Akademiks Claims Kendrick Lamar Is “Lazy”: “He Starved His Fans”

BY Aron A.
Link Copied to Clipboard!
Kendrick Lamar performs during the second day of Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. on Friday, Jun. 16, 2023.
Kendrick Lamar performs during the second day of Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. on Friday, Jun. 16, 2023. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Akademiks reacts to news that Kendrick Lamar might appear on AZ Chike's upcoming album.

It’s no secret that Akademiks isn’t the biggest fan of Kendrick Lamar–or at least, he won’t outwardly admit this to the public. Throughout the Kendrick-Drake beef, Ak made it clear which side he stood on, and subsequent reporting on his social media pages has undoubtedly kept that bias at the forefront. Still, Ak’s commentary about Kendrick Lamar is pretty hilarious.

This week, fans reacted to news that Kendrick Lamar will reportedly appear on AZ Chike’s upcoming album, No Rest For The Wicked. Chike and Kendrick collaborated on “peekaboo” from GNX, and recently, Chike pulled his verse from The Game’s The Documentary III, which some assumed was in solidarity with Kendrick. However, with Chike’s album slated to drop on September 18th, fans believe that Dot will appear on the tracklist.

“If you ask me, he’s probably going to be talking sh*t on it. Who cares?” he said. “I’m going to be honest with you, bro, like, my understanding of this whole Kendrick thing is that Kendrick didn’t release music as frequently and was so absent because he was getting out of a deal with TDE. He wasn’t happy with TDE.”

Akademiks Talks Kendrick Lamar

Essentially, Akademiks said that Kendrick didn’t release music during that period between DAMN. and Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers because he was trying to get out of that deal. But now that he left Top Dawg Entertainment and established pgLang, Ak doesn’t understand why he isn’t releasing more frequently.

“Two years ago, they wanted to be like, ‘yo, this is the best new rapper in the game,’ and I’m kind of looking at him like, yo bro, I ain’t going to lie, honestly, I feel the n***a lazy, bro. I ain’t gon call him like Kawhi. I don’t think he like Kawhi Leonard type of sh*t,” he said. “How is this n***a so absent in music?”

Of course, this led to comparisons between how Drake releases music frequently and Kendrick Lamar’s selectiveness about when he decides to pop out. “I don’t really care because he’s not my favorite but I do think Kendrick is important to the rap game,” he said. “There’s so many styles and all this West Coast d*ck licking that it’s great to have a Kendrick there but Kendrick don’t help none of y’all n***as. He don’t promote the fact that there’s talent there… I ain’t going to lie to you, I think Kendrick has starved his fans in the West Coast, I’m rooting for him.” Check the clip above and sound off with your thoughts in the comments. 

About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.

Comments 0