Kendrick Lamar Quotations

Eventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.

I had to come from something, come from a place that was negative and positive but the majority of it is a negative place.

People gonna be they own individuals and have they own worlds and I can't knock it.

I can't help the way you was born if you was gay.

I always felt like there was a certain standard of music that I had to do from the beginning, even when I didn't have the recognition that I have now.

My pops and my mom started playing Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers and all these people, but at the same time, they always had Snoop on right behind it in the same mix.

I don't vote. I don't do no voting.

From the moment I started writing raps, I was always aware of the pressure. I always wanted to live up to how huge Snoop got, how huge Dre got, how huge Pac got. I was always aware.

I don't really believe in the type of pressure that people are wanting to put on the type of music that I make.

You don't hear no artists from Compton showing vulnerability.

I'm putting out this free music, constantly putting it out.

Teenagers expressing this on a daily basis in the middle of the streets - you can't help but believe we are in the mind state of taking our losses and changing people's perceptions of us and our community. We are strong. Our families are tired of being hurt.

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.

Found myself screaming in a hotel room. I didn't want to self-destruct.

My mom's one of 13 siblings, and they all got six kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton.

Poetic justice, poetic justice.. if I told you that a flower bloom in a dark room would you trust it. I mean I write poems in these songs.

Groups break up because they never got across what they wanted to do personally, and they have creative differences, and egos start to clash.

There's a lot of other artists doing things outside of that depth that I enjoy - that music that I can actually have fun to, and not be in depth and think about, then I appreciate that.

How am I influencing so many people on this stage rather than influencing the ones that I have back home?

As long as my music is real, it's no limit to how many ears I can grab.

A lot of incredible rap albums over the past couple of decades have deserved Album of the Year. To Pimp a Butterfly is an extension of those albums.

I'm Machiavelli's offspring, I'm the king of New York, king of the coast, one hand, I juggle them both.

It's deep-rooted, the music of being young and dumb, It's never muted, in fact, it's much louder where I'm from.

The ultimate thing I want to do in making music is to be able to inspire somebody else.

I was raised inside the gang culture.

Hip-hop and being a pro athlete go hand in hand. When they come together, it's a win, not just for your business brand but also for culture.

I see conflict. But the conflict is what makes it relatable. I'm conflicted; you're conflicted. I'm not perfect - nobody is. I'm just blessed to be able to express my conflict through song.

It's a great, great experience to finally get the reception that you know you rightfully deserve.

I penetrate the hearts of good kids and criminals

My folks ain't graduated from high school or nothing like that, so we always had to struggle in the family - and I come from a big family.

The moment I made that decision to get in the studio and actually work and study the culture of hip-hop, then everything just started to open up and blossom for me.

My lyrics say I have morals, I have confidence, I have weaknesses, I have strong points, that I am a human being.

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.

At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out. Now I'll talk about being beaten up or robbed or making a stupid decision because of a girl or whatever.

I don't sugarcoat it you'd die from diabetes if these other niggas wrote it

I like to let things breathe.

I've got an extra-specific story about Dr. Dre. I saw him when I was 9 years old in Compton - him and Tupac. They were shooting the second 'California Love' video. My pops had seen him and ran back to the house and got me, put me on his neck, and we stood there watching Dre and Pac in a Bentley.

You grow up inside these neighborhoods and these communities, and you have friends, friends that you love, friends that you grew up with since elementary. And you have their trust, and you have their loyalty. So it brings influence. So no matter how much of a leader I thought I was, I was always under the influence, period.

Let bygones be bygones...but where I'm from, We buy guns and more guns, to give to the young.

While you have people who are actually fronting for your needs and wants, sometimes your needs and wants may not be right for you. The people around you are just trying to keep their jobs.

I think my vice would be outdoing myself.

Being able to tell one from start to finish, and making that puzzle come together at the end. That's the art for me.

Every time I write these words they become a taboo, Making sure my punctuation curve, every letter here's true, Living my life in the margin, and that metaphor was proof.

I'm African American / I'm African / I'm black as the moon,

Sometimes you have the trends that's not that cool. You may have certain artists portraying these trends and don't really have that lifestyle, and then it gives off the wrong thing. And it becomes kinda corny after awhile. It's really about keeping hip-hop original and pushing away the corniness in it.

I always tell people that if I move anywhere it would be Toronto.

The Universe energy doesn't lie.

I wanted the next family to hurt, because you made my family hurt. Them emotions were still running in me... Whether I'm a rap star or not, if I still feel like that, then I'm part of the problem rather than the solution.

I probably spent more time listening to albums than writing songs. But I think that gave me all the tricks in terms of wordplay, from how I pronounced my words to the actual delivery.

You really can't categorize my music, it's human music.

I'm usually homeboys with the same ni**as I'm rhyming wit/But this is hip-hop and them ni**as should know what time it is/And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale/Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake/Big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller/I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you ni**as/Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you ni**as/They dont wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you ni**as

When I go into the studio - it [words] has to sound the way I heard it in my head. So that's probably one of the biggest things that separates me when I'm working in the studio - just how I hear certain things.

I'm constantly thinking.

What is love? Love to me is god.

The worst part of success is, to me, adapting to it. It's scary.

I can say is if anyone gets a chance to work with [Dr.]Dre, it's a moment you will always take with you throughout your career. And as of right now, the Compton album is the only thing to talk about.

I always thought money was something just to make me happy. But I've learned that I feel better being able to help my folks, 'cause we never had nothing. So just to see them excited about my career is more of a blessing than me actually having it for myself.

When you go on your Twitter or look down your Timeline and it's all great positivity - I love that. But at the same time, it can really divert you from what your purpose is or what you're trying to do. And I've seen artists get caught up in that.

I think my worst problem is actually living in the moment and understanding everything that's going on. I feel like I'm in my own bubble.

I stole a Bible, is that a sin?

We all seem to stumble, planning our own demise, Getting the big picture, and making it wallet-sized.

The thing about hip-hop is they always want to classify you as one particular artist, but hip-hop is about going outside the box and expressing yourself however you want to.

Brother Kendrick Lamar: he's not a rapper, he's a writer, he's an author. And if you read between the lines, we'll learn how to love one another. But you can't do that, I said you can't do that, without loving yourself first.

Am I the only one who measures time using songs? “Oh it only took me 4 songs to get here! that’s not to long!

I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey.

Since day one, since the first time I touched the pen, I wanted to be the best at what I do.

A dollar might turn to a million and we all rich that's just how i feel

I aint a drinker Im a thinker, call it what you want

You can't change where you from. You can't take a person out of their zone and expect them to be somebody else now that they in the record industry. It's gonna take years. Years of travelling. Years of meeting people. Years of seeing the world.

Hip-hop is not the problem, our reality is the problem.

The limit is the sky, and I live on cloud. And I recognize my nemesis gon try, to put a finish in my shine. But pussy we'll hurt you, life in the power circle.

I be off the slave ships, building pyramids, writing my own hieroglyphs

I'd rather not live like there isn't a God Then die and find out there really is Think about it

What happened to [Michael Brown] should've never happened. Never. But when we don't have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us? It starts from within. Don't start with just a rally, don't start from looting - it starts from within.

I'm standing on a field full of landmines doing the moonwalk hoping i blow up in time

Consequences from evil will make your past haunt you

My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing that we call hip hop.

God to me is love. It's the ruler of all things, whether it's with a person or with music or with your TV. I feel like it's this energy. God is energy, love is energy.

I cut off my ears before i hear your advice and vice versa

I learned, when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing.

I am a sinner....who's probably gonna sin again...Lord forgive me!

It's the beauty in her, But when the makeup occur, I don't see it, All i see is a blur

Everybody looking at you crazy, What you gon' do? Lift up your head and keep moving, Or let the paranoia haunt you?

The best thing is to always keep honest people around, because when you have a bunch of yes men around that know that you're making a mistake but let you go on with it, that's when it ruins your mind state as an artist.

But what love got to do with it when you don't love yourself ?

My mind is living on cloud 9 and this 9 is never on vacation.

Believe in God, it's only one God. F*** all that religion s***. Believe in one God, and do right. Try your best to do right, we ain't perfect. Just do that and everything will be straight,

Once I looked in the mirror and decided this is who I am, and I'm not scared of who I am, and I'm not scared that I can't be like you, and I'm good with just doing me, that's when I found myself, as a man.

The opposite of love? Vice. Temptation. The negative influences that we have. The bad energy that comes around us and makes us do certain things. To me, it's always been a war between the two.

I knew I was blessed with a gift of having both parents.

If I'm gonna tell a real story, I'm gonna start with my name.

It's easy to forget who you are.

Whatever pressure I feel all comes from me, from within. I always was that person who was hard on myself and challenged myself no matter what I was doing, whether it was passing third grade or playing basketball.

I live this life at a pace that anyone can go. Know your place, and dedicate your role ...To the faith that you'll die alone

Just let me be me, That's the only way I know.

The message I'm sending to myself - I can't change the world until I change myself first.

Don't you know your imperfections is a wonderful blessing, from heaven is where you got it from

I was a black sheep, but now I'm just a goat

Tell me how I stay positive When they never see good in me

What separated me from all my homeboys is the fact that I didn't get caught inside the reality. I was always dreaming about doing something else or going somewhere else.