No one can argue that Kendrick Lamar has built a substantial amount of hype and anticipation around his upcoming album, DAMN., due tomorrow (April 14).

He released the beef-inciting “The Heart Part 4” and hashtag-worthy “Humble,” had the composer credits (James Blake! Mike WiLL Made-It!) and featured guests (Rihanna! U2!) revealed, made history on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and shared a meme-friendly album cover—all of which has led to us to doing our best in preparation for the LP.

But even Vince Staples is riding the K.Dot wave.

In a recent interview with Power 106’s “The Cruz Show,” the lyricist is blatantly asked, “Who’s the greatest rapper alive?” And even when confronted with a counter-argument vying for Eminem, Staples stays defending Kendrick. He said:

“If we’re talking about right now, it’s Kendrick, easy, it’s not even close. Yeah. It’s not even close. Because what does ‘overall’ mean? You said, ‘rapper.’ [Sales] don’t got nothing to do with that. Kendrick Lamar. Right now. Influence. Or Kanye [West]. I’ma tell you why I would put Kanye over Eminem as far as ‘the best’ conversation. Because it’s not really that many kids walking around saying, ‘I wanna be Eminem.’ I don’t know, who was dressing like him and walking around like him? That clothing line wasn’t boomin.’ Let’s be real….As far as sales going in music, we can’t have that be in the conversation of you being ‘the best’; that’s what people use when they try to compensate for lack of how they feel about their art….Even if Drake didn’t sell a crazy amount, his influence and how his music touched people, he’d still be Drake. Like, look at Chance, he not selling nothing, but he still has influence.”

Watch the conversation at the 24:30 mark.

And get ready for DAMN. with:

Ten of our favorite Kendrick Lamar songs

Exploring the religious themes tucked in Kendrick Lamar’s catalog