- "Rolling Stone" magazine called our next guest
"The greatest rapper of his generation,"
but he is so much more than that.
He is an artist, a poet, a lyrical genius,
and the state of California recently honored him
for being a positive icon.
In a very rare television appearance,
please welcome the incredible
Kendrick Lamar.
[cheers and applause]
[Keyboard music begins]
- Life is full of up and downs,
Twists and turns,
But somehow we keep on stepping.
[rapping] If these walls could talk,
They'd tell me to swim good
No boat, I float better than he would
No life jacket, I'm not the God of Nazareth
But your flood can be misunderstood
Walls telling me they full of pain, resentment
Need someone to live in them just to relieve tension
Me? I'm just a tenant
Landlord said these walls vacant more than a minute
These walls are vulnerable, exclamation
Interior pink, color coordinated
I interrogated, every nook and cranny
I mean, it's still amazing-- before, they couldn't stand me
These walls want to cry tears
These walls happier when I'm here
These walls never could hold up
Every time I come around demolition might crush
(women singing) If these walls could talk
- Step, step.
(man singing) I can feel your reign when it cries
Gold lives inside of you
- Step. - If these walls could talk
- I love it when I'm in it I love it when I'm in it
Ah-ah.
[rapping] - If these walls could talk
They'd tell me to go deep
Yelling at me continuously, I can see
Your defense mechanism is my decision
Knock these walls down, that's my religion
Walls feeling like they ready to close in
I suffocate, then catch my second wind
I resonate in these walls
I don't know how long I can wait in these walls
I've been on these streets too long
Looking at you from the outside in
They sing the same old song
About how they walls always the cleanest
I beg to differ, I'd rather miss them
I'd rather call I'd rather diss them
I'd rather fall on you, put your wall up
Cause when I come around, demolition gon' crush
- If these walls could talk
- Uh.
- I can feel your reign when it cries,
- Shot down, step. - Gold lives inside of you
- Step - If these walls could talk
- Step
- I love it when I'm in it - Toe, step.
- I love it when I'm in it - [indistinct], step.
Uh.
And reality is,
Sometimes through these ups and downs
You gotta know when to lead or to follow.
Keep stepping.
Shot down.
If your walls could talk, they'd tell you it's too late
Your destiny, accepted your fate
Burn accessories and stash them where they are
Take the recipe, the Bible and God
Wall telling you that commissary is low
Race wars happening, no calling CO
No calling your homie to save you
Homies to say you're reputable, not acceptable
Your behavior is Sammy Da Bull like
A killer that turned snitch
Walls is telling me you, You pray for appeals,
Hoping the warden will afford them
- That sentence so important
- Wall telling you to listen to "Sing About Me"
Retaliation is strong, you even dream about me
Killed my homeboy and God spared your life
Dumb criminal got indicted the same night
So when you play this song, rewind the first verse
About me abusing my power so you can hurt
About me and her in the shower whenever she horny
About me and her in the after hours of the morning
About her baby daddy that's currently serving life
How she think about you until we meet up at night
About the only girl that cared about you when you asked her
And how she messing with a famous rapper
Walls could talk - If these walls could talk
- Hey, yeah.
[singing] I can feel your reign when it cries.
Gold lives inside of you.
Yeah. Hey!
I love it when I'm in it
[music continues]
Yes.
[cheers and applause]
- Let her up! [laughs]
[cheers and applause]
I mean-- Okay.
First of all, I adore you. - Appreciate it.
- You're brilliant. Thank you for being here.
I know it's a-- It's an honor to have you here.
And you just won the Grammy for the song "I."
- Yes. - That I love to dance to.
Congratulations on that. - Yes, thank you.
[cheers and applause] Congratulations.
So-- [cheers and applause]
[cheers and applause]
What does that mean--when you're honored as a positive icon,
what does that mean to you?
- It means everything to me, because I know
it's a lot of kids in my neighborhood,
that's watching TV and saying, "You know what?
"I want to be a positive influence
just like Kendrick Lamar,"
or whoever's out there doing something for the good
of the culture and for music, so it's everything.
- Yeah. It really is amazing
that you are from Compton, right?
- Yeah, definitely. - From Compton,
and you are so inspirational to so many people, everywhere,
but especially there, like you said.
- Yeah. - That it is posit--
It's possible, and-- more than possible,
to get out in a very safe, sober way.
- Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I'm playing it for my parents, you know.
They put something in my heart to do something more
than what I was raised around and taking, you know,
all my influence, whether negative or positive,
and doing it in the right way.
- Yeah, you're doing it in the right way,
and you're just a brilliant man.
I was honored also that you challenged me
to the Ice Bucket Challenge.
- Yep. [laughs]
- It was, like, Samuel Jackson, and Serena and me?
- Yep. You actually remember.
I was waiting. - Of course! I did it.
I did it. I was glad that you--
And how did you end up in the "Bad Blood" video
with Taylor Swift?
- Oh, man, she reached out, you know.
Always been a fan of hers, and she was a fan of my music,
and she reached out, man, and we got it done.
- Cool video. - Yeah, thank you.
- Very cool. All right.
I'm a--just a huge fan, and I said there's--
we have dancing, we have a guy painting,
There's so much going on, I don't know where to look.
- We got that for you, too, matter of fact.
- I was going to buy it, but if you want to give it to me,
I'll take it for free. That's brilliant.
- Bring it over. - Blue, right?
- Yeah. - Let me check it out.
- Blue, thank you so much.
- You're welcome. [cheers and applause]
- Oh, my gosh. [cheers and applause]
[cheers and applause]
- You gonna sign this for me? - Oh yeah, definitely.
- All right, sign that for me. Thank you so much.
The name of the CD is "To Pimp a Butterfly."
Everyone in the audience, you're going home with a copy.
Thank you so much. [cheers and applause]
[cheers and applause]