Kendrick Lamar speaks to press ahead of his upcoming halftime performance for Super Bowl LIX.
Lamar discusses how he’s expressed wanting to bring his Los Angeles flare to the New Orleans stage, but lots of his roots derive from the South.
“Growing up, all my grandparents were from Louisiana, Texas, Chicago; period,” Kendrick Lamar said. “So our dialect and how we talk, it gauges from the South. Like saying ‘I’m finna go to the store,’ that’s some South [stuff].”
Lamar also discusses the struggle of crafting a 13 minute half-time performance as his last tour runtime was an hour and a half on the ‘Big Steppers’ tour in 2022.
“For me, I love being present,” Lamar said. “It’s very hard for me to live in the past. I respect the past wholeheartedly, but being in the now, just locked in to how I feel and the energy I have now; that’s the ‘L.A. energy’ for me that I want to carry over for New Orleans and for the world to see.
Lamar also talks about the shock factor performing at the Super Bowl has given not only him, but his friend and colleague SZA.
“We haven’t had a chance to crash out because everything is moving fast as far as productions and rehearsals,” Lamar said. “We speak, but we haven’t really gotten the chance to settle into the moment.”
Lamar closes the conference by addressing some younger fans in the audience, answering the question of how to stay authentic while pursuing a career.
“You have to believe in yourself and know that there’s only one you,” Lamar said. “You’re a miracle. I wake up every day and I’m like ‘This [stuff] is crazy. Not crazy from a standpoint of being a celebrity; crazy just life, just wild.”
“Know that you are in this existence and in this world as one individual; it’s only you,” Lamar said. “ You have to carry that authentic nature of allowing yourself to say ‘This is who I am. This is how people see me.’ [That’s] going to inspire people to have truth because what comes out of that is true love.”
Lamar and SZA are set to perform during halftime at Super Bowl LIX on Sunday Feb. 9.
