Kendrick Lamar recently sat down to talk to DJ Skee, after his Coachella performance.
He spoke on linking up with Aftermath, and why he chose that label, even though many labels were putting offers on the table.
"We had tons of offers on the table - money, money, money - any individual would've took the money fast, but it was about these labels knowing the imprint we already put on the game - our sound and not trying to change that," Kendrick explained. "Dre knew exactly what we were trying to do; he'd been [with] Death Row, he'd been [with] Aftermath, these [are] from the bottom to the top labels. That's what Top Dawg is; he recognized that, he recognized we move as a unit, and we're going to continue to push that now. What Dre can do is continue to show us the guides and the steps to how he got to the point where he is at with Aftermath."
K.Dot also explains how he was hesitant to sell his debut mixtape, O(verly) D(edicated), however Top Dawg Entertainment founder, Anthony Tiffith, had faith that Kendrick's followers would support.
"When we first decided to sell the O.D., I didn't want to sell [it] because I didn't feel like people were ready and they didn't understand where I was coming from as far as the music I was doing - they just weren't ready to buy a Kendrick Lamar CD," Kendrick said. "Top Dawg made something to me - he said, 'If you want to change the face [of Hip Hop] and make people stop complaining about the music that they're hearing on the radio, make these muthafuckas go out and really appreciate the music and spend their last dollar on it, or else you're going to keep complaining about it.' And that made a lot of sense to me...we all felt like my music is that damn good where you can go out and spend their few dollars on it... when we did that, muthafuckas did go out and actually buy it - and actually, a whole lot of muthafuckas went out [and bought it]...so what it started off with was believing in the music first."
Watch the full interview below.
