Kendrick Lamar Quotes

My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing that we call hip hop.

I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey...

Poetic justice, poetic justice.. if I told you that a flower bloom in a dark room would you trust it. I mean I write poems in these songs.

Let bygones be bygones...but where I'm from, We buy guns and more guns, to give to the young.

What is love? Love to me is god.

I probably spent more time listening to albums than writing songs. But I think that gave me all the tricks in terms of wordplay, from how I pronounced my words to the actual delivery.

The worst part of success is, to me, adapting to it. It's scary.

I had to come from something, come from a place that was negative and positive but the majority of it is a negative place.

Hip-hop is not the problem, our reality is the problem.

People gonna be they own individuals and have they own worlds and I can't knock it.

I don't talk about these things if I haven't lived them, and I've hurt people in my life. It's something I still have to think about when I sleep at night.

I can be calm and reflective from time to time and other times I can have a burst of energy, that's just me.

My pops and my mom started playing Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers and all these people, but at the same time, they always had Snoop on right behind it in the same mix.

I sit and talk to kids all day, because I feel like they carry the most wisdom.

I like to let things breathe.

I'm African American / I'm African / I'm black as the moon.

Every time I write these words they become a taboo, Making sure my punctuation curve, every letter here's true, Living my life in the margin, and that metaphor was proof.

Being able to tell one from start to finish, and making that puzzle come together at the end. That's the art for me.

You really can't categorize my music, it's human music.

If I can look at a 6-year-old and learn from him, that's life. That's God for me, that's inspiring.

Found myself screaming in a hotel room. I didn't want to self-destruct.

I can say is if anyone gets a chance to work with [Dr.]Dre, it's a moment you will always take with you throughout your career. And as of right now, the Compton album is the only thing to talk about.

It's deep-rooted, the music of being young and dumb, It's never muted, in fact, it's much louder where I'm from.

I penetrate the hearts of good kids and criminals

I always tell people that if I move anywhere it would be Toronto.

While you have people who are actually fronting for your needs and wants, sometimes your needs and wants may not be right for you. The people around you are just trying to keep their jobs.

It's a great, great experience to finally get the reception that you know you rightfully deserve.

Being where you from is a strong genetic. You can't run from it.

I see conflict. But the conflict is what makes it relatable. I'm conflicted; you're conflicted. I'm not perfect - nobody is. I'm just blessed to be able to express my conflict through song.

Eventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.

That's the ultimate thing I want to do in making music - to be able to inspire somebody else.

I always felt like there was a certain standard of music that I had to do from the beginning, even when I didn't have the recognition that I have now.

My folks ain't graduated from high school or nothing like that, so we always had to struggle in the family - and I come from a big family.

My lyrics say I have morals, I have confidence, I have weaknesses, I have strong points, that I am a human being.

Groups break up because they never got across what they wanted to do personally, and they have creative differences, and egos start to clash.

A lot of incredible rap albums over the past couple of decades have deserved Album of the Year. 'To Pimp a Butterfly' is an extension of those albums.

I don't really believe in the type of pressure that people are wanting to put on the type of music that I make.

You don't hear no artists from Compton showing vulnerability.

My mom's one of 13 siblings, and they all got six kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton.

I'm Machiavelli's offspring, I'm the king of New York, king of the coast, one hand, I juggle them both.

The moment I made that decision to get in the studio and actually work and study the culture of hip-hop, then everything just started to open up and blossom for me.

I don't vote. I don't do no voting.

As long as my music is real, it's no limit to how many ears I can grab.

I started doing music when I was thirteen; I actually started writing my first rhymes.

There's a lot of other artists doing things outside of that depth that I enjoy - that music that I can actually have fun to, and not be in depth and think about, then I appreciate that.

Color don't tell if people Black. It's the soul.

I don't even have kids. But at heart, I'm a kid myself.

I was raised inside the gang culture.

Hip-hop and being a pro athlete go hand in hand. When they come together, it's a win, not just for your business brand but also for culture.

Colorism is not a good thing, especially when you're Black.