Kendrick Lamar’s history-making Super Bowl LIX halftime performance wowed the crowd on Sunday night.
As the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the show, he brought out Samuel L. Jackson to play Uncle Sam and even had a cameo by tennis great Serena Williams. He also put a nail in the coffin of his longstanding rap beef with Drake performing his popular diss track “Not Like Us” and declaring “game over” with a message in lights in the crowd.
The Compton native brought hip-hop and Los Angeles culture to New Orleans just a week after taking home five Grammy awards.
But long before the Grammys and the Super Bowl, a 23-year-old Lamar talked with KTLA 5’s Lu Parker.
In 2011, the two walked the streets of his beloved city where he shared how it has influenced his career.
“It’s tough. It’s really tough, especially growing up in the City of Compton because it’s so easy to get your hands on negative,” he explained. “Compton, one word that comes off the brain right now is unpredictable. You got to be ready to know that negative is around the corner any moment.”
Fresh off of being named as part of XXL magazine’s Freshman Class of artists, he told Lu that his songs evolved from what he witnessed within the city. While the struggles were constant, he looked to music to send a message of hope and respect.
“I say these words, hopefully, I can change something, whether it’s a person or the neighborhood. It can start with just a small word out the mouth.”
They walked the neighborhood of his family’s first apartment. He remembered walking the streets often with his mom, his dad at work and his uncles spending time hanging out on the street corners and at the local liquor store.
Even then he pointed out how the family matters.
His parents stayed married, his father being a constant in his life.
“I had about 30 friends in the neighborhood, the only one that had a pops every day telling me, ‘Yo, don’t do that.’
The budding artist was looking towards the future, but couldn’t help but reflect on those who doubted him.
“They never said I wasn’t talented enough, they’ll say something like, ‘The industry is shady. You don’t need to be doing this.’ I respect their opinions, but at the end of the day, I had to follow my heart, and that’s what I wanted to do,” he said. “It was a passion. I couldn’t shake it, and I’d be hurt now if I didn’t stick with it because it’d always be on my head.”
Nearly a decade and a half and 22 Grammys later, it’s safe to say all of that hard work paid off.
Hours before he took to the Super Bowl stage, Lu posted her 14-year-old story with Lamar on X. “Proud of you!!!!” she wrote.
We all are.
