Feuds are fairly common in the hip-hop world, even between rappers and magazines (see: Eminem vs The Source), but Kendrick Lamar should have been nothing but flattered when he was named one of GQ’s Men Of The Year. Instead, Lamar was pulled from a GQ party celebrating the honor by his label boss Anthony Tiffity, who felt offended by GQ’s profile on the rapper.
Tiffith, aka ‘Top Dawg’, seemingly took issue with several passages within the article, and I can’t say I blame him. The most controversial parts include:
They have a seriousness of purpose, a rigorous discipline that can feel slightly monastic at times. Kendrick doesn’t smoke weed or drink booze. In the time I spent with him, I never witnessed anyone roll even the thinnest spider leg of a jay, nor did I see Kendrick so much as glance at the many, many girls around him.
And,
Twenty minutes later, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, basically TDE’s Suge Knight, asked if I had had a fun day. I said that I had and that I was surprised by their discipline. “You guys seem so calm,” I said.
“Well,” Tiffith told me, “we’re going to have to call it a night with you, because we about to get uncalm. You understand.”
The insinuation by author Steve Marsh, who spent time with Lamar and his crew before writing the article, is that it is surprising how ‘calm’ Lamar is as he doesn’t do drugs or drink or womanize. He uses the word ‘calm’ as a synonym for ‘good’, or law abiding, as if it is so surprising to see someone in the hip hop world who is an upstanding citizen. It’s a somewhat understandable thought in the world of hip hop that glamorizes drug dealing and girls, but it comes off wrong. It probably didn’t help that Marsh compared Tiffith to Suge Knight, the former Death Row label owner who is in perennial legal trouble.
In response, Tiffith cancelled Lamar’s scheduled appearance at the GQ Party and released the following statement,
In 2004, I founded Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) with the goal of providing a home for west coast artists and a platform for these artists to express themselves freely and to give their music to the world. From our beginning in 2005 with Jay Rock, to developing Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul, to most recently signing Isaiah Rashad and SZA. We, as TDE, have always prided ourselves in doing everything with heart, honor, and respect.
This week, Kendrick Lamar was named one of GQ’s 2013 Men Of The Year, an honor that should have been celebrated as a milestone in his career and for the company. Instead, 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 Editor-In-Chief Jim Nelson has also issued a response, which you can see 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.