Kendrick Lamar has been lauded as this generation’s most important rap artist by many, a distinction the Compton rapper himself has yet to claim as his own. In an interview with The Coveteur, Lamar talks his Reebok collaboration, his influences, and why he thinks Lil Wayne is the greatest in hs view.
Lamar was in the United Kingdom for a Reeboks Classic fashion show and performance recently when the fashion publication caught up with him. The focus was mostly about sneaker culture and how youth influence trends before veering off into other territories.
From The Coveteur:
ON HOW CULTURE IS ALWAYS CREATED BY THE NEXT GENERATION:
“The impact it has is letting the world know, everything starts homegrown, you know? No matter how far or how high it gets, you always have to come back to the soil, you always have to come back to the streets. You always got to look at what the next 13-year-old, same person I was, is wearing because these are the people who make the culture. We can’t run from the kids, period. That’s something that we always try to do in our own way. We throw the high cost on shoes and clothes and try to distract it from the kids but they make the culture period. They have the freedom. They don’t have the numbers or the politics or what we cannot do behind it. If they don’t have no shoes, if we didn’t give them no shoes, they’ll be making it themselves in their garage somewhere.”
ON HIS STYLE INFLUENCES:
“Yeah, man, we was heavy. That’s a real story like, we was just huge, still to this day, huge Lil Wayne fans. Lil Wayne is the greatest. Not only because of his music but also because of the culture he put behind it. It was a big part of what he was talking about, so we always hold Lil Wayne in high regards. Juvenile as well. And yeah, it’s the impact of them man. To be a part of it the same way he was a part of it years later is just a great feeling.”
Check out Kendrick Lamar’s full interview with The Coveteur by following this link.
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Photo: The Coveteur
