George Clinton is lauding Kendrick Lamar’s songwriting.
Speaking with the New York Times Magazine for the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, the Parliament/Funkadelic founder paid tribute to Lamar.
“I’ll put it like this: He, along with Motown, Sly Stone, the Beatles — that kind of institution is going to last,” Clinton said. “There are a lot of slick writers out here nowadays with lyrics and things, but he writes with soul.”
“He’s a young kid, but when I met him, he sounded my age,” Clinton added. “And he’s like a psychiatrist on record — he talks about [expletive] that most people are afraid to talk about. He’s at that point where he can move the conversation. Nobody will talk about these topics, and he talks about them so matter-of-factly that you don’t even think. You can’t say that.”
Clinton went on to say that Lamar remains relevant among the youth.
“Kids today, they want their new artist. They don’t want their older brother or sister’s artist or their mother and father’s. Kids don’t like you after a few years,” he said. “When you can go past that and have the next generation after that still talking about you, you’re doing something.”
Clinton also said that Lamar’s class album, 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly, was “like one song to me.”
“It was like Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On.’ And he’s starting all over each time he puts an album out — he’s like a brand-new kid,” he said.
Clinton has firsthand experience watching Lamar work. They collaborated on “Wesley’s Theory,” the opening track on To Pimp a Butterfly. Also, Lamar appears on the remix single “Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?” by Parliament.
At the Grammys in February, Lamar set a record by becoming the most-awarded rapper in history with 27 wins. He surpassed Jay-Z’s previous record of 25 winning awards for Best Rap Album and Record of the Year.