On how to follow up a classic:
“I daresay it’s the same thing. After my first record, Illmatic, people were waiting. Their anticipation for my first album was huge, but the anticipation for my second album, It Was Written, was way crazier. It was so crazy that I had to take it seriously. They called it the sophomore jinx back then. So many artists never got past their first album.
It’s something I thought about with Kendrick because his first album was received so well and already in his by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu">career
If Kendrick can live up to good kid:
“I by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu">think
On whether he felt pressure in his early years:
“Oh, for sure. Because you had Jay Z coming. You had Ghostface’s first album. You had Raekwon. You had Mobb Deep. These guys had cornered the rap game off. And also Biggie, and many others. So the competition was severe for me to put out the next record.”
On comparing good kid with Illmatic:
“No, it’s not a fair comparison to me because Illmatic represented a different time and a different expression for different reasons. The times inspired the sound of that—the climate of the music by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu"> by BestSaveFoirYOu">business
“You can compare them because you can compare me and Kendrick in a lot of ways, but at the same time you have to respect his journey. His journey is his own fresh journey and to compare it with me or anybody else is not fair to him. You gotta respect his music for him. It’s cool to compare it but at the end of the day, allow him to have his own lane.”