Read Kendrick Lamar’s Powerful N.W.A Rock Hall Induction Speech
Kendrick Lamar is the biggest rapper to come straight outta Compton since the G-Funk era. On Friday night, he inducted his Compton forbears – N.W.A‘s Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella – into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lamar has previously spoken out about the influence the pioneering gangsta-rap group had on him. “N.W.A did a lot more than entertain, they told the truth,” he told Billboard last year.
Moreover, he’s already had a long relationship with Dr. Dre, who guested on Lamar’s “The Recipe” and “Compton,” and he’s appeared on Dre’s Compton LP. He’s also rapped side-by-side with Ice Cube on a remix of Funkadelic’s “Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?” Here’s what Lamar said about the group at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for his induction speech.
N.W.A, man. I said, N.W.A, man! What it do, boy. The world’s most dangerous group. It’s five members that I can recall having pivotal roles while forming this type of Voltron, y’all.
First off, DJ Yella Ye. Ah? Ah? Hip-hop, we in Compton. His personality, charisma not only poured out into the company that was around him, but it shown whenever he got behind the turntables in production, providing some of the illest breaks, cuts, scratching, that only the most elite – I said elite – Compton MCs can spit over, you dig that? Any time my boy Yella dropped that needle, you know it’s time to get busy, right? Right?
MC Ren, the motherfucking – can I cuss? MC Ren, the motherfucking villain! The name is just not self-proclaimed. It was proven every single time he stepped behind that microphone. Hardcore lyrics that not only made you jump out your seat, but feel like you’re getting your motherfucking head pushed through the speakers, you dig that? A true code red every time we heard a rhyme, you dig that, so it was nothing but honesty, spoken from a true tone of a Compton resident: MC Ren, believe that, boy. 100. Yessir.
Cube! Where y’all at? I said Ice Cube? Storytelling genius. Every bar had us hanging over our seats. Punchline, delivery, detailed imagery made you get just a small glimpse of how it was growing up in the city of Compton, you dig what I’m saying? Cube was always proving to be one of the greatest MCs to ever step behind the mic, and on a personal level, my debut album, you was the blueprint on how I went to approach it. That’s for real, you dig what I’m saying, so salute to that. That’s 100.