Inner DRIVE

KENDRICK LAMAR has consistently PUSHED the ART of HIP-HOP to NEW HEIGHTS. In advance of his SUPER BOWL performance, he gets PERSONAL with friend and fellow artist SZA

It's a warm August night in Santa Monica, and Kendrick Lamar is sitting on a low sofa in a hotel suite as the sun sets behind him, very carefully speaking to SZA and me. It's more than a little surreal to have Lamar, the closest thing this era of hip-hop has to a truth teller, leaning forward and looking intently first into SZA's face, then mine, saying things like "I do believe in love and war, and I believe they both need to exist."

Lamar and SZA are, of course, two of the world's biggest superstars, used to commanding stadiums full of fans. Lamar is the MC who many would argue keeps the soul of hip-hop alive. We are one year removed from the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, and the genre that once signified rebellion and artistic freedom has settled into its current iteration as the lingua franca of corporations and the American empire with barely a pang of conscience. Amid all this, Lamar remains a rarity: a true artist interested in exploring the limits of self-expression and creativity. He makes personal records about regret, family trauma, and desire even as he consistently captures the zeitgeist. A dizzyingly fantastical lyricist, he has consistently challenged himself, first with his debut album, 2011's Section.80, and continuing with good kid, m.A.A.d city. In 2018, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his album DAMN, the first time a work outside of classical or jazz traditions was honored.

Early next year, he will be headlining Super Bowl LIX For this issue, only the fifth time this magazine has put a man alone on the cover, Lamar wanted SZA to interview him. It's a move that makes sense when, later on, Lamar explains that he processes information best through connections with others. The two are former labelmates who toured together as they were coming up. In 2018, their song "All the Stars" was featured in Black Panther (Lamar also produced the soundtrack) and was later nominated for Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy awards.