Kendrick Lamar continues his pre-Grammys campaign today by appearing on the cover of Billboard. The awards ceremony takes place a week from Monday, and Kendrick is up for 11 nominations. Two years ago, he was up for seven awards and didn’t win a single one. That “would have been upsetting to me if I’d known that was my best work,” he tells Billboard. “If I had nothing new to offer. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City is great work, but it’s not my best work. To Pimp A Butterfly is great.”
“The album just had a deeper impact than I expected,” the rapper continued. “It touched so many homes, and not just in my own community. I guess I’m just speaking words that need to be heard in these times.”
In terms of the Grammys, Kendrick won’t be denied this time. He reiterated some of his statements from a recent New York Times interview, suggesting “I want to win them all,” and adding, “It’s bigger than me. When we think about the Grammys, only Lauryn Hill and Outkast have won album of the year. This would be big for hip-hop culture at large.”
Kendrick also spoke briefly about his visit to the White House. “The way people look at me these days—that’s the same way I looked at President Obama before I met him. We tend to forget that people who’ve attained a certain position are human… No matter how high [on] the pedestal you reach, we all still like a beat.”
Read the whole story here, and watch the Grammys on February 15.
