Kendrick Lamar is open about his well-being.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, 37, spoke with former Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) label mate SZA in an intimate conversation he posted Harper’s Bazaar on Monday, October 21.
Their hour and a half discussion started with the “Saturna” singer (34) asking her friend and collaborator about his mental health and spiritual practices.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA — 2016 Grammys.
arry Busacca/Getty
“I literally talk to God,” Lamar told SZA about his daily practices. “Like, it’s to the point where I’m going to start thinking I’m going crazy. But then He has to remind me, ‘No, this is really me.’ ”
After his conversations with God, there is one more daily step he cannot skip.
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“My early morning practice is to run,” “HUMBLE.” said the artist.
“When I started running, that’s when I started to understand. There was this threshold of pain, in spirituality for me. I remember my shins hurting and thinking I had one more mile to go. Then I get whispers and downloads and start talking about the s— I want to know about. And next thing I’m three miles in, four miles in. I wake up and do it s— every day,” Lamar continued.
He also talked about his out-of-body experiences during the performance.
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Kendrick Lamar June 2023
Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty
“I say some s— on the board and I identify with the moment, and then I don’t identify with it anymore. It’s just growth for me. All that s— is subjective,” said the “Bazeni” rapper.
Lamar added that even at a young age, he was “trying to understand myself, trying to find people to identify with,” as well as “How to identify outside of myself.”
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Noting that it might sound “crazy” to many or “scary” to others, he further clarified.
“I learned that I cannot identify with my performances on stage. I can’t keep my true whole identity to that person on stage. Because if I did, that means I’m going to be evaluating every move every time I screw up a song, every time I’m out of tune,” Lamar said.
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Kendrick Lamar August 2017
Steve Granitz/WireImage
He continued, “It’s too much to deal with. So I have to have a distance between the performer and the person with whom I close my eyes and look at the ceiling. I had to develop that tough skin at 16, 17, not knowing that it wasn’t just for my career but for myself. It must be mentally ill.”
Lamar has a big show coming up in just a few months.
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Shortly after his highly publicized feud with fellow rapper Drake, the Compton native was announced as the 2025 Super Bowl halftime performer.
Lamar also explained to SZA the meaning of “Not Like Us,” one of his diss tracks against the Canadian rapper (38).
“’Not Like Us’ is the energy of who I am, the type of person I represent. Now, if you identify with the man that I represent,” Lamar said. “This man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He does not rise.”
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Source: HIS Education