STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Kendrick Lamar Puts Geraldo Rivera in His Place

“Hip hop isn’t the problem,” says Lamar.

Kendrick Lamar responded to Geraldo Rivera’s views about his “Alright” performance at the 2015 BET Awards, and the Compton rapper says the FOX News commentator couldn’t be more wrong.

Lamar called in TMZ Live to explain. “How could you take a song that’s about hope and turn it into hatred? The message is ‘we gon’ be alright’ it’s not the message of ‘I wanna kill people," he said.

| CLICK FOR RAPPERS WHO INSPIRE THE SPIRIT OF MALCOLM X |

“The problem isn’t me standing on the cop car, I think his attempt is deleting the real problem, which is the senseless acts of [cops] killing these young boys out here. I think for the most part it’s avoiding the truth, it’s reality, this is my world, this is what I talk about in my music and you can’t dilute that. Me being on a cop car, that’s a performance piece after these senseless acts.

“Of course I’m going to be enraged about what’s going on out here, of course I’m going to speak on it,” continues the 28-year-old MC. “But at the same time, you can’t dilute the overall message.”

Moreover, Lamar noted that hip hop is taking the blame, when the real issue is getting swept under the rug. “Hip hop is not the problem, our reality is the problem. This is our music, this is us expressing ourselves. Rather [than] going out here and doing murder myself, I want to express myself in a positive light, the same way other artists are.”  

Watch K Dot's BET Awards performance below and judge for yourself.  
 

BET.com is your #1 source for Black celebrity news, photos, exclusive videos and all the latest in the world of hip hop and R&B music.

 Click here for a chance to win a girls’ trip to Miami!

(Photos from Left: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for BET, Rommel Demano/Getty Images)

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.