Kendrick Lamar Talks ‘Yeezus’ At Firefly Festival

Kendrick Lamar describes his feelings on Kanye West’s Yeezus during a break at the Firefly Festival.

“It was hard for me to grasp it on the first take,” K-Dot told MTV News at the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware. “I got it, but as I kept listening throughout the week, I understood where he was going and that was him stepping out of the box again and doing what he felt.

And as an artist, we all need to take heat into that and salute that because, at the end of the day, it’s so much we can do following radio, following the politics in the business so for somebody to come back again and do what they want, it helps out new cats like myself, Cole, Drake, whoever, so salute.”

Recognizing that Kanye stretched boundaries with his sixth studio album, which will hit #1 on Billboard’s album chart, Lamar admitted he appreciates and understands the message Yeezy was trying to convey.

“My interpretation is, man, it’s crazy how you come through with a distorted beat and still tap the realm of hip-hop and put some hardcore raps on it,” Lamar said. “So I digest it, digest it and he continues to break rules.”

Stalley – The Fat Jew Interview

Stalley’s been so busy putting on for the 330 that he’s missed out on some key life experiences. Luckily, cultural slumlord The Fat Jew sat down with the Ohio rapper for an especially Intimate Conversation.

Watch the video to see Fat Jew introduce Stalley to hummus for THE FIRST TIME EVER, and also, help the rapper concoct a potential signature cocktail.

John Gourley (Lead Singer Of Portugal. The Man) – P&P Interview

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Pigeons & Planes just released an in-depth interview with John Gourley, lead singer and frontman for Portugal. The Man. The band just released their 8th album, collaborating with Danger Mouse. I’ve included a few cool snippets below, but you can read the whole write-up here.

“I have this idea, that if Wu-Tang or A$AP Rocky or Kendrick, anybody, needs a backing band, we’ll fucking do it! The band’s good, we can jam, they don’t have to practice, I don’t want any credit or any recognition. Don’t fucking announce it, if you know who it is, you know who it is. I don’t need to take the spotlight for them. I like fucking music, it’s fun for us. I’d love to do more of that sort of thing.”

“We’ve made all kinds of music, I don’t know where it’s going to go and what’s going to happen, but I feel confident that this band is going to continue.  It feels fresh and it feels new. This is my project. It’s a new band and it’s a new record and I don’t feel in any way like it’s not hitting all the points we should be right now.”

Rick Rubin Hints At A Possible ‘Yeezus’ Sequel

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Rick Rubin recently did an interview with The Daily Beast (check there for the full interview, it’s a long but interested read) and may or may not have insinuated that there might be a sequel to the current #1 album in the county, Yeezus:

How did you come to work on Yeezus?
Kanye called me. I’d just finished working at the studio for about two months on another album, and I was getting ready to go away on vacation for a couple weeks. Then he called up and said, “Can I just come play my album?” And I said, “Sure.” I always like to hear what he’s working on. So he came over to my house in Malibu. We listened. I thought I was going to hear a finished album, but actually we listened to probably three and a half hours of works in progress.

What did the album sound like at that point?
Kind of meandering, unfocused, usually without his vocals. I assumed that the album was scheduled to come out next year. So I said, “When are you thinking of finishing up?” And he said, “It’s coming out in five weeks.” Like completely confident and fine.

He wasn’t stressed.
Not at all. I said, “I have a record coming out in November that’s a lot further along than this.” He said, “Really? What are you doing for the next five days?” I said I was going to go away. Then he said, “Please help me. Would you be open to fixing it and shaping it and finishing it off?”

Did he realize how much more work it needed?
To me it seemed impossible what he was asking. I remember I wasn’t feeling that well that day, and I was thinking, Is the music making me sick? I don’t feel good about this. We ended up working probably 15 days, 16 days, long hours, no days off, 15 hours a day. I was panicked the whole time.

When he came to you with the record, did you have a sense of what needed to be done?
Initially, he thought there were going to be 16 songs on the album. But that first day, before he even asked me to work on it, I said, “Maybe you should make it more concise. Maybe this is two albums. Maybe this is just the first half.” That was one of the first breakthroughs. Kanye was like, “That’s what I came here today to hear! It could be 10 songs!”

So there might be another Yeezus in the pipeline?
Might be.