Photo: Richard Gray
The head of Kendrick Lamar's record label has hit out at GQ magazine, following the rapper's recent win as the magazine's rapper of the year, angry at the tone of the interview that accompanied the award.
Lamar was among the winners at this year's Men Of The Year title, along with Justin Timberlake, Matthew McConaughey, Will Ferrell and the late James Gandolfini, but cancelled his performance at the ceremony at the last minute. Now, in a statement from Anthony 'Top Dawg' Tiffith, the CEO of Top Dawg Entertainment (to which Lamar is signed), the reasons behind Lamar's no-show has been revealed.
Tiffith criticised the magazine for its emphasis on negative aspects in the hip-hop community and focusing on 'drama and bs'. Read his statement below.
"The story, written by Steve Marsh, put myself and my company in a negative light. Marsh's story was more focused on what most people would see as drama or bs. To say he was "surprised at our discipline" is completely disrespectful. Instead of putting emphasis on the good that TDE has done for west coast music, and for hip hop as a whole, he spoke on what most people would consider whats wrong with Hip Hop music.
Furthermore, Kendrick deserved to be accurately documented. The racial overtones, immediately reminded everyone of a time in hip-hop that was destroyed by violence, resulting in the loss of two of our biggest stars. We would expect more from a publication with the stature and reputation that GQ has. As a result of this misrepresentation, I pulled Kendrick from his performance at GQ's annual Man Of The Year party Tuesday, November 12th.
"While we think it's a tremendous honor to be named as one of the Men Of The Year, these lazy comparisons and offensive suggestions are something we won't tolerate. Our reputation, work ethic, and product is something that we guard with our lives."
GQ magazine's editor in chief, Jim Nelson, later expressed his disappointment in the response from Tiffith, defending the interview and praising Kendrick Lamar in his own statement. Read it below.
"Kendrick Lamar is one of the most talented new musicians to arrive on the scene in years. That's the reason we chose to celebrate him, wrote an incredibly positive article declaring him the next King of Rap, and gave him our highest honor: putting him on the cover of our Men of the Year issue. I'm not sure how you can spin that into a bad thing, and I encourage anyone interested to read the story and see for themselves.
"We were mystified and sorely disappointed by Top Dawg's decision to pull him at the last minute from the performance he had promised to give. The real shame is that people were deprived of the joy of seeing Kendrick perform live. I'm still a huge fan."
Below: exclusive photos of Kendrick Lamar live at the iTunes Festival, 2013
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