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Erykah Badu Interviews Kendrick Lamar

  • BADU:

    How do you choose chicks from backstage?

  • LAMAR:

    How do I choose chicks from backstage?

  • BADU:

    Yeah, what is the protocol?

  • LAMAR:

    I try not to. [laughs] I’m too scared. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m probably the most scared person when it comes to that because I’m so caught up in the act of sex, of something going crazy, going out of my control. I’m too paranoid.

  • BADU:

    [laughs] So you just pass?

  • LAMAR:

    I’ve got to because I’ve seen a situation where it got totally out of hand, where something seemed so innocent, and now this person has got allegations on them. It spooked me. This was before my career really started, though—before any “Kendrick Lamar.” And that right there? It changed my whole perception about certain things. I’ll always keep that in the back of my head.

  • BADU:

    So who is your asshole-checker?

  • LAMAR:

    Who is my what?

  • BADU:

    Your asshole-checker—the person in your crew or your family who let’s you know if you’re being a asshole.

  • LAMAR:

    I have two, actually. [both laugh] But the main one is a friend of mine—a lady friend who has known me since high school. She has always been someone, since day one, who has said something whenever I’m an asshole, or also if I’m doin’ something positive—but more so when I’m out of my element.

  • BADU:

    What’s your favorite cereal?

  • LAMAR:

    Fruity Pebbles. When people ask for my rider, they think I’m crazy: Fruity Pebbles, baked chicken, bottle of Hennessy, and some Polo socks.

  • BADU:

    What do you, as a man, envy about what it means to be a woman?

  • LAMAR:

    There’s just a certain knowledge instilled in a woman. There are these things that women have that men just can’t grasp: the understanding of love; the understanding of being; having a certain type of care in your heart and knowing when to be compassionate; knowing how to be a confidante…

  • BADU:

    That’s a good perspective. Something I envy that men have is that ability to grow a goatee. I think that’d be really hot on me.

Dear Future Husband/Wife

I hope you find my strangeness to be extraodinary. Pray that we two pieces of the same crazy puzzle. I hope that our kids will be a vision of us from before this tainted world got a hold of us. I long to give you strength on days when the world makes you want to cave. I cant wait until we’re old and grey and we can tell our grandkids the story of how you fell for me. That you with a juggernaut heart & free spirt  couldn’t walk away. That my face haunted your dreams so much that you had to have me. Tell them how your heart skipped a beat the day that i tripped head first into your world. If nothing else sing our love… Forever. Cant wait to meet you, Cant wait to love you.

Grammar geeks should realize that language is alive. It grows and changes to reflect the people from whose tongues words are spoken.

Thus, things like syntax, tense, etc. become clay and paint in the mouths, minds, and on the fingers of writers.

Besides, I find that those who are the most concerned about the rules of writing are the least entertaining and most forgettable writers.

http://teacheron2.tumblr.com/post/50013212775/alexandraelle-when-i-write-my-poems-creative (via alexandraelle)
africanfashion: For those of you who criticize Janelle’s signature monochromatic look. From her speech on “Black Girls Rock”: “When I started my music career, I was a maid. I used to clean houses. My mother was a proud janitor. My stepfather, who raised me like his very own, worked at the post office and my father was a trashman. They all wore uniforms and that’s why I stand here today, in my black and white, and I wear my uniform to honor them. This is a reminder that I have work to do. I have people to uplift. I have people to inspire. And today, I wear my uniform proudly as a Cover Girl. I want to be clear, young girls, I didn’t have to change who I was to become a Cover Girl. I didn’t have to become perfect because I’ve learned throughout my journey that perfection is the enemy of greatness. Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable.” - Janelle Monáe
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africanfashion:

For those of you who criticize Janelle’s signature monochromatic look.

From her speech on “Black Girls Rock”:

“When I started my music career, I was a maid. I used to clean houses. My mother was a proud janitor. My stepfather, who raised me like his very own, worked at the post office and my father was a trashman. They all wore uniforms and that’s why I stand here today, in my black and white, and I wear my uniform to honor them.

This is a reminder that I have work to do. I have people to uplift. I have people to inspire. And today, I wear my uniform proudly as a Cover Girl. I want to be clear, young girls, I didn’t have to change who I was to become a Cover Girl. I didn’t have to become perfect because I’ve learned throughout my journey that perfection is the enemy of greatness.

Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable.” - Janelle Monáe

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