Snoop Dogg has praised Kendrick Lamar for mediating a truce between the rival gangs in Los Angeles while he was at odds with Drake.
“What Vince is saying is that a lot of neighborhoods have been uniting for a long time behind closed doors, but what Kendrick did was, he united the entire city, based off him being a king,” Snoop said Complex in response to Vince Staples’ remarks that L.A. gangs have long had a sense of unity but it was only recently made public.
“Taking this violent situation—a rap beef—and making it peaceful while providing the homies with a chance to participate in his video, go on stage, join his movement, and move the way he moves.”
He then on, “Because you have to move like Kendrick if you’re going to move with him.” His focus is on peace. He talks about love. It is not his gang. He unifies cities and comes from a gang-filled city. That’s the main point of this, then.
“From our perspective, violence has always been a main issue, so it’s a fantastic move for the entire West Coast rap scene. Therefore, he deserves praise if he can take a violent song or rap and turn it into something peaceful.
Watch his remarks here starting at 10:27.
In an effort to heal divisions in the city, Kendrick Lamar invited members of the Bloods and Crips to the stage at the end of his June Pop Out event in Inglewood.
The audience was also addressed by the Compton native, who said, “This shit is making me emotional.” With Nipsey [Hussle’s] passing, we’ve been screwed up. Since Kobe [Bryant] passed away, we have been broken. This is the epitome of oneness.
“This street stuff and this music shit have cost us a lot of friends. That shit is special, for all of us to be united on stage. Each person on this platform has lost a soldier.
Veteran West Coast rapper DJ Quik also expressed emotion about the incident, saying he “cried” while watching the event on YouTube because he was unable to attend in person.
He said to AllHipHop, “I was knee deep in Canada when all that unity happened.” “That night, in the prickly Hilton hotel, I sobbed myself to sleep while staring at you guys. I became hateful.
Snoop Dogg attempted to fly Quik and Warren G back for the Pop Out tour while they were on a Canadian tour. Logistically, it was a bad idea for him to try to charter a jet because we would have missed our event in Ottawa, Canada. However, we sat there sultry. I was smoldering.
