On Monday night, Kendrick Lamar couldn’t stop filling his timeline with the hilarious videos he retweeted from the Los Angeles comedian, Rich, @Richie_l0c0’s Twitter page. Lamar doesn’t tweet very often but he continued to post Rich’s clever skits that poked fun at characters in L.A. neighborhoods, frustrated parents and an impeccable Tupac Shakur impersonation. It's nice to see Lamar in high spirits that will hopefully carry over into his big moment next week at The Grammys.
The FADER had a phone conversation with Rich, who has an uncanny resemblance to Shakur about his comedy and the tweet endorsements from Kendrick Lamar.
What was your initial reaction when Kendrick Lamar retweeted you?
It was crazy because if you notice, Kendrick is not a casual tweeter. He comes sparingly maybe like once a week so when he did that and he did the first video I was just like, “Wow, that’s dope.” Then he did another one and then another one and he kept going and I’m like, “This is huge. This is Kendrick Lamar. I’m just Richard.”
Did you see the tweets yourself or did someone send them to you?
That’s the thing. When you’re on social media things spread so fast. My mentions are constantly updating because people are constantly retweeting my videos but a few people were like, “You made it” and I’m like, “What did I make?” Then they’re like Kendrick’s retweeting you and I look and I’m like, “This is dope.”
Had you gotten any endorsement from a celebrity before?
Yeah on that scale. I’ve had a few celebrities retweet me but I haven’t had any show love like Kendrick. No one was like, “Who’s this guy? He’s funny” on that scale. I have a few celebrities that follow me but even the ones that follow me they don’t even retweet me.
Are you a big Kendrick fan?
Honestly, I love Kendrick as far as his message and I believe in his empowerment towards black people but I’m not the biggest Kendrick fan. I’m not the biggest fan in terms of knowing all of his songs and things like that but I do listen to his music but then again I don’t listen to a lot of music in general. I’m always off thinking and writing screenplays and skits so I don’t listen to a lot music.
How long did it take for you to do get the Tupac one?
It started back in 2011 when they started having the first casting for the biopic. My wife was working in San Diego at the time and one of her co-workers was like, “Yo, your husband looks like Tupac he should audition for the role. So, I did it and I kept practicing and I studied Tupac trying to get his mannerisms down. His cadence, his voice and all of those things. I didn’t used to be as good as I am now. I mean I can still improve but no one’s going to be Pac, let’s face it. Back then I was still very rough around the edges but over the years I’ve studied him more and more and it’s come naturally.
