Home Entertainment Kendrick Lamar nearly appeared on a song with one of his Hip Hop heroes Lil Wayne, years before he became a rap titan himself, ,and he’s planning on collaborating with him to create a hip hop masterpiece

Kendrick Lamar nearly appeared on a song with one of his Hip Hop heroes Lil Wayne, years before he became a rap titan himself, ,and he’s planning on collaborating with him to create a hip hop masterpiece

Entertainment — 08/08/2024

Kendrick Lamar was close to collaborating with his Hip Hop idol Lil Wayne on a song before he became a rap superstar.

According to HipHopDX co-host DJ Hed, who made the revelation in the most recent episode of The Bigger Picture, the hook on Jay Rock’s 2008 sleeper hit “All My Life (In the Ghetto)” was supposed to be handled by a teenage K. Dot instead of will.I am.

An interesting tidbit about this record is that I own the original recording with K. Dot on this hook. “But it will never be published,” he remarked. He was executing an entirely new hook. K. Dot contributed a new hook to the song, which was titled “Ghetto.”

Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, founder of the then-fledgling TDE, which Kendrick and Rock were signed to, took the executive decision to change Wayne’s guest verse on the song because it was too long, according to the veteran Los Angeles DJ/radio presenter.”I should probably not say this, but when Jay Rock did this record, Wayne gave them this long-ass verse and they cut it up,” Hed added. Right then, Wayne was engaged in that activity. In his song “Haterz,” Glasses Malone also used what amounted to a 32-bar verse.

Top was very amazing in this song—and props to him for it.It sounded like Wayne and Jay were going back and forth when they arranged the tune for i.am to play.As the first single off Jay Rock’s first album Follow Me Home, which was delayed three years because to issues with major labels, “All My Life (In the Ghetto)” was a game-changer for TDE when it came out in October 2008.

This was the first commercially successful single for the West Coast powerhouse; it peaked at number ten on the U.S. Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles list and one hundred and ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

The aforementioned conversation was also prompted by the fact that it was recognized as the 18th best guest feature by Lil Wayne according to DX’s most recent list.

Back when he was still using mixtapes like No Sleep ‘Til NYC and C4 to hone his art, Kendrick Lamar (then known as K. Dot) was just supporting his bouncing labelmate.The native of Compton didn’t start making waves until two years later, with his debut full-length under his current stage name, Overly Dedicated. He then went on to release Section.80, his breakthrough project, in 2011 and classic major label debut good kid, m.A.A.d city, the following year.

 

Even though he didn’t get a chance to collaborate with Weezy on “All My Life (In the Ghetto),” Kendrick would go on to get many highly sought-after collaborations with Weezy, including “Buy the World” by Mike WiLL Made-It and “Mona Lisa” from Tha Carter V by Wayne.This year, the latter gained notoriety when the Young Money icon addressed fan pleas for a live performance of the song by explaining why he never does.

This has happened twice in the last three episodes. The words “Mona Lisa” were displayed on a sign by someone. “If you’re genuine Lil Wayne fans, you know that I don’t know the lyrics to my sh*t,” he confessed during a June event.

“That fucking song is so hard, girl,” he continued. [Scrobbles the song’s words]. Are you understanding me? Word rapping isn’t my thing, but I’m going to figure it out. It will be something I master. No problem.