Kendrick Lamar har sannerligen inte glömt var han kom ifrån. Under helgen besökte han sina hemkvarter i Compton för att visa stöd för det årliga evenemanget “Christmas In Compton Toy Giveaway” i Enterprise Park.
Världsstjärnan tillika Pulitzer-vinnaren tog sig även tid att ta bilder med vänner och fans i alla åldrar, iklädd en enkel vit t-shirt och keps. Precis som vi är vana att se honom i civila sammanhang.
Medgrundaren av Interscope Records, Jimmy Iovine, samt Cali-kollegan Jay Worthy fanns också på plats för evenemanget där den senare gav en shoutout till Kendrick via sociala medier.
“WHO ELSE HOOD YOU KNOW GOT JIMMY IOVINE PULLING UP TO THEY PARK WESTSIDE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL HOOD IN AMERICA THATS WHO”, skrev Worthy och följde upp med:
“ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL TOY DRIVE IN THE CITY OF COMPTON S/O MY BROTHERS @kendricklamar @im_luxxkjr @forevachad @pglang AND EVERYBODY ELSE INVOLVED THIS DEEPER THAN RAP THIS FAMILY.”
Just kopplingen till Compton och uppväxten pratade Kendrick om i mer detalj med New York Times för ganska precis ett år sedan, i december 2022. Han sa då:
“It’s nature versus nurture. I was nurtured in an environment where there’s, like, a lot of gang mentality. That certain language, certain lingo. How we walk. How we talk.”
“All the little nuances and in-speaks that I have in Compton. I have that. That’s not going nowhere. That’s why I can go into any environment, any type of street environment, and be able to still connect even at this high of a level, as the son that never leaves. That’s nurture.”
“But the nature of me is pure… And therefore, I lean too much to the nurture of it, I won’t be able to be as expansive as I want to be. A lot of these artists, they want to be expansive, but they so tied into what they homeboys will think about them or their belief system.”
“I know, because I was once there, but I got out of that mentality as a teenager, my teenage years,” he added. “These cats still be 30, 40 years old and still trying to hold up a certain image. And not to say it’s bad. Everybody got their own journey.”
“I was just fortunate enough to have a group of guys around me that gave me that courage to feed myself with the arts, whether it was the street cats in my neighborhood, whether it was Dave [Free] who pushed me to be an artist, whether it was Top from the projects, the Nickerson Gardens. I always was allowed to be myself.”
Se bilder från evenemanget nedan!
Foto via @kendricklamarzz
