Kendrick Lamar Interviews N.W.A: "Anything That I Do, At All, Has Come From What Y’all Done"

In a new cover story for Billboard, Kendrick Lamar sat down with legendary rap group N.W.A. They discussed a variety of topics, such as how Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella balance their work and family lives, their favorite rappers in the game (they’re big fans of Kendrick, Pusha T, and Drake), their legacy, and more. Watch a video of the interview here, and read Billboard‘s story here.

At one point, Lamar asked the group to name the hardest part of the hip-hop business. “For me personally, the hardest part was probably separating myself from the bullshit,” Dr. Dre said. Ice Cube agreed: “It’s fun to make records, it’s fun to be in the studio with your homies, coming up with shit; it’s fun to to get onstage. The business part sucks.”

Later, they cautioned rappers against prioritizing financial success over artistic integrity. “Hip-hop and the artists got so focused on results – ‘What did my record sell?’ ‘What is this?’,” Ice Cube explained. “That’s got nothing to do with you creating music.”

Lamar, a Compton native, was expectedly reverent when discussing the group’s influence. “Anything that I do, at all, has come from what y’all done,” he said. 

The dialogue arrives just as Dr. Dre drops his latest album Compton, and the N.W.A. doc Straight Outta Compton hits theaters. 

Read “The Compton Sessions: How Dr. Dre Created His Comeback”.

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