Kendrick Lamar has admitted his videos are just as important to him as his music.
The ‘All The Stars’ hitmaker grew up being inspired by visuals and it has always been vital to him that fans get as much from watching his songs as they do from listening to them.
Kendrick told Billboard: “I think from jump it’s always been crucial to me. You know, just being a kid watching BET, I’d be on the phone with Dave, you know my partner that does the videos with me and we’d be watching Missy Elliott videos back in high school and Busta Rhymes videos. They were always big inspirations.”
“So by the time we got to the point where we can mass produce visuals on that level, we said to each other that, ‘We all in and that we’ve been waiting for this moment. So, I think it’s something that always inspired us to do it, just being a student and always appreciating somebody being willing to put full impact and full ideas not only into the songs but when you’re watching the songs.”
The ‘Loyalty’ rapper was officially crowned the ‘New King of the West Coast’ by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and The Game during a surprise appearance at his concert in Los Angeles in 2011.
And Kendrick, 30, said he will gladly pass on the torch when the time comes. He said: “If we see the same excitement that you see in yourself in somebody else, that’s the key to evolving and giving [back] in terms of hip-hop. Same way they did it to me, I’d do to someone else.”
But he admitted he is not quite ready just yet.
The rapper insisted: “Right now, I feel good. I’ll let y’all know when the final years is coming up when I’m like, ‘OK. This kid is it. He’s from the city. He’s it. He got it.’”
