Kendrick Lamar’s Kanye Hookup Almost Nixed By TDE, West Forced It To Happen

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Top Dawg Entertainment president Punch recently revealed the label's disinterest in protégé Kendrick Lamar stepping away from the recording studio and touring with Kanye West. #YeezusTour

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Despite the widespread attention a Yeezus tour run would generate, Punch said the team wanted K. Dot to focus on music-making.

Lamar said it was easy to make that happen after the chat, but his team remembered a lot of back and forth. “Believe it or not, we were actually trying not to do the tour,” says Terrence Henderson, better known as Punch, the president of Top Dawg Entertainment, Lamar’s label. “We wanted Kendrick to be recording that whole time.” (New York Times)

West’s team upped the ante and made an offer TDE could not turn down.

Not to mention that West’s team “wasn’t taking no for an answer,” Henderson says. They got Lamar a studio bus so he could record on the road and promised him a prominent role. “Kanye said he didn’t want to make it seem like we were just the opener,” Lamar remembered. “It was dope to have the actual headliner of the show want my show to be just as good as his.” (New York Times)

Last year, Kendrick updated fans on his experience, sharing the tour bill with Kanye.

“First off, just being a fan of his work and actually going on tour with him, that’s just a whole ‘nother world,” Kendrick said of his experience with Yeezus thus far. “Second, watching him perform and seeing how much he put into his presence onstage, it just reassures me that coming out the booth, you gotta take just as much attention on that stage, and put work in on that.” (MTV)

In September 2013, Ye discussed what he hoped Lamar gained from touring with him.

“[The upcoming tour with Kendrick?] Yeah, it’s one hundred percent, it’s one hundred percent. I’m just looking forward to the opportunity to speak to this brother as much as possible. That, those conversations are going to be more than I even said right here. Because he’s one of our future messengers. You know? And I’m going to give him those jewels.” (BBC Radio 1)

#YeezusTour

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