Kendrick Lamar Interviews N.W.A For Billboard [Video]

When Kendrick Lamar arrives this Friday evening at a cavernous photo studio in the flatlands of industrial Hollywood, he’s 30 minutes early. And the occasion has been nearly 25 years in the making: Lamar, 28, is here to interview the four living members of N.W.A for their first magazine cover together since Ice Cube went solo in 1991 and the group collapsed into a famously bitter feud. Eazy-E died in 1995, at 31. But today, Lamar meets with four men who defined his hometown of Compton, Calif., as a cradle of politically engaged, uncompromisingly hardcore hip-hop. With a modest demeanor that suggests nothing of his status as rap’s leading visionary and an entourage numbering just two associates and a publicist, he seems genuinely humbled to be here. When the group arrives, he is quick to pay his respects: first to Dr. Dre, then Ice Cube, then DJ Yella and MC Ren. They all share warm smiles and hugs.

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