Australian artists on the impact and influence of Kendrick Lamar

Critically revered and immensely popular, Kendrick Lamar is one of the most impactful artists of his generation.

Long before he would change and elevate music culture, before he was the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was just a young buck from Compton, peddling mixtapes in the beating heart of L.A.'s rap scene.

He could've ended up another victim of the violent environment of his youth. Jailed, or worse, just another of the 'Dead Homies' that haunt his art. It's that self-awareness that makes Kendrick's music so powerful.

A gifted wordsmith and engrossing storyteller who's seen, firsthand, the ugly side of humanity and the American Dream, he fearlessly taps hard truths into records that can rattle trunks as much as minds.

K.Dot, Kung-Fu Kenny, King Kendrick, Oklama – he's a man of many names that is not only a devotee of hip hop culture but a figure who's arguably done more to shape it than most of his contemporaries.

Get people talking about Kendrick Lamar and you very quickly get beyond the basics and into deeper insights into what makes him stand out even among the greats.

We asked some Australian artists – Tasman Keith, JK-47, Tkay Maidza, Ziggy Ramo, B Wise– about the impact, influence, and legacy of Kendrick Lamar.

I first heard Kendrick Lamar…

Tkay Maidza: The first time I discovered Kendrick Lamar was on tumblr [and] I heard 'Blow My High', which is on [2011 mixtape] Section.80. I was probably 15 or 16 and was like 'What the hell is this!?'

I was blown away. It was just something I hadn't heard before. Then I dived deeper and listened to that whole album on repeat. I was obsessed with his flows and his storytelling. I felt he had a different perspective to a lot of rappers around then. 

Tasman Keith: In Year 11 or 12, and it would've been through an old hip hop site that I used to download illegally from in high school [chuckles]. I think it was 'Poetic Justice', that was the first one that came across to me that led me to check out his other joints.

B Wise: Going back to 2010, when I was at Uni, I remember I used to have this beat up Lancer I would drive around and the sound system was cranking. This burnt CD was left in my car, I'm not even sure who left it there – put it in, and it was a vibe. I kept playing it, I'd never heard of the artist at the time and I remember there was a song on there called 'Opposites Attract' and turns out the album itself was [2010 mixtape] Overly Dedicated.

I knew it was this guy called Kendrick Lamar and I kept listening and listening to it. But it didn't actually connect for me until a year later. I was on WorldStarHipHop.com or something and saw Kendrick Lamar's 'A.D.H.D.'. I watched the video because I'd never put a face to the artist's music yet. And then it all just became full circle and I was onboard from then on.

Ziggy Ramo: The first time I heard Kendrick was on Drake's 2011 album Take Care [the track 'Buried Alive Interlude']. It was so jarring – this voice that isn't Drake comes on and steals the show. He's telling the story of meeting Drake for the first time ... It's almost like he's competing with Drake on his own album.

Across their careers they've obviously really pushed and fuelled each other because within the fabric of hip hop is this drive to be the best you can be. It was a really bold thing of Drake to give Kendrick that platform at that time.  

JK-47: First time I heard Kendrick was in 2013 — his feature on A$AP Rocky's track 'F**kn' Problems'. I didn't take to him straight away. My relationship with his music developed over time… I had to mature to even get what he was saying because I was young. I was looking for something else, just my ear wasn't that tuned to what he was talking about.

The words – I always thought that if you're not ready and looking to hear it, that soil isn't ready to take that seed, it's not going to hit like it's supposed to. It took a bit of time of churning the soil and getting ready to hear that yarn, to even be able to hear the message.

But now listening to him, I listen to his albums front to back and I use what he says in the songs. I listen to his story and relate to how real he is. His [latest] album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers? This is hectic stuff, heavy things he's tackling.

His finest work?

B Wise: For me personally, it would be 'Sing About Me (Dying of Thirst)' from [2012 major label debut] good kid m.A.A.d city. That's my favourite Kendrick record, still gets me in the feels to this day.

There's actually two key moments that stick out to me. The first one was probably around that good kid period, when Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and The Game were all at a Kendrick concert, and they stopped the music. Then Snoop did this whole speech, basically handed the West Coast torch to Kendrick Lamar – he was in tears.

I grew up on West Coast music even more so than East Coast so I could understand how important that moment is.

The second moment? On To Pimp A Butterfly, end of the last song 'Mortal Man', when 2Pac came in with that lost interview and it sounded like him and Kendrick were going back and forth in conversation. That gave me goosebumps the first moment I heard it.

I thought I was someone who'd heard and seen every 2Pac interview known to man, then to hear that – some lost Swedish interview – and him and Kendrick. That really tied the dots to really show how important this man was, not just to hip hop culture but to the West Coast rap scene and everything else.

JK: He says in his song 'Complexion': 'complexion don't mean a thing'. We all worry about the colour – black, white, this, that – but we all should be saying, this doesn't mean a thing. Gang colours or skin colour? Fuck it all. It doesn't mean anything, we're all one here.

The way he shines the mirror on himself makes everyone look. But only by questioning himself and only by bringing out those things in himself does he touch everyone and make those questions arise in everyone's minds about certain things.

When I listen to his music I go pretty deep within myself and question a lot of stuff. There's no interference of an agenda, he's just being real, even if it's a problem. It makes you think... There's a deeper meaning to it. So I guess that's why I can listen to him a lot and I don't get tired of it that easy. It sticks with me.

Tasman: To Pimp A Butterfly for sure. That was crazy. Just the joints on there, one of the songs I've always rocked with is 'The Blacker The Berry' and the way he brings it back around to pointing it back at himself in the end.

That track, 'Mortal Man' --  the performance on The Late Show. There's so many moments he did around that ground-breaking era of To Pimp A Butterfly [and] made the album that just hadn't been done before and executed it incredibly.

I feel like the 2012-to-2016-Kendrick, that whole moment, is probably for me his finest. He keeps topping it for sure but there's some nostalgia in that and the magic in what he was doing then that is always going to be around.

Ziggy: Personally, what he did on 'The Heart Part 5'. It's probably recency bias, but I think in music today it's harder to create moments because we've been taught to have such short attention spans; making 15-second things for TikTok.

With Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, and with 'The Heart Part 5' introducing that, it was a really big reminder of artists making art that is meaningful and it transcends what it the supposable trend.

I love his big, artistic swings. It’s easier and easier to justify not doing that today in how we’re consuming and distributing music. But it’s always so inspiring when an artist does just go for it.

Tkay: There's this song called 'Cartoons & Cereal' featuring Gunplay — it's not even on Spotify. It sounds like a whole story about his life in Compton and in the streets. He goes off. I don't think he has replicated that, even though he doesn't' really replicate himself.

Another one would be 'Money Trees', that's unforgettable. I love everything – the atmosphere, the flow. I think that was also one of the first songs I heard where I was like, you can mosh to it and you could go to sleep to it.

Tasman: Oh, and also the 'Control' verse. When he dissed every other rapper? [laughs] That's got to be one of his finest moments as well because I remember how much of an uproar that sent the hip hop world into.

What makes him so great?

B Wise: His love for the craft first, the culture of hip hop and the love for rapping. His ability to actually say something that cuts through to the everyday listener. He's found a way to cut through the mainstream [and] the noise. It seems organic – he's not playing the hit game. He's staying true and authentic to himself and the listeners. 

Tasman: He's been able to bring conscious hip hop into the mainstream and show that there's a way that you can do both and have that story be told and not have to sacrifice integrity. To tell a story [and] have a lot of audience really listen to it... That's a very unique thing to be able to do and not many artists can do that.

Ziggy: I think it's just a beacon of hope in that it is possible to make meaningful art and also gain commercial success. I think that's such a difficult balance and there's so few artists that walk that line. But he's done that so well, he's never compromised his artistic integrity but just through consistency and undeniable craftsmanship he's made something that seemingly shouldn't be really popular.

B-Wise: The other thing that takes him to the next level, after you create that music experience for the listener, then you're able to create a new life for it with the live show. His live shows have always managed to stand out next to other rappers.

Obviously the bigger the shows got, the bigger the budgets became but he was always in. From the beginning, his early shows, I've always seen effort and his strive to be better. Whereas unfortunately in the rap space, 90 per cent of artists out here aren't really putting on live shows.

They're out doing their thing, get the bag, and they're off. But you're seeing the effort and the time that's being put into each song, how to create it as a live moment. That really sets him apart.

Tkay: You can tell he takes his time, which is also the biggest battle between mainstream rap and those kinds of artists that release every four years. It's telling of: you can take your time and come back and as long as it's of a certain standard that's excellent, it's always going to work. 

People always appreciate when Kendrick comes back. Because he leaves, learns his lessons in life, then comes back and everyone's like 'Oh my gosh, that's exactly what I was going through as well' – in some capacity.

Ziggy: Kendrick isn't someone you get to see his everyday life, but you don't need to because each album he brings you into his world. For me, as someone in my own life who has gone through a lot of therapy, hearing the way he encapsulated it in his latest record [Mr. Morale...] is stunning. 

It's getting to watch an artist grow. And it’s such clear chapters with each Kendrick album. It feels like a privilege to be able to go into each chapter with him.

Tasman: On a rap level? Man, you can tell he is, of course, a lover and a student of hip hop because you hear some stuff he does where it's like, 'Ah, that sounds like Eminem. That sounds like André 3000 [of Outkast].'

Just the technical ability to be able to do different rhyme schemes within sentences [or] whatever it may be… To be able to do that but still be able to bring the message through clearly and not just saying anything to make it rhyme? Incredible.

Ziggy: There's a thing in recording called vocal comping. Basically, you can record and then punch in and record [vocals again and again]. It can essentially make it sound where you never take a breath but it's really hard to make it feel natural.

On [Section.80 track] 'Rigamortus', he raps for like a minute straight on a verse but mimics the sensation of running out of breath. But he sustains it way past the point of where it's possible he hasn't breathed. It's such a mindfuck but you're right on the edge of your seat because he really sells [it].

It creates this energy within the performance… There's a real craft to the way he approaches it where it is about capturing not perfection but a really captivating performance.

Kendrick isn't necessarily the greatest singer but he is the greatest vocalist in terms of how he really uses his voice as an instrument. His cadence and approach, the manipulation and inflection, he gets into different pockets or is super-pitched.

There'll be times when he does a storytelling record, you can hear he'll go into his head voice so he sounds five years younger. Things like that. He thinks about his delivery so conceptually. It's not something the everyday listener will [pick up on] but it just adds to the experience.

He's been crafting that over the years and been on the forefront of that. It's had such a big influence on a younger generation, someone like JID, and bled into being something a lot of artists do and use.

JK: The way he goes into himself, I admire his honesty. He's not afraid to say whatever's going to fulfil his thing when he's in the studio. I feel that, because it's a lot of pressure when you're in the studio… Which way are you going to go? He goes with his compass and he hits right every time.

You gotta be staying true all the time to be hitting like that every time. You've got to make sure your mind and your heart are in the right place because the dollars start flying around and you're not doing it for that. You're doing it for something much, much greater. You have to be otherwise that might corrupt, switch and sway you, as we've seen.

When Kendrick comes through, you hear strength and you hear love. He's a normal person. He's not even perfect… [On 'Savior', Kendrick says he] can't be that saviour. He's flawed and that's why you love him.

How does he inspire you?

Tkay: I'm inspired by him in a 360 way. I think he's not just a rapper, he's an artist, a visual artist. He tells a story. I feel like he's always been honest with who he is and never really succumbing to a trend.

He shows that he can be a part of a trend but he makes it his own. For me that's really important because I often have this in-between feeling of 'I should do what everyone's doing but in my own way' and 'It's okay if it's not exactly like that'. You have your own lane if you keep building to a solid standard. And I think that's what he does. You can tell he's not competing with anyone but himself.

Ziggy: When you’re chasing relevancy and you’re making music to be relevant, it’ll come and go with the trend because it won’t necessarily be relevant in years to come. But Kendrick has been so staunch in making exactly what he wants to make.

I never really listen to a Kendrick song and feel like he did it so he could get onto a certain playlist. It's not that he doesn't have a radio song – 'HUMBLE.' was such a big hit but it's something he wanted to make not that he needed to make a radio song.

That's such a big lesson to all artists, of just having conviction in your art and staying the course. It’s been admirable to hear him forging his own path and get there while remaining himself.

For me, I’ve tried to jack that blueprint..  I really respect with someone like Kendrick, they put their life’s work into their art and then just let that speak for itself. There’s something that becomes so timeless about that.

B Wise: He's influenced me immensely because of seeing the growth. If you go watch the early video clips you're like 'okay, this is very DIY' to where you see him now. For me, what I took away from that, what he does and what I try to do, is really just be an artist of life. Create from experience and just be true to yourself and speak for [others].

What I tried to early in my career was try to speak for those who might not be able to speak for themselves. If I've been blessed with an ability to create music and art to tell my story and tell theirs through it at the same time.

I feel Kendrick was one that really did that and represented for many within his region, and also for the culture and for Black people, for hip hop... I could write a book on what he's done but I've taken so much influence from that man for sure.

JK: He's inspired me conceptually. I drew a lot of inspiration from To Pimp A Butterfly for the album that I got coming out… Because I wanted to get deep the way he does, but in my world and in my way. It has to be me.

If I'm going to be anything like the people that inspire me then I've got to be myself totally. That's something that he's really showed me too, because he's so authentic. He dives so much into himself that he makes other people dive into their self.

Tasman: Am I inspired by him? Man, massively. Sometimes too much! [Laughs] In the earlier days. I would rap over Lil' Wayne beats and try and sound like him or try and tell stories.

The way he inspired me, and still continues to do so, is how he's able to tell the story of where he's from through a different light. And be able to bring you in to the trials and tribulations of growing up where he grew up.

How he represents community

Tasman: When good kid, m.A.A.d city dropped, I was living in Bowraville at the time. But I found a lot of relation to certain stories in there… I could find the common ground in for myself as an Indigenous man. And just fell in love with it.

Bowraville is a small town, a town where a lot of shit goes down. A a lot of death, and I feel like that's something Kendrick has spoken about a lot. And so, the way he's been able to articulate the story but still make it relatable to anyone that's listening – it doesn't matter if they're in Compton, in Bowraville, in wherever – you can listen to his music and find the common ground.

B Wise: Growing up in South West Sydney there was a lot going on. Good kid m.A.A.d. city – that title alone spoke to me a lot. I could identify with that. I had a lot of friends, cousins, family that had different lifestyles and what not I was always just trying to be that kid in the middle and get through it and get by amongst the chaos.

If I try to do something productive in either sports or art, and I would be able to have a lot of friends that would be in music videos and come to the studio or whatever and hear our stories and what we went through. Just to be able to vocalise it and put that into the world and feel the love in the room.

I know that's what Kendrick was doing at the time and still continues to do to this day.

JK-47: If I'm going to be the type of artist that can do what Kendrick does, I have to know my surroundings, my environment, and be connected. Kendrick's connected — he knows his surroundings, he knows his people in a way that he can speak on the record in such a way that shows the good and the bad because he knows the ins and outs.

He's a wise man from a young age, and I connect with that too. I feel like I've always been one of the wise amongst the crew because that's what you try and do, you lead. Most of the time you can't make people do something [but] if you're that role model in the community, which he is and I am in my world, you always try.

I think that's an important thing for me to understand. More than anything I need to be taking in a lot more than I give out. As in mentally, and as in knowledge-wise, observation. Just looking at where I'm at and the country I'm in … who I'm being for the people around me, right now.

I have to use this drive that he gives me 'I wanna be doing what he's doing, I wanna be that guy but in my community'. If I got any hopes of tending to that inspiration that he gives me, making something out of that. I need to figure out how these things apply to me and how I can apply them in my own life. It's a very powerful thing.

What will Kendrick Lamar's legacy be?

Tkay: He'll definitely be [regarded as] one of the greatest rappers. I think he has surpassed a lot of people. I think he'll be almost like another André 3000 but he has the numbers to fit in with Drake and Lil' Wayne. I feel like he's surpassed 2Pac and Biggie Smalls – everyone's gonna hate me! [Laughs]

I think he's one of those all-rounder pioneers and if you think about that in a sport sense, the best athletes, they are fast, they're fit, they're strong. They last a long time and I think Kendrick ticks all those boxes. He's going to last for decades and I think the quality won't ever dip either. That's what he'll do.

It's diverse and its timeless. I feel like that's the best music. And thank you to Kendrick... He's changed music. 

JK: I think they'll say he embodied the true meaning of an artist. He represents greatness -- through his work I can hear the hard work. I can hear the dedication that it took.

I think he's definitely left the game [better]. He's kind of infiltrated the industry and made it into something else and that's the beautiful thing – when music with a message gets into the mainstream and gets out there.

He picked up from where a lot of the greats had to make mistakes, that's why he pays homage and pays dues, gives his praises to the OGs, because we had to watch these fellas and how they moved and, with respect, move different.

Not make the same mistakes and improve so in the future we are just better, we evolve. He's living proof of that, how we can evolve as people. 

Tasman: The greatest, bro! I feel like as a genre, rap is very much competitive. I don't know if it's necessarily held like that in other music genres… But in rap music and hip hop? It's like 'Top 5 Rapper? Greatest Of All Time?' That's very much the conversation.

I think that if Kendrick's not #1 for a majority of people, he's easily in that Top 5.

Ziggy: We're not really the ones to decide his legacy, I think that's for people who are going to interact with it for the generations to come. But I think he'll be remembered. That in itself is a big feat.

There's so many of us here doing our best in whatever field it is, and he's going to be an artist whose work is remembered, celebrated, studied, enjoyed. That's just a testament to the fact he's created timeless art.

B Wise: One of the greats, for sure. Not just in rap but just in music, period. I don't think you can call it a genre now, it's art. What he's created and what he's done and continues to do is a form of art. The accolades and albums speak for themselves. He's going to up there as one of the greats, 100 per cent.

And I feel like Kendrick has a lot more to offer. You see what's happening between him and [his cousin] Baby Keem now that's revitalised the energy, the sound and what he's doing. I think there's another decade of hits, bro!

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