All eyes are on Kendrick Lamar as he appears to be the next major face of West Coast hip hop with the release of his first major studio album good kid, m.A.A.d. City slated for release near the end of the month. In a recent interview with Q104.7, Kendrick talked about his musical influences from both coasts, some valuable advice he received from his label head, Dr. Dre, and the "organic" process of recording his LP.
Compton, and the entire West coast are always represented by Kendrick, as he lists some legends as influential in his upbringing and musical sensibility, "everything coming out the West Coast...of course Snoop, of course Dre, Kurupt, Dogg Pound." What makes him such a talent is his diversity, and he is not pigeon-holed to just the left coast, he also names East Coast legends like Jay-Z and Nas as integral in his lyrical development.
When asked about advice he'd received, the Section.80 rapper refers to something Dr. Dre has instilled in him about keeping focused on the music, "[Dre says] to keep the passion for the music, so many people lose passion, and everything starts to be about the dollar, and that's when you know the value of the music goes down."
That passion can be heard when K-Dot spits, and when recording his upcoming album he says they kept it lose, and did not force anythin saying, "[In the studio it was] natural and organic and do what feels right to me...didn't want to have no rules, as far as a debut album goes," adding that he was prepared for this opportunity, "it was an easy process I just had to get in there and execute."
Kendrick Lamar's Aftermath/Interscope debut good kid, m.A.A.d. City drops October 22nd.
