On Thursday (February 6), Apple Music radio hosts Ebro Darben and Nadeska Alexis sat down with Kendrick Lamar for the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show press conference ahead of his performance at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show.

During their talk, Darben asked Lamar about his intent with his eventful 2024 run:

“My intent from day one was to always keep the nature of it as a sport, I don’t care how motherfuckers look at it as far as like a collaborative effort; that’s cool too, but I love when artists grit their teeth. I still watch battle raps […] This has always been the core definition of who I am, and it’s been that way since day one, so I don’t think it was a thing for this year, it was always just a continuum. What I will say about this year is that it was more from a space that I think a lot of people were putting rap to the back and you didn’t see that grit, that bite anymore.”

K-Dot spoke about what was going through his head after winning five Grammy Awards for “Not Like Us”:

“I just think about the culture, really. It’s always that for me first. When people talk about Rap – the conversations I hear – they think it's just Rap and it's not an actual art form. So when you put records like that at the forefront, it reminds people that this is more than just something that came 50 years ago, and they forget that it’s even been here 50 years, right?, and they kind of belittle it, so I love to see that it gets that type of recognition for just straight raps, from awards to the billboards. This is truly just as a big as an art form and a genre as any other genre. I feel accomplished to be able to do that, whether somebody else comes behind me and do it again, and quadruple it, I’d love to see it. If that was my purpose to do that, then that’s exactly what it was for that particular moment.”

Nadeska wanted to know how he’s been processing and feeling all the success behind the scenes:

“I want to look at it like, a continuum of who I am, really, I’ve always stayed to myself, always been in my own bubble, whether it’s with the fam or whether it’s training [...] I continue to do what I did 10 years ago: bettering myself, bettering the craft and not look at it as bright lights. It may sound cliché, but it always worked for me, even when I was young, being in the forefront of presentations, stuff like that, it’s like, I gotta look at myself in the mirror rather than looking at the crowd, fame, or attention.”

On what he felt and thought about being the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the Halftime Show, the 22-time Grammy winner said the following:

“It made me think about the grind of it, a lot of people don’t see the story before the glory, shuffling out your mixtapes, going to neighbourhoods, parties, and performing here on hole in the wall spots, it reminds me of the essence and the core response of rap and hip-hop and how far it can go so, for me that shit mean everything, because it puts the culture to the forefront where it needs to be, and not minimized to just a catchy song or verse, this is a true artform. So to represent them on this type of stage, is like everything that I've worked for and everything that I believe in as far as the culture, I live and die by it. This shit changed my whole family's live so I don't take it for granted at all as far as the art form.”

Darben brought up the “classic timeless energy” that Lamar has on his latest album GNX and how it reminds him of Public Enemy and Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted level of energy:

“Speaking on the energy, it’s like, my cousins were playing DJ Quick and Dre, so I always had that DNA, you heard that DNA a little bit on 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' but I wanted to tell my story first. Fast forward to 'GNX', I felt it was just the perfect time because not only the energy was lost, but it was the energy that was bubbling inside me as well. I wanted to go back to the forefront of just the bite and the grit of raps, it was all just raps and hard ass beats. That’s like the basics for me, I thought about 'Damn, what I used to like as a kid?' Hard raps, good beats, the smackin', right?”

He also continued talking about the headspace between his 2022 album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and his most recent one:

“That was my most intimate. I wanted to go inside of my own psyche and my own personal withdrawals and see how it connects with the public and who can relate. During this time around I think it was necessary coming out of the cocoon and feeling like 'Okay, I arrive now, I can spread my wings and show every state of who I am as far as Kendrick Lamar’.”

The "tv off" rapper shared some thoughts of inspiration as well to the audience, as Young Dylan asked him about how could kids stay authentic while pursuing their path, “They say the number one thing people feel in the room over love and over fear is being authentic [...] You have to believe in yourself and have to know that there is only one you," he shared.

You can watch the full interview below:

On Sunday (February 9), Lamar will take the stage at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans to headline the third Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show. He won’t be the sole performer, as SZA has been confirmed as a guest artist; she recently released a deluxe edition of her 2022 album SOS, titled LANA.

On February 2, the Compton, California native swept the 2025 Grammy Awards with the global hit song “Not Like Us”, earning all five of his nominations at the 67th annual awards.

SZA is set to go on a co-headlining tour alongside Kendrick Lamar. The Grand National Tour kicks off April next year in Minneapolis, including various stops in Toronto before wrapping up on 18 June in Washington D.C.

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