100 Quotes by Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar, a visionary rapper and songwriter, has redefined the landscape of hip-hop with his poignant lyrics and innovative approach to storytelling. Hailing from Compton, California, Lamar's introspective and socially conscious verses tackle themes such as race, identity, and inequality. His albums, like "good kid, m.A.A.d city" and "To Pimp a Butterfly," have been celebrated for their artistic depth and cultural significance. Lamar's ability to seamlessly weave complex narratives within his music has elevated him to a status of not just a musician, but a modern-day poet. Beyond entertainment, his impact on discussions about race and social justice has solidified him as an influential voice in contemporary culture, empowering listeners to confront uncomfortable truths and challenge the status quo.
Kendrick Lamar Quotes
Build your own pyramids, write your own hieroglyphs. (Meaning)
We hurt people that love us, love people that hurt us (Meaning)
I was a black sheep, but now I'm just a goat (Meaning)
If I'm gonna tell a real story, I'm gonna start with my name. (Meaning)
Just let me be me, That's the only way I know. (Meaning)
The one in front of the gun lives forever (Meaning)
My rights, my wrongs, I write ‘til I’m right with God. (Meaning)
But what love got to do with it when you don't love yourself ? (Meaning)
I cut off my ears before i hear your advice and vice versa (Meaning)
It's easy to forget who you are. (Meaning)
Consequences from evil will make your past haunt you (Meaning)
I like to let things breathe. (Meaning)
I think my vice would be outdoing myself. (Meaning)
I aint a drinker Im a thinker, call it what you want (Meaning)
I knew I was blessed with a gift of having both parents. (Meaning)
I stole a Bible, is that a sin? (Meaning)
I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey... (Meaning)
Build your own pyramids, write your own hieroglyphs.
We hurt people that love us, love people that hurt us
"The sky is falling, the wind is calling
Stand for something, or die in the morning"
If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?
So next time you feel like your world is about to end, I hope you studied because He's testing your faith again.
Look inside my soul and you can find gold and maybe get rich. Look inside of your soul and you can find out it never exists.
I was a black sheep, but now I'm just a goat
Life Will Put Many Red Lights In Front Of You, But Sometimes We Must Push On The Gas And Trust God
We all get distracted, the question is, would you bounce back or bounce backwards?
If I'm gonna tell a real story, I'm gonna start with my name.
Although the butterfly and the caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same.
Just let me be me, That's the only way I know.
The one in front of the gun lives forever
My rights, my wrongs, I write ‘til I’m right with God.
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.
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.
My mind is living on cloud 9 and this 9 is never on vacation.
Don't you know your imperfections is a wonderful blessing, from heaven is where you got it from
The message I'm sending to myself - I can't change the world until I change myself first.
We're all human at the end of the day, making mistakes. But learn from them is the key.
We look so much on color that we forget about the soul.
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.
It's easy to forget who you are.
I learned, when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing.
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 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
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.
But what love got to do with it when you don't love yourself ?
I'm standing on a field full of landmines doing the moonwalk hoping i blow up in time
You can't have people listen to you unless you come to their world and then bring them to yours.
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'd rather not live like there isn't a God Then die and find out there really is Think about it
I cut off my ears before i hear your advice and vice versa
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.
The best way to describe myself would be...unpredictable.
Consequences from evil will make your past haunt you
"We all seem to stumble, planning our own demise,
Getting the big picture, and making it wallet-sized."
I be off the slave ships, building pyramids, writing my own hieroglyphs
I'm constantly thinking.
I knew I was blessed with a gift of having both parents.
I can't help the way you was born if you was gay.
Kids don't see hate in their eyes. They see the world, and living in it to the best of their abilities. And that's where love comes from for me.
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!
Since day one, since the first time I touched the pen, I wanted to be the best at what I do.
The Universe energy doesn't lie.
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 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?
I think my vice would be outdoing myself.
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.
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.
A dollar might turn to a million and we all rich that's just how i feel
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.
No matter how much good things are going on around you, you still have them little negative things that just wanna come out in front. But you bottle them in because you have so many other great things, but they still there.
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.
I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey...
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.
What is love? Love to me is god.
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.
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.
The worst part of success is, to me, adapting to it. It's scary.
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.
Hip-hop is not the problem, our reality is the problem.
I had to come from something, come from a place that was negative and positive but the majority of it is a negative place.
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 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.
People gonna be they own individuals and have they own worlds and I can't knock it.
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.
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.
I don't sugarcoat it you'd die from diabetes if these other niggas wrote it
I can be calm and reflective from time to time and other times I can have a burst of energy, that's just me.
We all, we all good people just trying to escape the negative influence that come around us and that's the story of my life, you know? Trying my best to get around the ills and I bumped my head a few times but I think, you know, music is my savior for right now, for me and my whole group.
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 sit and talk to kids all day, because I feel like they carry the most wisdom.
I like to let things breathe.
Being able to tell one from start to finish, and making that puzzle come together at the end. That's the art for me.
You really can't categorize my music, it's human music.
If I can look at a 6-year-old and learn from him, that's life. That's God for me, that's inspiring.
Found myself screaming in a hotel room. I didn't want to self-destruct.
I penetrate the hearts of good kids and criminals
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.
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.
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.
It's a great, great experience to finally get the reception that you know you rightfully deserve.
Being where you from is a strong genetic. You can't run from it.
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.
Eventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.
That's the ultimate thing I want to do in making music - to be able to inspire somebody else.
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.
Groups break up because they never got across what they wanted to do personally, and they have creative differences, and egos start to clash.
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.
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.
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 really believe in the type of pressure that people are wanting to put on the type of music that I make.
My mom's one of 13 siblings, and they all got six kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton.
You don't hear no artists from Compton showing vulnerability.
I'm Machiavelli's offspring, I'm the king of New York, king of the coast, one hand, I juggle them both.
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.
I started doing music when I was thirteen; I actually started writing my first rhymes.
I don't vote. I don't do no voting.
When I look at comedy, it's all self-expression. I apply that same method to my music. I came up listening to N.W.A and Snoop. Like them, it's in me to express how I feel. You might like it or you might not, but I take that stand.
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.
As long as my music is real, it's no limit to how many ears I can grab.
Color don't tell if people Black. It's the soul.
I don't even have kids. But at heart, I'm a kid myself.
The times that we are in, it's something that you can only feel in the air. You don't even have to talk about it. You don't need the news or the Internet to watch it. You can walk outside and just feel it.
My grandma always said, "Where there's a will, there's a way." I think it's just naturally in our DNA to be able to survive. We was always taught that: to survive. When you talking about slavery, it's to survive.
I was raised inside the gang culture.
It's a long time coming as far as the work that I put in. Now I know that I got the stamp but what counts is what comes behind. That's what's really important. Upholding that stamp and not only keeping the energy my way but also spreading that energy out to other artists that are coming up on the West Coast.
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.
Colorism is not a good thing, especially when you're Black.
I'm listening to a lot of oldies.A lot of Al Green, Marvin Gaye. Luther Vandross... they were some of my icons.
I think all Geminis are kids at heart. And that's why they're able to simplify some of the most complex things and connect with people. It's having that kid spirit.
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.
There's kids out there that have so much life to live. That's a beautiful thing.
I really focus on what my fans will take from it, people living their day-to-day lives. At the end of the day, the music isn't for me; it's for people who are going through their struggles and want to relate to someone who feels the same way they do. I've got to go all-in, expressing myself, right there in the moment.
How am I influencing so many people on this stage rather than influencing the ones that I have back home?
I went to South Africa - Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg - and those were definitely the "I've arrived" shows. Outside of the money, the success, the accolades ... This is a place that we, in urban communities, never dream of. We never dream of Africa. Like, "Damn, this is the motherland." You feel it as soon as you touch down. That moment changed my whole perspective on how to convey my art.
I felt like, what better way for people to understand me by taking the initiative in giving my real name, my name that moms taught me so y'all actually know what's going on in my life and my music.
The people definitely shape the two, put stamps and classify mainstream and underground music.
I am from the inner city, the ghetto. If I can use my platform to carry on a legacy and talk about something that's real, I have to do that, period.
― Kendrick Lamar Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
