Bakom Kendrick Lamars monumentala framgångar de senaste åren ligger hårt arbete under snart tio års tid, där Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffiths vägledning för artisterna i hans närhet varit avgörande. Detta vittnar Kendrick Lamar om i en nypublicerad intervju med Billboard. Redan tidigt hade Tiffith ambitionen att motivera sina artister att bygga vänskapliga band:

“Growing up in the era of the gangsta shit, a lot of my friends were getting killed, a lot of friends were in the pen, I got shot. When I got with the [TDE artists], it was up to me to show them something different — to lock them in my studio and make them build a bond as brothers, and struggle a little bit. I had the money to do whatever I wanted, but they weren’t going to appreciate shit if I just handed it off to them.”

Kendrick Lamar hyllar och lyfter Tiffiths vägledning:

“You don’t get too many people like him this side of the neighborhood. A lot of motherfuckers want you to see them down just like them. Or don’t want you to come up like them. If it weren’t for him, I’d probably be sitting around with this motherfucking money and face and platform and not doing shit because I didn’t have the proper guidance to know exactly what to do and how to inspire the next kid.”

I intervjun avslöjar Kendrick även att han gjorde sin första spelning någonsin 2006, med Jay Rock på turné med The Game. Under uppväxten hade han själv knappt råd att gå på spelningar:

Läs hela intervjun om TDE:s utveckling genom årens lopp, via Billboard.