Kendrick Lamar's Interlude

## Promotional single by Ab-Soul featuring Kendrick Lamar

"**Kendrick Lamar's Interlude**" is a song by American rapper Ab-Soul, released from his third studio album *These Days...* (2014). It guest features fellow TDE-rapper Kendrick Lamar.

In its connection to Lamar's debut studio album *Section.80*, which contained the track "Ab-Soul's Outro", Soul said it "wasn't planned" as a continuation, instead being "organic." He continued, "Terrace Martin is a big, great friend of the family, and he's always around. I don't know. It just kinda hit me. We should do it. Why not just sum this one up, too?"

## Personnel

* Herbert "Ab-Soul" Stevens IV {{ndash]} vocals
* Kendrick Duckworth – vocals, writer
* Terrace Martin – writer, producer, saxophone

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Verse 1: Kendrick Lamar]

24/7, 365, motherfucker, I'm still right on time

Oh, you thought you had me all figured out?

Take it from the horse's mouth, you'll never understand me

I told you my Plan B is to win your hearts before we win a Grammy

These days, ain't shit changed

Different toilet, same shit

And I drank a whole gallon of laxatives by accident just to shit on you has-beens

Had it been for my past tense, I wouldn't be rapping

See, these streets made me

Broke me down, built me up, drove me crazy

Made me hungry, made you hate me, but fuck love

It don't make dollars, it don't make sense, n\*\*\*a

By the way, that's DJ Quik, n\*\*\*a

Respect it or check it

These days, I'm a little more focused

'Cause y'all cracked the door and I kicked it open

Yellin' "Get the fuck down, or I will shoot, I told you not to motherfucking move"

Be another example

I'll take the whole industry hostage if I have to

I'll sabotage this game

A good kid? Yeah, that's only in my mama's eyes

I seen a dead body at five and that shit made me traumatized

So these days, a little blood on my hands ain't nothing compared to hopping out a minivan

With a mini .223 and the homie TuTu, and two more white tees on

Oh, nobody got time for that

These days, it's only time for rap

So Herbert Anthony Stevens, you make or break bread before we break even

Before they broke our records, we broke records and wrote pieces of history

So these days? These accolades that's meant for we?

It's only truth that this shit was meant to be

TDE

[Chorus: Ab-Soul & JaVonte]

Life's still a traffic jam (Life is still a traffic jam)

Life's still a traffic jam (Life is still a traffic jam)

Life's still a traffic jam (Life is still a traffic jam)

Life's still a traffic jam (Ready to go)

Life's still a traffic jam (Still ready to go)

Life's still a traffic jam (Still ready to go)

Life's still a traffic jam

Life's still a traffic jam

[Verse 2: Ab-Soul]

Shit, what more did you expect?

HiiiPower

For the most part, we go hard for the respect

I'm obviously ominous to my competition

And if I ain't better than Kendrick, then nobody is, then

We shared our life with you

Shared our light with you even in the darkest of hours

In hopes that one day, just maybe, one day the world'll be ours

Ha, and now they look up to us like towers

For rhymin' like we had superpowers

They should've never let us in these offices

Knowing good and god-damn well

How well we've been ducking officers

Laughing at the scraps they offered us in the past

And now we toast champagne to the thirst we never had

I had my ups and downs, but I always left right

Rest in peace Alori Joh, Top Dawg for life

And oh yeah, Soul

[Outro: Ab-Soul]

Yeah

Ayo, Denzel, we took a minute, but we did it, my n\*\*\*a, for real

At minimum, we did it bigger, my n\*\*\*a

Yeah

Shout out JaVonte, the velvet vocalist

Uh, I'mma just get up outta here and let Terrace Martin finish having sex with the saxophone and shit

I'm gone

[Interlude: Kendrick Lamar]

I watch that fire that we're gathered around and see that it burns similar to the fire that is inside you

## References

1. ↑ "Ab-Soul Addresses "These Days..." Critics; Says Mac Miller Made "Ride Slow' in 10 Minutes". *HipHopDX*. August 11, 2014.