Kendrick Lamar praises 50 Cent in conversation with Tems.
Kendrick Lamar has always acknowledged 50 Cent’s influence, and he once again shouts out the POWER mogul in a new interview. The former TDE rapper sat down with Nigerian Singer Tems for Interview Magazine, and they both discussed music, inspiration and more.
“Now, I’ve always studied 50 Cent’s music and watched his interviews, and someone asked if he was a conscious artist,” Lamar recalled. “He said, ‘Yeah, I’m a conscious artist because I have a conscience.”
“That sh-t blew me away. It gave me a different perspective — 50 drops a lot of jewels that give me perspective, but that one right there gave me a sense of, okay, a lot of artists live and know how to project duality.”
He continued, “That’s the true gift, because that’s what life is about in its wholeness. When I seen that I said, ‘I can relate to that,’ and what you’re saying is confirmation that that’s still alive. It’s really dope to hear another artist say it. Lets us know we not crazy.”
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Tems and Lamar also discussed how they go mad scientists in the studio if they’re left for a couple of days. “I’m the kind of person that if you leave me in the studio by myself for like two days, I turn into one of those mad scientists in a cartoon,” said Tems. “I’m the same way. I call it the Pinky and the Brain syndrome. You need at least one or two people that you really trust to be like, ‘You know what? You’re going crazy,'” responds Lamar.
“One of my managers, he’s the only person I let in the room apart from my producer,” added Tems. “Both of them are with me often, but not always. I record myself mostly, but sometimes after doing, like, 800 takes, I call and I’m like, ‘Yo, I’m going crazy. I need help.'”
“I can relate to that, because my boy, Dave [Free]—my partner, actually—he started as one of my managers, but he was a creative also,” responds Kendrick. “Along with my producer Sounwave, I kind of lean on him to know if I’m going the right way. How long y’all knew each other?”
In 2022, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent were both part of the iconic NFL Super Bowl Halftime show, along with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige. For the event, the group were honoured with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety special last year.
