Remember that time when Kendrick Lamar refused an award from GQ?
Radiofacts: GQ Magazine recently featured rapper Kendrick Lamar on the cover obviously aware of his quantum leap in celebrity because of his recent verse on “Control.” The magazine dressed Lamar up and put him on the cover then insulted him as well as all of hip hop music culture with a reporter for the magazine saying he was surprised at how “disciplined” Lamar and his team are as if Lamar needed a leash while being photographed. He made an even greater insult by saying… “Kendrick doesn’t smoke weed or drink booze. In the time I spent with him, I never witnessed anyone roll even the thinnest spider leg of a jay (joint), nor did I see Kendrick so much as glance at the many, many girls around him.” The reporter was trying to sound like he had his ear to the street instead of his foot in his mouth.
Lamar and executives at his label, Top Dawg Entertainment, did not take the observation as a “compliment.” Indeed, it was an insult with racial overtones. Had they had any black writers in the editorial department for this feature, they would have been warned to cut that part out of the story. As a result, Lamar refused to attend the GQ Men of the Year party and pick up his top rapper honor last week. Other sources covering the mishap state GQ is miffed by Lamar’s response as if to say ‘what’s the problem?’ KUDOS to Kendrick and his team for taking a stand. Unfortunately, we are not confident many other rappers would have done the same thing as Lamar.
GQ’s Editor Jim Nelson Responded:
“Kendrick Lamar is one of the most talented new musicians to arrive on the scene in years. That’s the reason we chose to celebrate him, wrote an incredibly positive article declaring him the next King of Rap, and gave him our highest honor: putting him on the cover of our Men of the Year issue. I’m not sure how you can spin that into a bad thing, and I encourage anyone interested to read the story and see for themselves. We were mystified and sorely disappointed by Top Dawg’s decision to pull him at the last minute from the performance he had promised to give. The real shame is that people were deprived of the joy of seeing Kendrick perform live. I’m still a huge fan.”
Honestly my first inclination when I read the article was that they were making those points because he is in the music industry, not because he is black. Rock/rap/anything stars, especially young ones, have a tendency to party hard, and they cultivate that image (Kendrick included, he talks a lot about it!). It was probably refreshing to see a young musician come in and act like a pro, take his work very seriously and show that he is above getting caught up in that scene.
It is easy to bring race into a lot of things. I love Kendrick and it’s too bad he felt that they were marginalizing him, but I gotta say the thoughts of ‘racism’ never crossed my mind on this one….
Its my cousin’s fault!!!
I’ve been a gq and still a gq fan for many moons. After this stand up i can truly say that Kendrick and i as fan. Are completely and utterly disappointed in those undertones. i respect u as a fan of his work but gq u have to stick to the cultural fashion sense and not give the opinions of the TYPICAL STEREOTYPES that are used against the average rap entertainer does. I get u didn’t mean no harm in this situation and I’m trusting the fact that the swagger u been used by Jay-Z has set many undertones before. But the difference between Jay-Z and Kendrick is that Jay-Z isn’t too political as Kendrick far his mindset of his creativity. So some things u just can’t say to any and everyone. I commend you for acknowledging what type of person he is. But u could have word it differently far as your point of view and i think he wouldn’t got so sensitive over it how u used and articulate professionally. In all honesty i don’t think what u said were bad but it can be taking out of content as a stereotypical lifestyle of a “rapper”. We don’t need a guilt gift of award to
Make him feel better after all. I hope it’s a life lesson for u to watch your mouth. Respect to u and your fashion sense but keep og. It make u look like u were trying to hard. To be black and there for u have this as a total mess of an interview. I’m a fan of both of u guys work but in a sense over innocents u were wrong bruh.