JPEGMAFIA Says Kendrick Lamar Was the 'Last Person' to Be 'Universally Liked'

JPEGMAFIA is making the case that liking anything has gone out of style, and he thinks Kendrick Lamar was the last holdout.

In a new interview for Call it a Day with Sara K on Lyrical Lemonade TV, the artist was asked whether it is better to be respected or liked. He picked respect without hesitation by pointing at the one artist he believes everybody used to agree on.

“Nobody's liked. Nobody likes anything, especially nowadays,” he said near the 29 minute-mark in the video linked above. “[If] people like you, get ready. Get ready cuz they're going to not like you pretty fucking soon. Cuz like nobody likes anything. Everyone has something about them to not like. That's the only way they get liked now.”

He continued, “No one's universally liked anymore. The last person that was universally liked was Kendrick Lamar, and now motherfuckers be making shit up to not like him.”

The artist then framed public affection as a countdown rather than a reward.

“If you don't have anything to not like about you, they will make some shit up for you or you're not interesting enough for them to do that. That's all,” he explained. “You have to be comfortable with not being liked. It's way better to be respected than liked. But honestly, in this day and age, like I said, you don't have to be either. You just got to be interesting.”

Elsewhere in the sit-down, JPEGMAFIA was asked what topic he would give a talk about without any preparation.

“I would expand on the topic I was talking about earlier: people wanting to be too cool,” he said. “I can't wait for this era to get over with. When n****s are too cool … and pretending to be unbothered. None of you n****s are unbothered. You're all autistic as fuck and you're all on your phone looking at everything. You're not fooling no one. Stop playing.”