:20 these these these ideas that they was putting
13:24 down made me believe yeah you know yeah
13:29 any and everything that they was saying because
13:31 it just came from a space of whether
13:34 a realistic point or just their imagination being so
13:37 strong you know and so heavy absolutely you know
13:40 that you just get bombarded into their ideas
13:43 yeah and that's how it comes across for me
13:46 beautiful I feel like even if if uh you don't agree with what someone is saying
13:51 but if they're saying it and you know that they believe it you resonate with it
13:55 on some level you don't have to agree
13:57 with it to to respect it and appreciate it's just
14:01 human expression people really being allowing to show
14:05 themselves is a beautiful thing whether you agree
14:07 with them or not yeah exactly and that's
14:10 a that's a great great point because I always
14:13 um I've always been heavy on vocal tone
14:18 and and and you know way you you manipulate
14:22 your voice and and things like that because
14:24 different tones for me just gives off different Expressions
14:27 you know I may wake up one morning and feel feel like this scenery right here
14:33 or I may make wake up one morning feeling
14:35 like the the the depths of hell you know
14:38 and you may hear that Grunge and that emotion
14:42 but that emotion it it translate through
14:45 the music to the person that was feeling
14:47 that way you know the day before or the you
14:49 know when they wake up the next morning and always been a huge a huge fan
14:53 of that when I hear you uh I don't always know it's you because you you you
15:01 seem to inhabit so many different characters
15:04 with your voice right that it's not it's not
15:07 always clear that it's you right exactly interesting
15:09 that come from my personality and DNA and it
15:12 also come from being a complete um huge fan of Prince my father was a heavy
15:21 heavy still to this day um Prince fan that's all he was playing and I just sat
15:27 back and just I could never tell when it was Prince for me you know he had
15:31 a faet on you know he had this bare tone um he just gave you so many
15:37 different emotions you know but I seen
15:39 the way my father was always connecting with him and um I I studied it you know
15:47 you know alongside of Lyricist I've studied uh R&B
15:52 I've studied so you know um to even
15:55 pop you know and eventually all these things you
16:00 know gathered up to how I connect and approach
16:03 music yeah it's really beautiful it's a great
16:05 it's a great journey you're on appreciate it
16:08 how do you go into the studio experience versus
16:10 the live experience the difference head yeah
16:14 your your mental state going into each of those things
16:17 man that is a whole another uh that's a whole another Beast for me you know
16:21 I drive people racket because I approach the stage
16:24 my stage performance the same way I approach
16:27 the studio I have to think about about it and live it and and know how
16:31 my mannerisms are you know how I'm moving you know all that is is it has to be
16:38 dead on for me you know from the hits and and the licks on how we
16:43 rearrange the idea just to give the fans
16:45 a new experience um it's it's it's a process
16:49 the same way I sit with mixes and mastering it's the same way I sit inside
16:56 that that that that rehearsal room to make
16:59 sure that everything is hitting on que beautiful
17:01 and talking about the musical process how involved
17:04 are you in the beyond the vocals and lyrics
17:08 how involved are you in the music in the in the making of it in the choosing
17:12 of it in all aspects man I don't sleep I don't sleep and my team though they
17:18 can't sleep because I I just you know not that I don't trust them yeah yeah you
17:23 know I have 100% trust in my team but I just have to be there for everything
17:28 man you know sometimes I drive myself crazy
17:32 um but it just makes me feel like you
17:35 know um not only pushing them but I'm pushing myself you know I just have to be
17:42 involved man it's it's a freaky nature sometimes
17:44 but I have to be there from everything
17:47 from the snare to the high hat so if we got to gain up this two more
17:51 DBS we got to snatch this out and let this part of the section breathe you know
17:56 I'm there have you ever uh written written
18:01 to a track and then afterwards decided to keep the song but change the track has
18:07 that ever happened oh yeah all the time definitely
18:11 definitely or in the case of building
18:14 on the track and the pieces that we build it
18:16 on yeah it sounds better than the actual
18:19 bottom yeah and just being able to know how
18:22 to uh be a minimalist in certain areas and pull something back and let the think
18:29 breathe opens it up more and this these are
18:32 that's a trial and error though this something
18:34 I couldn't tell you 10 years ago or you know six years ago but uh it has
18:40 been plenty of times and you know it's
18:43 really just about pushing myself and pushing the musicians
18:46 to you know not settling you know we can we can we can put this in a space
18:51 where it can be better so do you usually have the musicians uh playing all
18:55 together or do you do Parts individually sometimes
18:58 we play together sometimes we do Parts individually
19:01 and if they're playing all together would you like
19:03 conduct or say let's try it like this yeah
19:05 definitely I have to be we'll be everywhere
19:09 it'll be just a bunch of crazy sounds
19:11 you know with no um with no no no Arrangement you know and and when I say
19:19 musicians it's not all the time someone
19:21 that can play instrument yeah you know a person
19:23 that can chop and break down a crazy sample
19:26 is a musician to me because that's a that's
19:28 a l art you know someone that can pull out the NPC you know from out out
19:34 out the dungeons out the crates absolutely you
19:36 know and be able to break down some crazy
19:38 drums along with a crazy bass player you
19:41 know um these the people that I like around
19:44 me yeah have you ever written have you
19:48 ever written anything more before hearing a track almost
19:52 like it was poetry like do you know like yeah a few times i' I've written four
19:57 songs and I had to find the actual
20:00 instrumentation to match it wow you know and that's
20:05 fun yeah that's fun because it gives me the uh not only me but it gives
20:10 the the producer the freedom to build around
20:13 the lyrics you know and certain words that get
20:16 tossed out a sound just might crack over top of that and they know the Cadence
20:22 yeah yeah for sure it's cool to have just a lot of different ways of doing it
20:26 it's like more moves to the baskets got to be good exactly I never know how uh
20:31 a song is going to turn I may think I know yeah you know but it may
20:34 come a whole new Direction it may give off a whole new entity of his own
20:39 you know from the approach to how I wrote it uh to me going in the booth
20:43 just freestyling it it usually comes across
20:47 with with with no sign of how how do you
20:51 know when it's good how do you know when it's good or how do you know when
20:54 it's done you know either of those I
20:57 think that's the question I think that's the question
21:00 of of of our artists and just people who create it's just a feeling man you can
21:05 feel it it's just a feeling great it's
21:08 just it's not rocket science it's I'm sure you
21:13 know it's just that feeling it's just that feeling
21:15 that everyone gets you know or that feeling
21:17 that you just get along everybody may not get it everybody may not get it till
21:21 it comes out and it be that thing and then they say oh you know have there
21:26 been any uh any reactions to your music
21:30 that have surprised you either songs or projects
21:33 where people reacted either better worse different um
21:38 surprise yeah my my my first album good kid
21:41 Mass City um this was me being fresh in the game and I already knew what
21:48 songs well in my head I knew what songs was going to be big records you know
21:52 radio single I'm playing the game I'm a new
21:55 artist and you know I have enough knowledge
21:59 just going through meetings and going to labels
22:01 and trying to get signed in my early 20s
22:04 and things like I just know how the game works so I'm creating these records you
22:09 know for the radio and and you know just for people just ear candy for people
22:14 to enjoy so in my mind I'm thinking these are going to be the biggest records
22:20 on the album you know but turns out
22:24 that a song called Mad City where I'm just rapping
22:27 for maybe 40 bars or 30 bars is
22:31 probably the most song with the biggest connection
22:35 on that project and that that threw me for a loop yeah but it also gave me
22:39 an Insight clear enough to know sometimes it's
22:42 not about you know what you think is going to happen or what you feel you know
22:47 people connect to things in strange ways you know
22:50 and and at the end of the day you have to go with that feeling absolutely
22:55 okay now I have a question based on that m uh forgetting thinking of what you
23:02 thought was going to work commercially how did
23:04 you feel about that song on the album
23:06 in the context of the others in the in the context of the album like just
23:10 as a as a for your taste where was that song on the on your meter I
23:15 loved it was it one of your favorites it
23:17 was one of my favorites but I didn't know
23:20 you know yeah it didn't fit a formula was
23:22 one of your favorites yeah if it was one
23:24 of my favorites for sure you know I hope
23:25 that has giving you confidence oh yeah definitely nothing
23:29 has to fit a formula and if you go with what feels good to you exactly
23:32 that's what works we was having a conversation
23:34 in the studio other night you know you know
23:37 of course there are certain rhythms and and and tempos
23:42 and and certain note changes in music
23:46 that immediately you know appeases the ear yeah
23:51 but when something just feels good it can be
23:55 a tree branch falling off the ground and somebody
23:58 hitting that right key or that right lyric
24:01 on that tree branch and it' be the biggest
24:03 thing in life because you just can't stop
24:08 sound and you can't stop frequency I I truly
24:11 believe and music is just like that and it's
24:14 simple you know let's talk about all right for a second um it it has it
24:20 has become a a sort of a our generation's protest song yeah yeah and um when you
24:27 wrote it did you have that in mind was it did you think of it as a protest
24:30 song or you know what I had that record I was sitting on that record for about
24:36 six months um the beat for real and between my guy Sam Taylor and for real
24:46 did you do it when you going to do it when you going to do it
24:49 when you going to do it it was on me you know and I knew it was
24:51 a great record I just was trying to find the space and and and to approach
24:56 it What was what's the approach you know
25:00 I mean the beat sounds fun but it's something
25:03 else inside of them chords that for real put down that feels like it can be
25:08 uh more of a statement rather than a certain
25:11 tune you know so um with the blessings
25:17 of for real and Sam asking me am I go rock when I'm going rock on it
25:23 um it put the pressure on me it put the pressure on me to challenge myself
25:27 and to actually think and and and focus on something that can be uh a staple
25:35 in hip-hop and um eventually I came across it
25:38 eventually I came across it and found the right
25:40 words of what I want to talk about you know it was a lot going on and still
25:44 to this day a lot going on and uh I wanted to approach it as a more
25:50 uplifting but aggressive you know uh not
25:55 playing the victim but you know still having and that yo yeah we strong you know
26:02 and um that was one record that executed exactly how
26:09 my Approach was the moment I put that pen to the paper so you had to beat
26:13 for like six months and then yeah you didn't have any words at that point I
26:17 didn't have any words I think p p knew P knew that that record was special
26:22 P knew that the record was special uh
26:24 Sam knew that the record was special um they
26:28 probably knew it before I even you know had a clue you know so I'm glad
26:34 that they they put that pressure on me
26:37 to actually challenge myself cuz sometimes as a rider you
26:42 know you can you can have that Rider's block and and you know when you like
26:46 a a sound or a type of instrumental you want to approach it the right way so
26:50 you sit on it yeah I think also
26:53 sometimes like the um maybe like the right content
26:57 wasn't n where you were at the for those six month like you know what I mean
27:01 it's like the universe has a way of like the timing of it is not really
27:06 on on our control you can't say well I got this track I like so I'm going
27:09 to write to it now it's like it
27:11 comes when it's supposed to come and it's relevant
27:14 in the world yeah it's like it works
27:16 the way it's supposed to work yeah definitely you
27:18 just have to be open to open to it and ready for it when it comes
27:22 exactly exactly I remember hitting p on the text
27:25 and like man I got the lyrics yeah
27:27 you know and typing lyrics to him he's like yeah that's it and did you have
27:31 a scat over it before or nothing yeah I had a scat I had and it had
27:35 that phrasing different cadences yeah you know hook
27:38 or not yet P had the hook oh cool
27:40 yeah P yeah P hat the all right that's him on the hook yeah um I'm just
27:45 saying that uh the all right phrase what
27:48 does all right represent what do we going
27:50 to be all right represent you know and I'm
27:54 glad that sparked the idea because that song could
27:56 have went a thousand other ways absolutely yep
28:00 a thousand other ways what do you what
28:02 do you listen to mostly would you say now like now my list of music right now
28:07 is ranging just a whole bunch of oldies
28:09 that's cool yeah it's kind of trippy um same
28:13 usual Marvin Gay um ay Brothers I don't know man I just would you say more R&B
28:21 than hiphop it's more it's more R&B or it's
28:24 more Soul yeah could you imagine uh making
28:29 an album in the future where you're not
28:32 rapping you consider yourself first and foremost a rapper
28:35 yeah definitely uh yeah I think I got the confidence for it okay yeah I got
28:41 the confidence for it um I have the uh
28:45 the experience and the time to uh approach
28:48 it if I can you know Master up the idea and and the time to approach
28:52 the right way I think I can p it off I feel like it's really interesting now
28:55 in in with what's going on in Hip Hop you seem um it's almost like you're
29:01 a throwback to When lyrics mattered cuz it feels
29:04 like so much of hip-hop today is more about
29:06 Vibe and swag and and personality and less
29:10 about words and um he sometimes sounds like even
29:13 the MC doesn't know what he's saying today's
29:16 record right so it's interesting to hear the sort
29:18 of clarity and depth that you go lyrically
29:22 the clarity I got my clarity just studying
29:26 M when I was a kid always you know how I got in the studio was just
29:33 all off curiosity I had a love for the music but it was curiosity you know
29:40 but day I heard Marshall Ms LP I was just how does that work what is he
29:45 doing how is he how is he putting
29:49 his words together like that what is that what's
29:52 the track under it oh that's a double it's a ALB a Al what is that what
29:57 you going on the studio and see you know I do that how's he projecting how's
30:03 his words cutting through the beat like that what
30:06 is what is he doing that I'm not doing
30:07 now that I'm into it yeah he he he he's his time is impeccable you know just
30:16 when he want to fall off the beat
30:17 is impeccable you know and these are certain things
30:20 that through experience and time that you know
30:23 I had to learn it's lucky that you
30:26 got to learn it as young as you were just gave you the ability to grow so
30:30 much yeah definitely definitely 13 14 years old
30:33 crazy in one of one of your lyrics you
30:36 you mentioned meditation do you do you have
30:38 a meditation practice yeah man I have I have
30:42 I have to have at least 30 minutes to myself nice if it's not on a daily
30:49 every other day to just sit back close
30:52 my eyes and absorb what's going on you know
30:55 the space that I'm in when you in music
30:58 and everybody knows this the years are always
31:01 cut in half because we always have something
31:02 to do you know whether we're in a studio
31:04 for 4 months that go by oh now you got to go on the road for 5
31:08 months that go by next thing you know 5 years don't went by and you're 29
31:12 years old you know and and for me now I have to find a way to understand
31:23 the space that I'm in and how I'm feeling at the moment cuz if I don't
31:27 it's going to zoom I I know I can feel you know and I'm sure you
31:32 know what I'm talking about it just goes you know and then you you miss out
31:36 on your moment because you were so
31:40 in the moment you didn't know the moment was going
31:42 on that makes sense absolutely yeah and and you
31:46 can also get lost I know some artists get
31:48 lost in touring and they become less relatable
31:53 like like the stuff they have to write
31:55 about doesn't relate because all they know is
31:57 being on stage and right accolades and yeah hotels
32:02 and like stuff that's like doesn't it doesn't
32:06 their reality is so different than everybody else's
32:08 reality that it's not so interesting especially if
32:12 that's all you talk about definitely definitely it's definitely
32:15 a different it's a uh like to call it a cartoon world you know and you can
32:22 really get lost in it so fast you know it's scary out there it's so scary man
32:30 and uh how did you get the idea to do the 30 minutes every day or every
32:34 other day well just knowing my schedule
32:39 and and how much I just think about music you
32:43 know someone bring it to my attention it's
32:45 all I think about you know there's nothing wrong
32:48 with it it consumes me it consumes my life I breathe it you know like is I
32:55 can't think about nothing else you know and once
32:58 I start realizing that you know okay I
33:02 know that I have to give it some time and and and space every now and then
33:07 you know and that 30 minutes helps
33:10 that 30 minutes helps where I can totally zone
33:12 out and not think about my next lyric you know and um it gives me a restart
33:22 a jump start and and a refresh and lets me know why I'm here doing what I'm
33:26 doing beautiful does it typically take a long
33:29 time from the time you have the concept until
33:32 you get the whole thing written maybe not produced the way you want but at least
33:37 written um it varies i' I've I've written
33:42 Concepts and four songs three verses each 24 bars
33:48 16 bars four songs within an hour or 6 months um it just it just it
33:59 just it just moves like that sometimes for me
34:03 when you have the concept you said before
34:05 that you're surprised sometimes by how the record
34:07 comes out yeah but but do you do you
34:13 know the message you're trying to get across before
34:16 oh yeah so you always know that in advance
34:19 definitely okay that's um those that that nature
34:24 come from the skills of of loving to write in school and knowing how to engage
34:32 The Listener and knowing where I'm going to land
34:34 it or where I'm you know where it's going to end or where it's not going to end
34:39 you know um that's always been uh something
34:45 I was always unique about and and and really
34:49 focused on you know where does this thing
34:52 go you know and I have that premeditated in the process of me pushing the lyrics
35:00 earliest memory of Music being in the living
35:03 room and watching we want easy how old would would you say you were I had
35:09 to be four wow maybe I actually said this before him busting out it was a scene
35:15 where he bust out of jail on stage um and he's rapping his verse um that's
35:22 my earliest memories I think then after that it'll
35:26 be Snoop Dog nothing but a Jeep thing I
35:29 was heavy into music videos this when the box was out you know you had to order
35:35 you know they constantly order so the song is coming on back to back and I
35:38 just sit in front of the tube just watch it back to back to back to back
35:42 and alone my parents playing it every night
35:45 you know they party um they partied every night
35:49 literally and um films or television shows that mean mean a lot to you or you
35:56 oh yeah definitely all those things play a part
35:59 to the start of my imagination you know
36:02 um any particular ones you remember I used to look on the two it could be
36:07 from Dennis to Menace it could be from what
36:11 was I watching Fresh Prince all these things constructed
36:14 my imagination of what was outside of the actual
36:17 house that I was living in or the the neighborhood
36:21 I was in because I'm looking at these figures these figures almost are like you
36:25 know imaginary you know you're looking at Will
36:28 Smith as the Fresh Prince you know he's actually
36:31 a real person but as a kid you see him in the TV screen so to you
36:36 to me I should say he's almost like a character in a sense you know when I
36:43 look at Michael Jackson still to this day
36:45 Michael Jackson is the biggest imaginary character for me
36:51 because I never got to meet him I've always seen him on television you know I've
36:56 always seen him doing magic on stage you know so I'm looking at this guy as just
37:03 a fig my imagination and me wondering how
37:07 did they get you know beyond to that television
37:11 screen you know so all these things played
37:14 a part with me being where I'm at today
37:17 from the music to what I'm watching and just
37:20 my perspective my perspective was always that I'm
37:22 not just watching TV I'm trying to figure out how does he do that you know
37:27 just curiosity yeah who were the PE were
37:29 there any people that you saw growing up
37:31 that you had that feeling about that you did get to meet and and how did what
37:35 was that like like oh yeah that was bugged out um it's crazy Dr Dre yeah um
37:43 Snoop Dog yeah Dre for sure um tell
37:47 me about your relationship with Dre oh man it's
37:50 it's a it's a great thing man because I I I I once looked at it
37:54 as a uh just me being an Ultimate Fan I'm still a fan to this day
37:59 but to actually sit down and have conversations
38:02 beyond the music he wasn't just a figment
38:05 of my imagination that I was watching on TV
38:07 screen you know um it's almost confirmation the people I
38:12 watch they just didn't get there out of pure
38:15 uh luck they actually worked hard and they
38:17 are human beings with real emotions real drive
38:22 real consistency real hunger you know and it's
38:26 way deeper than just a f now you know and that always tripped me out cuz I
38:31 I told him about the story when I seen him when I was 8 n years old
38:34 with Tupac on Rose CR um fast forward 15 years later I'm in a studio with him
38:42 and I'm telling him that story and he he remembers it so beautiful I just you
38:47 remember that he like yeah I remember that everybody
38:50 was out in the street y'all was cross
38:52 the street from a burger spot yeah that's my burger I was one of the kids out
38:56 there that was watching you crazy right crazy
39:00 to me yeah crazy to me it's an interesting
39:04 part of it there's there's both the the amount of work that goes into doing it
39:11 and being able to keep doing it's not
39:13 you know sometimes when you're a kid and you
39:16 see the person on the screen you think oh I want to have that life but you
39:19 don't understand what goes into the into it
39:21 but then also even if you have the work
39:23 ethic there's still a tremendous amount of luck
39:25 involved even if you're the best in the world
39:27 exactly not everybody gets to find out it's
39:29 like so many elements have to go right crazy Stars it is they really align it's
39:35 true know it is so much so many talented
39:39 artists out there I come across every day and things just don't plan out it can
39:45 be from their own personal experiences or issues
39:48 or management it's something that is a undescribable nature
39:53 you know it's undescribable nature for sure yeah
39:57 on on the second album you have the I'll
40:00 call it the poem that happens over and over
40:02 again the um I remember you was conflicted
40:04 yeah yeah yeah definitely um when did that idea
40:07 come up to use that over and over again it came into the process of me
40:12 actually recording the records I wanted to thread
40:16 conceptually just ties in in the songs um
40:20 I've always just been a fan of just movie
40:22 flicks and you know writers in general I
40:26 just love writers man like sitting a screening where
40:32 people just come up with the craziest wackiest
40:34 ideas you know and that was a that was
40:37 a process that came along while I was writing a record you know and it worked
40:41 out you know it's a little it's so
40:42 cool appreciate it appreciate it but it wasn't uh
40:47 there was no influence of like there was
40:49 some old album you heard that did something like
40:51 that no that's great it had it must have been a if anything it was a movie
40:55 subconsciously in the back of my mind yeah
40:57 it resonates and feels unusual but it it pulls you further into it and then also
41:03 sometimes when I'm listening to it and it comes
41:05 up I remember the first time I was listening to it I was always like oh wait
41:08 a minute I think I I think it messed up you know it's playing it's playing
41:11 again you know like I didn't those are
41:13 things I like yeah absolutely those things are they're
41:16 fun and they're funny it also pulls you
41:18 out of the normal experience of just sitting back
41:21 and listening it's like it makes you question
41:22 what's happening and then it forces you to pay
41:25 attention in a way and force you to listen again it really does again or for you
41:29 just don't listen at all anymore you know
41:32 whatever your your your your you know your taste
41:35 may be at the time but you're going to go back to it eventually how do
41:39 you celebrate when something good happens that is
41:42 the uh that's the question of my team ask
41:45 me every day really I don't know if it's the actual moment or me getting back
41:52 in and doing something new yeah or further
41:58 in that I think that's the thrill for me
42:00 I think I feel the same as you yeah it's it's a crazy feeling for me like
42:05 it's not I don't know if it's it's
42:07 not the actual celebration for me it's about not
42:11 doing it again but doing something fresh it's
42:13 almost like the opportunity to do something new
42:15 can you think of a disappointment that you've
42:18 had um finding the balance between family and music
42:29 that is the the the the the disappointment
42:34 because when you're doing this it comes a lot
42:37 of sacrifice you know you're going to miss
42:39 a lot of birthdays you're going to miss a lot
42:41 of moments those are my earliest disappointment
42:44 the idea of that knowing those you know uh
42:48 times were coming and they they're came and it's going to be more of it and me
42:54 not learning to to find the balance it always was a a stress you know for me
43:04 you know because you have you have certain
43:06 people you care about and you love and sometimes
43:08 you may get lost in the music so far you may forget how much you mean
43:13 you know to the people that uh you came up with or your family or your mother
43:18 or or your father you know you can hear it and you can hear you know even
43:22 if it's not uh as blunt or as vocal you can hear the sort of disappointment yeah
43:27 you know for the most part other people
43:29 around you supportive of what you're doing yeah yeah
43:31 definitely definitely definitely they're supportive but everybody has feelings
43:36 you know and sometimes um and in the position
43:39 that I'm in you know they may not want to express those you know real feelings
43:45 because it may it may bring warry or they don't want to bring warry or stress
43:51 into my life you know so them finding that balance and the time to do that it
43:55 can be uh uh uh somewhat a weary situation you know so um on a personal
44:01 scale that'll be disappointment for sure but do
44:06 you have anyone around you who tells you
44:08 if who tells you if something's not good
44:12 like like either if you do something that's they
44:14 they perceive as out of line or for sure if i' man uh i' be Head
44:20 Over Heels right now you know if I
44:22 didn't have a certain type of grounded great family
44:26 or team that just have my best interest not only as in in in music
44:30 but as a person everyone that's around me everyone
44:34 that's even around this you know this area has been
44:36 with me since I was 15 years old you know and these are the same people I
44:43 I keep around and and hopefully eventually I
44:45 know we you know grow you know as people
44:49 and outgrow some people and different Natures
44:53 but I will hope that you know these same
44:56 people will continue to grow with me cuz
44:58 I beautiful I can't stop yeah you know I
45:02 can't stop and musically you have anyone who's
45:04 like that's not good enough uh or you
45:07 the biggest critic your team will do it too my team will do it too yeah man
45:11 yeah I think me that's how I became
45:13 the biggest critic I see of myself because uh
45:18 through their criticism you learned yeah my skin
45:21 yeah it's tough yeah like Top Dog himself you
45:25 know CEO of company when I was 16 yeah that verse ain't good that's whack you
45:32 know you know you a key like whack you know you you your feelings to get hurt
45:37 yeah but after constantly you know you you
45:40 you grow tough again and you get better you're
45:44 being pushed it's in service to you he
45:47 him saying that is in service to you definitely
45:49 definitely because it taught me to to know what to do and not to do on record
45:56 yeah you know as far as lyricism as far as my Approach because I I've had
46:00 the training um I had the the rap boot
46:03 camps being in there with my team and just
46:05 going at it sleeping on couches for hours
46:08 i' I've had the process for 10 years plus
46:11 and uh in doing that you know I just developed uh a critiquing and and a liking
46:18 for what I know what I'm capable of beautiful do you have any uh any idea
46:25 of the direction that's going coming next as far as writing goes or is too soon
46:29 it's soon I have ideas though I have ideas and I have I have a certain approach
46:35 that I I I want to see what it manifests to you know I want to I
46:39 want to I want to put all the paint on the wall and see where that goes
46:44 you know maybe you can help me with that cool for sure do you usually uh like
46:51 four butterfly did you record more songs than
46:54 the ones on the album I have so many
46:57 floating around 24 bars 16 bars hooks really
47:01 mainly hooks hooks and and choruses and bridges
47:05 and ideas you know verses here and there
47:08 songs here and there but um really con concepts
47:12 of of hooks and um references that I had in mind for other people to sing
47:19 and things like that with where do you find
47:22 um the most inspiration you said early when we
47:25 started talking about traveling around the world and talking
47:27 to people and can you can you give
47:29 me an example just like one picture of something
47:32 that happened that man it's mainly kids man I always say this Kids bug me out
47:40 because they have no fear and nothing like nothing
47:44 I sit there and I talk to kids like my little niece you know she's 2 years
47:49 old but she fears nothing and she has no concept of reality as we know it
47:56 that all always inspire me to write for some
48:00 reason man it it it don't necessarily have
48:02 to be whatever the actual child is pertaining to but it it it gives me
48:08 a a moment talking to them gives me a moment to step back and look at the world
48:13 for what I know it and for what this kid sees you know they say kids are
48:17 much closer to God in that way like
48:19 like they're not yet uh indoctrinated into society so
48:24 they're closer to just pure essence exactly exactly
48:28 cuz deep down we're all kids at heart
48:31 and I know I am I'm I'm the biggest kid ever you know so I can be able
48:35 to relate and communicate them communicate with them
48:38 in a way that I watch most adults can't
48:41 you know I'll sit there and hold a conversation
48:44 you know and go back to the studio
48:45 man and write the most bugged out song you know just because it just G me
48:51 like I said it gives me a a chance to sit back and allow myself to look
48:54 at the perspectives of you know um the different
48:58 spectrum of having responsibilities and not having any
49:01 at all it's fun talking to you man yeah man I really this a great great great
49:07 introduction anything else you want to talk about
49:11 check out the space man I'm in a creative Zone this this this is should we go
49:16 inside and record you're right right [Music] exactly [Music]