On Friday (Feb. 7), Kendrick Lamar and Timothée Chalamet engaged in deep conversation about their artistic processes. Released by the NFL as part of their Super Bowl LIX campaign, a three-and-a-half-minute video captured their exchange as they cruised through the city in Lamar's Buick GNX – the same car that inspired the Compton emcee’s latest album.
Lamar reflected on his writing journey and acknowledged that regaining his creative rhythm after a break can be tough. In turn, Chalamet found parallels in his field and revealed a fundamental challenge that performers face. “The thing about acting is, if you don’t have an audience, it’s just a form of insanity,” he remarked. “I definitely try to warm up and then, you know, lose that self-consciousness when you finally get back out there. But that takes time. I always try to embrace failure.”
Building on that thought, Lamar shed light on his approach to music. “I think that’s probably one of the biggest misconceptions about me as an artist. I’m always locked in. I’m always trying new things. Now, whether or not I like ‘em is a whole other conversation,” he explained. “But I have to keep the pen moving. It’s my form of sanity. And it also has given me the opportunity to learn myself, find out who I am... Because when you’re writing, you gotta sit and go through the emotions and be vulnerable about it, whether it’s a fun song, or sad, or got some type of depth or not.”
Lamar’s highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime show will arrive one week after winning five Grammys for “Not Like Us,” a scathing diss aimed at Drake. During a recent interview with Apple Music, he spoke on the song’s success and his current stance on Hip Hop. “I love to see that it gets that type of recognition,” he told the crowd. “My intent from day one was to keep the nature of it as a sport ... I think a lot of people [were] putting rap to the back. You didn’t see that grit. You didn’t see that bite anymore.”