Kendrick Lamar Covers Harper's Bazaar | Interviewed by SZA
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Kendrick Lamar is the November cover star of Harper's Bazaar's November issue and was interviewed by SZA. This is the fifth time of the publication's history that they've put a man alone on the cover.
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https://instagram.com/p/DBYtMnTRGfo
https://instagram.com/p/DBYshKPu9Ap
https://instagram.com/p/DBYsRiAtHe-
SZA asks him about mental health and if he thinks he's suffered from a mental illness or experienced it ever
KL: My whole thing is, it’s all experience. I say some shit on a record and identify with a moment, and then I don’t identify with it anymore. That’s just growth for me. All that shit is subjective. [...] I was trying to understand myself, trying to find people I could relate to. How to identify myself outside myself. It sounds crazy to a lot of people. I really can see myself out of my body. When I do that, I have no judgment toward it. It’s too many eyes on me to not remove myself.
SZA asks if he's done ayahuasca (he hasn't) and then asks about his spiritual practices in his day-to-day
KL: All day, every day. [...] Ain’t no bullshit. Ain’t no cliché. But I literally talk to God. Like, it’s to a point where I’ll be starting to think I’m going crazy. But then He has to remind me, “No, this is really me." My early-morning practice is that I have to run. [...] There was this threshold of pain in the spirituality for me. I remember my shins was aching and I was like, I got one mile to go. Then I get whispers and downloads and start talking about shit that I want to know about. And next thing I’m three miles in, four miles in. I wake up and do that shit every day.
On how hard it is to learn that vulnerability is not a weakness
We talk about our childhood. I hate going back to that. It’s traumatizing. My pops, he was tough. He was militant[...] Being-a-man type shit, right? And he never showed no weakness. He never showed any emotion that could garner a one-up from the person sitting across from him. And I learned to experience that, not knowing I had them same traits, right?
But for what I do, there is certainly no growth without vulnerability. If I understood the power of vulnerability earlier, I could have had more depth and more reach to the guys that was around me in the neighborhood coming up.
SZA asks when was the first and last time he cried
KL: I would say the last time I cried was probably on Mr. Morale on the “Mother I Sober” record. That shit was deep for me. [...] The first time I allowed it to happen is documented, actually, onstage when Dre and Snoop and the whole West Coast was out, and they was like, “This is the torch that we were handing off.” Dre passed me the torch, and a burst of energy just came out and I had to let it flow.
SZA asks if he's in touch with his feminine side
KL: I have to balance both. At first, all I knew was the masculinity, and I always kept that wall up because of my pops. But the more I delve deeper into my music and the more expressive I get with myself... that is the feminine energy right there. That’s not the bravado that I grew up seeing all the time. This is who I am, the soft-spoken me, and I have to own it.
This is where my superpower lies. Because if my job is to communicate, I need to be able to communicate with everyone. I need to be able to sit in front of SZA and talk to you in a way where you feel comfortable, in a way where it feels authentic from me to you, you to me, and I can’t do that with a wall up. I can’t do that with my full masculinity.
SZA asks what does "Not Like Us" mean to him
KL: [Laughing] Not like us? Not like us is the energy of who I am, the type of man I represent. Now, if you identify with the man that I represent... This man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He’s not pandering.
He’s a man who can recognize his mistakes and not be afraid to share the mistakes and can dig deep down into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling like he’s less of a man.
If I’m thinking of “Not Like Us,” I’m thinking of me and whoever identifies with that.
source:1/2/3/4/5
Full interview HERE
Kendrick Lamar is the November cover star of Harper's Bazaar's November issue and was interviewed by SZA. This is the fifth time of the publication's history that they've put a man alone on the cover.
https://instagram.com/p/DBYt44pM0EZ
https://instagram.com/p/DBYtMnTRGfo
https://instagram.com/p/DBYshKPu9Ap
https://instagram.com/p/DBYsRiAtHe-
SZA asks him about mental health and if he thinks he's suffered from a mental illness or experienced it ever
KL: My whole thing is, it’s all experience. I say some shit on a record and identify with a moment, and then I don’t identify with it anymore. That’s just growth for me. All that shit is subjective. [...] I was trying to understand myself, trying to find people I could relate to. How to identify myself outside myself. It sounds crazy to a lot of people. I really can see myself out of my body. When I do that, I have no judgment toward it. It’s too many eyes on me to not remove myself.
SZA asks if he's done ayahuasca (he hasn't) and then asks about his spiritual practices in his day-to-day
KL: All day, every day. [...] Ain’t no bullshit. Ain’t no cliché. But I literally talk to God. Like, it’s to a point where I’ll be starting to think I’m going crazy. But then He has to remind me, “No, this is really me." My early-morning practice is that I have to run. [...] There was this threshold of pain in the spirituality for me. I remember my shins was aching and I was like, I got one mile to go. Then I get whispers and downloads and start talking about shit that I want to know about. And next thing I’m three miles in, four miles in. I wake up and do that shit every day.
On how hard it is to learn that vulnerability is not a weakness
We talk about our childhood. I hate going back to that. It’s traumatizing. My pops, he was tough. He was militant[...] Being-a-man type shit, right? And he never showed no weakness. He never showed any emotion that could garner a one-up from the person sitting across from him. And I learned to experience that, not knowing I had them same traits, right?
But for what I do, there is certainly no growth without vulnerability. If I understood the power of vulnerability earlier, I could have had more depth and more reach to the guys that was around me in the neighborhood coming up.
SZA asks when was the first and last time he cried
KL: I would say the last time I cried was probably on Mr. Morale on the “Mother I Sober” record. That shit was deep for me. [...] The first time I allowed it to happen is documented, actually, onstage when Dre and Snoop and the whole West Coast was out, and they was like, “This is the torch that we were handing off.” Dre passed me the torch, and a burst of energy just came out and I had to let it flow.
SZA asks if he's in touch with his feminine side
KL: I have to balance both. At first, all I knew was the masculinity, and I always kept that wall up because of my pops. But the more I delve deeper into my music and the more expressive I get with myself... that is the feminine energy right there. That’s not the bravado that I grew up seeing all the time. This is who I am, the soft-spoken me, and I have to own it.
This is where my superpower lies. Because if my job is to communicate, I need to be able to communicate with everyone. I need to be able to sit in front of SZA and talk to you in a way where you feel comfortable, in a way where it feels authentic from me to you, you to me, and I can’t do that with a wall up. I can’t do that with my full masculinity.
SZA asks what does "Not Like Us" mean to him
KL: [Laughing] Not like us? Not like us is the energy of who I am, the type of man I represent. Now, if you identify with the man that I represent... This man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He’s not pandering.
He’s a man who can recognize his mistakes and not be afraid to share the mistakes and can dig deep down into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling like he’s less of a man.
If I’m thinking of “Not Like Us,” I’m thinking of me and whoever identifies with that.
source:1/2/3/4/5
Full interview HERE