Kendrick Lamar

“As long as my music is real, it's no limit to how many ears I can grab.”

“When I talk to kids, I'm really listening. When I do that, we have a little bit of a bigger connection than me being Kendrick Lamar and you being a student. It's almost like we're friends. Because a friend listens.”

“I'm sticking to the script, I'm putting that organic feeling back in the game.”

“I used to consider the listener. But now I'm in a space where, if I'm not inspired, I can't really do the music. I can't feel it.”

“I got a greater purpose. God put something in my heart to get across, and that's what I'm going to focus on, using my voice as an instrument and doing what needs to be done.”

“If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?”

“We're in the last days, man - I truly, in my heart, believe that. It's written. I could go on with biblical situations and things my grandma told me. But it's about being at peace with myself and making good with the people around me.”

“Sonnymoon and Quadrants are a couple of bands that really inspire me in terms of the melodics of things and certain tones and just what feels good. It takes me back to the type of music that I grew up on in my household. We played a lot of gangsta rap, but we also played a lot of oldies, and I think that mix is part of what inspires my sound.”

“The way people look at me these days - that's the same way I looked at President Obama before I met him. We tend to forget that people who've attained a certain position are human.”

“This is the thing about hip-hop music and where people get it most misconstrued: It's all hip-hop. You can't say that just what I do is hip-hop, because hip-hop is all energies. James Brown can get on the track and mumble all day. But guess what? You felt his soul on those records.”

“If my edge is dull, my sword is dull, and I don't want to fight another guy whose sword is dull. If you've got two steel swords going back and forth hitting each other, what's gonna happen? Both of them are going to get sharper. Everybody that's in the industry has lost their edge.”

“God to me is love.”

“I think my vice would be outdoing myself.”

“I can't help the way you was born if you was gay.”

“I've been called a recluse. There's definitely truth in that. I like to spend time alone.”

“Temptation is just the feeling that you're the most independent person on planet Earth. That you know everything. That's something that we all go through as a kid. Now, this lifestyle that I'm in, the same thing exists! But it's 10 times worse, because everything is at my disposal. When you're in the limelight, you can get anything you want.”

“People have to go through trials and tribulations to get where they at. Do your thing - continue to rock it - because obviously, God wants you here.”

“I don't really believe in the type of pressure that people are wanting to put on the type of music that I make.”

“You don't hear no artists from Compton showing vulnerability.”

“It's easy to forget who you are.”