Kendrick Lamar on Artistic Connection to Compton: “It’s Nature Versus Nurture”

Kendrick Lamar gave an interview to The New York Times recently where he spilled the beans about his life, his artistic connection to Compton, lack of social media presence and ‘Hood Beethoven’ live show. He spoke at length about his personal and professional life, his creative dynamic with Dave Free, who was his childhood friend before he became a collaborator with Lamar. Lamar stated that he owed a lot of his success to Free because he used his connections to link him up with the head of Top Dog Records. 

Both Lamar and Free were raised in Compton, California, and that is one thing that connects them to their roots and to each other. Lamar said, “It’s nature versus nurture. I was nurtured in an environment where there’s, like, a lot of gang mentality. That certain language, certain lingo. How we walk. How we talk. All the little nuances and in-speaks that I have in Compton. I have that. That’s not going nowhere. That’s why I can go into any environment, any type of street environment, and be able to still connect even at this high of a level, as the son that never leaves. That’s nurture.”

He also added, “But the nature of me is pure… And therefore, I lean too much to the nurture of it, I won’t be able to be as expansive as I want to be. A lot of these artists, they want to be expansive, but they so tied into what they homeboys will think about them or their belief system. I know, because I was once there, but I got out of that mentality as a teenager, my teenage years. These cats still be 30, 40 years old and still trying to hold up a certain image.”

When asked about his social media presence, he said, “my social media, most of the time, is completely off because I know… Like, I’m not one of those dudes that be like, Oh, yeah, I know how good I am, but I also know the reason why I’m so good is because God’s blessed me with the talent to execute on the talent, and the moment that you start getting lost in your ego, that’s when you start going down.”

– Riya Sohini