The Strivers Row

Erykah Badu Interviews Kendrick Lamar

BADU:

How do you choose chicks from backstage?

LAMAR:

How do I choose chicks from backstage?

BADU:

Yeah, what is the protocol?

LAMAR:

I try not to. [laughs] I’m too scared. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m probably the most scared person when it comes to that because I’m so caught up in the act of sex, of something going crazy, going out of my control. I’m too paranoid.

BADU:

[laughs] So you just pass?

LAMAR:

I’ve got to because I’ve seen a situation where it got totally out of hand, where something seemed so innocent, and now this person has got allegations on them. It spooked me. This was before my career really started, though—before any “Kendrick Lamar.” And that right there? It changed my whole perception about certain things. I’ll always keep that in the back of my head.

BADU:

So who is your asshole-checker?

LAMAR:

Who is my what?

BADU:

Your asshole-checker—the person in your crew or your family who let’s you know if you’re being a asshole.

LAMAR:

I have two, actually. [both laugh] But the main one is a friend of mine—a lady friend who has known me since high school. She has always been someone, since day one, who has said something whenever I’m an asshole, or also if I’m doin’ something positive—but more so when I’m out of my element.

BADU:

What’s your favorite cereal?

LAMAR:

Fruity Pebbles. When people ask for my rider, they think I’m crazy: Fruity Pebbles, baked chicken, bottle of Hennessy, and some Polo socks.

BADU:

What do you, as a man, envy about what it means to be a woman?

LAMAR:

There’s just a certain knowledge instilled in a woman. There are these things that women have that men just can’t grasp: the understanding of love; the understanding of being; having a certain type of care in your heart and knowing when to be compassionate; knowing how to be a confidante…

BADU:

That’s a good perspective. Something I envy that men have is that ability to grow a goatee. I think that’d be really hot on me.