E-40 Knew Kendrick Lamar Was A Star, Praises Him & Jay Rock

The Bay Area icon recalled being on the road with the rappers over 10 years ago & praised them for working as a TDE team.

We’re not sure how much longer we’ll have to wait for the next Kendrick Lamar album, but the Los Angeles rapper seems to be taking his time. The Top Dawg Entertainment star last released Damn back in 2017, and the critically-acclaimed project still has fans talking today. K-Dot is an artist who stays out of the spotlight and minds his business, amassing respect from his millions of fans and fellow artists alike. Rapper E-40 sang Kendrick’s praises as he took a walk down memory lane and revisited touring with Lamar over a decade ago.

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“Everybody you can name. We was all one big—two and a half months,” E-40 told HipHopDX. “Just every day, I would open up the studio after I performed or before and after. I have a portable studio so I have it on my tour bus or I have it in the room. I get a suite. Kendrick could hang out with me, him and Jay Rock, all of us. We really hung, real tough. And this is 2010, feel me?”

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“This how you know they some real dudes. Kendrick was opening up, not opening up, but being Jay Rock‘s support,” he added. “We all knew Kendrick was raw, but he was his support. And he never hated, he was right there on stage with him. Never hated. To see Kendrick blossom and now Jay Rock not hating on him, then next thing you know, Jay Rock end up getting him a big one [with ‘Win’].”

E-40 emphasized how the TDE artists are “teamwork make the dream work”-orientated while praising the evolution of the Los Angeles-based label. When asked if he saw K-Dot as a star back in those days, E-40 said there were “no ifs, ands, or buts,” about the rapper’s star power. “I knew it.”

“He might seem quiet, but that’s a little—that mothaf*cka got hella character to him. He know how to act and all that. You seen him on Power,” said 40. Check out the Bay Area legend’s clip below and let us know if you think the Kendrick Lamar praise is well-deserved.