Kendrick Lamar Discusses Blood, Crip Presence On "i" Cover Art

Kendrick Lamar says that he had a specific objective with the cover art for his
“i” single .
“Where I’m from, there’s a lot of gang culture and things like that, so instead
of throwing on up gang signs, which we used to, I put a Blood and I put a Crip
together and we’re throwing up hearts,” Kendrick Lamar says during an
interview with AMP Radio . "Sparking the idea of some type of change through
music or through me because I go back to the city now and people give me the
honor and respect that, you know, this kid can change a little bit something
different that’s been going on in the community.”
Lamar also says that he is making a point to minimize outside musical
influences while working on his forthcoming album.
“When I go into creating an album or any type of song, I usually cut off
everything from the radio because you can easily be influenced from songs
that you like, songs that you may not like,” Lamar says. "So I said, ‘I’m gonna
go in the studio and I’m going to do what I feel organically without being
confined to industry standards or what people assume that I should do,’ because
at the end of the day, man, I’m an artist and I would hate to be stagnant.”
Yesterday (September 23), Kendrick Lamar discussed his relationship with
Drake and J. Cole and blamed the media for trying to pit him against those he
named on “Control.”
“Same place,” said Kendrick when asked where he’s at with J. Cole and Drake
during an interview on Los Angeles radio station Power 106's Big Boy’s
Neighborhood. “It’s all love. From the moment I did the verse to after the
verse. I think Hip Hop is a sport, so you gonna have these little spits and spats.
And it’s all good because personally I respect these dudes as people. You know
what I mean? Outside of that it’s really nothing. I respect their music, for sure.
I respect them as individuals and creators. And I think what the media tried to
do is insane because they take these black, young brothers and really try to
clash it and make—Bump heads. And that’s not right. That’s how I look at it. I
think it’s not right. And I think that’s why it’s great to really show people how
we support one another. Because Hip Hop was something that wasn’t supposed
to be here for this long.”