9 Interesting Takes From Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Interview

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With his highly anticipated 2025 Super Bowl halftime show looming, Kendrick Lamar recently sat down for an in-depth pre-Big Game interview.

Kendrick Lamar Fields Questions During Super Bowl Press Conference

On Thursday (Feb. 6), Kendrick Lamar sat down with Apple Music Radio's Ebro Darden and Nadeska Alexis for an exclusive interview during a press conference ahead of his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show. As K-Dot ramps up to his big moment on the grand stage this Sunday, Feb. 9, the Compton MC opened up about his road to the Super Bowl, his huge year in 2024, what fans can expect on Sunday and more. Here are the highlights from the in-depth interview.

On Processing Success

"It's just a continuum of who I am, really. I've always stayed to myself. I've always been in my own bubble, whether it's with the fam or training. How I process it all is, I just cotinue to do what I was doing 10 years ago. And that's just bettering myself, bettering my craft and not looking at the bright lights."

On Did He Ever Think He Would Perform at the Super Bowl

"The passion I have now is still the passion I had then. I think that carried on to the Super Bowl. It's all about being present. As long as I was present in the studio and present in whatever that line was or mistake was, rapping or doing hooks or choruses, if I was present in that moment, I felt that passion. I think being present and not actually foreseeing everything kept me in a grounded state of mind in order to be in big stages like this."

On Being the First Solo Rap Artist to Perform at the Super Bowl

"It makes me think about the grind of it. A lot of people don't see the story before the glory...It reminds me of the essence and the core response of rap and hip-hop and how far it can go. For me, that sh*t mean everything. Because it puts the culture on the forefront where it needs to be. And not minimized to a catchy song or verse. This is a true art form."

On His Intent in 2024

"My intent, from day one, was to always keep the nature of it as a sport. I don't care how muthaf**kas look at it as 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 like that since day one. I don't think it was a thing for this year. I think it was a continuum."

On His Headspace While Creating GNX

"I wanted to back to the forfront of just the bite and the grit of rap. Just all raps and hard a*s beats. That the basics for me. I thought about, 'Damn, what did I used to like when I was a kid?' Hards raps, good beats that's smacking. It was a great transition from Mr. Morale."

On "Not Like Us" Winning Five Grammy Awards

"I just think about the culture, really. It's always there for me first. When people talk about rap, the conversations I hear, they think it's just rap and it's not an acutal artform. 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...I love to see that it gets that type of recognition for some straigt raps. From awards to Billboards, all that. Because this is truely just as big as an artform as any other genre. And I feel accomplished to be able to do that."

On Creating His Own Label pgLang

"That's my team. It's 30 incredible individuals, five extrordinary executives, that work day-in, day-out to make sure we are doing something that will long live the culture. From a music standpoint, from a creative standpoint, fashion, film, books. Day-in, day-out of just being around like-minded individuals that have different perspectives outside of music...It challenges me and I can't wait to see what happens next."

On How He Approached His Super Bowl Set

"I love being present. It's very hard for me to live in the past. I respect the past wholeheartedly. But being in the now and just being locked in to how I feel and the energy I have now. That's the L.A. energy for me. That's something that I want to carry over to New Orleans and for the world to see...I want that energy to ooze out the television and the people in that buildilng."

On What People Should Expect From His Super Bowl Performance

"Storytelling. I think I've always been very open about storytelling thoughout my catalog and my history of music. I've always had a passion about bringing that to whatever stage I'm on."

kendrick lamar super bowl interview photo

Apple Music

Kendrick Lamar Is Coming Off a Clean Sweep at the 2025 Grammy Awards

Kendrick Lamar's halftime performance will cap off what has already become one of the most monumental weeks in hip-hop history. This past Sunday (Feb. 2), King Kenny added five Grammy Awards to his extensive trophy case. His chart-topping Drake diss track, "Not Like Us," won golden gramophones in every single category he was nominated in, which included Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, Best Music Video, Record of the Year and the coveted Song of the Year.

K-Dot's clean sweep at the 67th annual Grammy Awards marks the very first time in music history a diss record created in the heat of battle earned such honors.