President Barack Obama recently named Kendrick Lamar's “How Much A Dollar Cost” from To Pimp A Butterfly his favourite track of 2015, so it's only right that the two got to meet up in the Oval Office.
The visit was revealed by Senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett on Buzzfeed's Another Round podcast, The Hill reports. It took place in October, when Kendrick performed a reworked version of Butterfly with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. (You can read our review here, and watch some clips here.)
Jarrett didn't discuss much of their meeting (maybe their respective appearances on Fox News?), but she did describe how Obama put the nervous Lamar at ease.
“He came and he visited the president, and you know what the president said to him? [Because] he was a little nervous — bless his heart, he’s really a very nice young man, and the president said, “Can you believe that we’re both sitting in this Oval Office?”
Kendrick just premiered some new music on Jimmy Fallon, and as well as a short film called God Is Gangsta. Listen to the full episode of Another Round below.
Update: In a video posted yesterday for Obama's My Brother's Keeper mentoring initiative, Lamar describes the meeting. “I sat down with President Barack Obama...topics concerning the inner cities, the problem, the solutions, and furthermore embracing the youth, both being aware that mentoring saves lives.” Watch it below