“Everybody always gets the glorifying the street cred, but what about the cats that’s trying they best to escape the negativity, but always get swarmed back in because of the circumstances around them? Nobody never told that story…”— Kendrick Lamar, vibe.com
“[As] long as I feel like I got the people, they gon’ hear it and they gon’ listen so it’s gonna get me to places that I can only imagine, you know what I mean?”— Kendrick Lamar, vibe.com
“The sky is falling, the wind is calling Stand for something, or die in the morning”— Kendrick Lamar, amazon.com
“You'd be shocked how far it'd take you to just having relationships with people outside of the norm that you're even used to.”— Kendrick Lamar, noisey.vice.com
“I don't talk about these things if I haven't lived them, and I've hurt people in my life. It's something I still have to think about when I sleep at night.”— Kendrick Lamar, npr.org
“You can have the platinum album, but when you still feel like you haven't quite found your place in the world — it kind of gives a crazy offset”— Kendrick Lamar, npr.org
“We made a right, then made a left, then made a right Then made a left, we was just circling life.”— Kendrick Lamar, amazon.com
“Look at me, I'm a loser, I'm a winner, I'm good, I'm bad, I'm a sinner, I'm a killer, what I'm doing, I'm saying that I'm human."”— Kendrick Lamar, amazon.com
“I’m my own individual man, that’s it. Not smoking and not drinking doesn’t put down my manhood and my coolness, you know. I’ve been cool since elementary.”— Kendrick Lamar, clique.tv
“In my album, the confliction of today is : how can I use my leadership ? It’s knowing what to do with it. You come from this place of negativity, of not having nothing or following the older people you look up to, and now you’re taking the lead for thousands of people around the world. That brings a…”— Kendrick Lamar, clique.tv
“I want to put positive vibes in my music. But actually who I am as a person is not the song. That’s who I wanna be.’”— Kendrick Lamar, clique.tv
“I think one of my biggest battles within myself is embracing leadership. You always grow up and you hate the term "role model." You would say, "I don't wanna be a role model. I don't want none of that." ... It's impossible to fight the title of role model. Especially when the type of music I make is…”— Kendrick Lamar, clique.tv
“I kept saying I just wanted to see you Saying, "What's wrong with that?" Needles shaking outlines in a compass Every outcome's such a comedown”— Pinegrove, open.spotify.com