Kendrick is 1-of-5 GQ Men of the Year, but there’s a problem.
Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith is notoriously quiet. He almost never does press, and the first halfway legitimate interview involving him turned out to be a conversation he didn’t know was being recorded. He’s the mastermind of a tightly knit, self-sufficient hip-hop label, one that is growing exponentially popular and boasts a molten lava-hot “front-man” if you will, in the sure-to-be Grammy nominated Kendrick Lamar. It would appear that Tiffith has a lot to talk about, but for the most part prefers to let the music do the communicating.
With the exception of this instance.
In a rare occurrence, Top Dawg released an extremely detailed press release, speaking out against the context of the cover story Steve Marsh–a GQ correspondent–wrote about Kendrick Lamar in the publications Men of the Year issue, which was released to newsstands and the internet last week. In addition to highlighting K. Dot’s summer–especially the atmosphere immediately before and immediately after Big Sean released his Hall of Fame leftover track “Control”, on which, well, everyone should know by now what happened–the article also provided commentary on Kendrick’s state of mind following the death of his childhood friend Chad Keaton, and a considerable amount of prying into his relationship (or lack thereof) with Drake. Last night, Top Dawg issued this press release, simultaneously breaking the news that Lamar would not be partaking in GQ’s Men of the Year festivities, which was set to include a live performance from Kendrick.
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 singing 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’s Editor-In-Chief Jim Nelson had this to say, upon learning of Tiffith’s press release:
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.
You can read the Kendrick Lamar’s Man of the Year GQ cover story in its entirety by clicking here. Let us know what you think. Are Tiffith’s points valid? Or was he merely overreacting?
Words: Anthony Centeno (@_tonymc) & Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)
