Even in the crux of his DAMN. Tour, Kendrick Lamar found some time to hold court on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Hailed as the “greatest rapper alive” by the publication, the “HUMBLE.” rapper spoke about topics like Donald Trump, Hebrew Israelites, and his approach on DAMN.
“I mean, it’s like beating a dead horse,” K. Dot replied after being asked about his silence on Trump’s “miscues” within this current presidential era. “We already know what it is. Are we gonna keep talking about it or are we gonna take action?” he astutely asked. “You just get to a point where you’re tired of talking about it. It weighs you down and it drains your energy when you’re speaking about something or someone that’s completely ridiculous. So, on and off the album, I took it upon myself to take action in my own community. On the record, I made an action to not speak about what’s going on in the world or the places they put us in. Speak on self; reflection of self first. That’s where the initial change will start from.”
On the song “LUST.,” one of the many standouts on DAMN., Kendrick offers some introspection on the current political climate, but through the narrative he mentions to RS. “We all woke up, tryna tune to the daily news / Looking for confirmation, hoping election wasn’t true,” he raps. “All of us worried, all of us buried, and our feelings deep / None of us married to his proposal, make us feel cheap / Still and sad, distraught and mad, tell the neighbor about it.”
This topic of self-reflection is also visited when Lamar is asked about the theology of his cousin Carl, who is a signature figure on the album thanks to his intoning of the Old Testament’s Book of Deuteronomy. “That shit’s truth,” he says about the foreboding text. “There’s so many different ways to interpret it, but it’s definitely truth when you’re talking about unity in our community and some of the things we have no control over. Where there’s fighting against the government, where there’s fighting against our own political views, there’s always a higher being, right there willing to stop it.”
For more on Kendrick Lamar’s latest cover story with Rolling Stone, head here.