Rolling_Stone_Australia_October_2017

FROM TOP: PETE SOUZA/THE WHITE HOUSE; GETTY IMAGES

In your mock interview with Tupac on

“Mortal Man”, you asked him how he kept

his sanity in the face of success. What’s

your answer to that question?

Thingscouldbeworse.That’showI

lookatit.Ialwaysgobacktothat–food

stamps and welfare and being evicted out

of house rentals. I still got family that go

throughhardtimes,andIhavetolookout

forthem.Thinkofitlikethis:Thislifestyle

Ilivenowhasonlybeen,what,fiveyears.

Since 2012. Before that, it was a whole

two decades of not knowing what’s next

tocome.Istillhavethatembeddedinme.

SoIcan’tletmycareergetthebestofme.

On“ELEMENT.”youmakethatfunny

distinction between “black artists and

wack artists”. What, to you, defines a

wack artist?

Ilovethatquestion.HowwouldIdefine

awackartist?Awackartistusesother

people’s music for their approval. We’re

this guy has done, and it dampers

yourowncreativity.Whichulti-

mately dampers the listener, be-

causeattheendoftheday,it’snot

for us. It’s for the person driving to

their 9-to-5 that don’t feel like they

wanna go to work that morning.

Is it ever OK for a rapper to have a

ghostwriter? You’ve obviously written

verses for Dr. Dre yourself.

It depends on what arena you’re putting

yourself in. I called myself the best rapper.

IcannotcallmyselfthebestrapperifI

haveaghostwriter.Ifyou’resayingyou’rea

different type of artist and you don’t really

careabouttheartformofbeingthebest

rapper,thensobeit.Makegreatmusic.

Butthetitle,itwon’tbethere.

If it turned out that you somehow had

a ghostwriter, people would really want to

meet that guy.

[Laughs]You’reright.

Every time you open your mouth to

rhyme, you have to uphold that reputa-

tion,liveuptoyourownboasts.Howdo

youdealwiththat?

Well,that’sthechallengethatkeeps

me going. Can I outdo myself again? Can

ImakeabetterrhymethanImadelast

time?That’sthewholechase.Ifthatwasn’t

there, then I’d have stopped aftergood kid,

afterIhadmyfirstplatinumalbum.But,

youknow,youseeJay-Z[chuckles]. He’s a

billionaire. You see Dr. Dre. Jay is still on

hispengame,becauseit’salwaysachase

to see if you’re not only still true to the

culture, but still can generate a creative

processthat’sorganicforyou,thatcan

challenge yourself.

Do you ever worry about running out

of words?

Nah,man.Ican’teventhinkaboutthat.

Notnow.Notrightnow.Definitelynot.

HowdidBonoenduponthesong

“XXX.”?

We had a [different] record we were

supposed to be doing together. He sent it

over,Ilaidsomeideastoit,andwedidn’t

knowwhereitwasgoing.Ijusthappened

tohaveanalbumcomingout,soIjust

asked him, like, “Yo, would you do me this

honour of letting me use this record, use

this idea that I want to put together be-

cause I’m hearing a certain type of 808, a

certaindrumtoit.”Andhewasopentoit.

So you kind of cannibalised an existing

songandstuckitin,whichyoudofrom

time to time.

Icandothat.Itjusthastomake

sense.There’salotofgreatrecordsand

great features that the world probably

willneverhear,becauseitjustdidn’tfeel

right,nomatterhowbigthenamewason

it.ButBonohassomuchwisdomandso

much knowledge, in music and in life. Sit-

ting on the phone with him, I could talk

to him for hours. The things he’s doing

around the world, of just helping people,

is inspiring.

Your own trip to Africa, you said, was a

really big deal for you. Why?

It just felt like a place where I belonged.

Itwasassimpleasthat.Youhearabout

thelandandyouhearuntoldtruthsabout

it, and now you’re old enough to witness it

yourself. It just gave me a whole other per-

spective on where I’m from. What we’re

doinginthecityofComptonandhow

the world is just so much bigger than the

city of Compton. It just followed me back

tothestudio.Itfeltweirdwhenwehad

toleaveandgetbackonthatflight.We

allsaidthesamething,like,“Damn,we

gonnagobacktothecity.Thisishome,

for real.”

In South Africa, you went to the prison

where Nelson Mandela was jailed, right?

Wesatinsidetheactualcell.Wesawthe

stonesthattheyhadtodigupdaytoday.

That was crazy. You could feel their spir-

itsthere,basicallysaying,“Takeapiece

of the story back to your community.”

That’sexactlywhatIdid.To Pimp a But-

terfly,which is me talking to my home-

boys with the knowledge and the wisdom

thatIgained.

you down and it drains your energy when

you’re speaking about something or some-

one that’s completely ridiculous. So, on

andoffthealbum,Itookituponmyself

to take action in my own community. On

therecord,Imadeanactiontonotspeak

about what’s going on in the world or the

placestheyputusin.Speakonself;reflec-

tion of self first. That’s where the initial

change will start from.

talkingaboutsomeonethatisscaredto

make theirownvoice, chases somebody

else’s success and their thing, but runs

away from their own thing. That’s what

keeps the game watered-down. Every-

body’snotgoingtobeabletobeaKen-

drick Lamar. I’m not telling you to rap

likeme.Beyou.Simpleasthat.Iwatch

alotofgoodartistsgodownlikethatbe-

cause you’re so focused on what numbers

WAYOUTTACOMPTON

Above: Meeting President Obama

in 2015. Left: With Jay-Z, whom

Lamargrewupidolising.“Hewas

my guy,” Lamar says. “Still is.”

October, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 75