Kendrick Lamar is in his own lane. From proclaiming to be the best rapper alive, to going against the norm and paying for a modest house cash instead of financing a multi-million dollar home like many other rappers, Kendrick seems to go left when others are going right.
Kendrick is also, thanks to the California State Senate, an official icon. Earlier this week the government body declared Lamar a "Generational Icon" for his artistic, charitable, and community efforts. In recognition of his work, the rapper was invited onto the Senate floor to speak and receive an oversized framed document.
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Lamar was introduced to the California Senate by fellow Compton native Senator Isadore Hall III. The Senator applauded the rapper's 10-year music career, but specifically picked out his work helping the youth of his home city, by supporting music and sports programs and donating hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lamar might be one of the biggest names in hip-hop right now, but he's certainly not forgotten Compton — the city is the backdrop to much of his material, including the autobiographical good kid, m.A.A.d city.
During an interview on The Arsenio Hall Show, Kendrick Lamar admitted an unfortunate life lesson that he learned growing up.
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Kendrick opened up about growing up in a family that partied regularly, including substance use. Because of this, he doesn't drink or do drugs, and wants to be an advocate for living drug-free. In addition, he is speaking out against the promotion of drug use in hip-hop music. The latest drug he's focusing on is “Molly,” the dangerous drug that rappers are now speaking about to impressionable youth.
Lamar says that he wants to tell the public that there are times when you can’t follow a trend just because it has become popular.
“Sometimes you have the trends that’s not cool,” Kendrick says.
The drug known as "Molly" was most recently publicized when the rapper Rick Ross spoke of...
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...using the drug to sleep with a woman without her permission. Another song by Wiz Khalifa repeats the word “Molly” over and over again in the song, as if the rapper is spending his life looking for it.
Kendrick is breaking with some of his fellow artists by stating that the promotion of the drug is not good because people are dying from using it.
“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 a while. It’s really about keeping hip-hop original and pushing away the corniness in it."
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