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Kendrick Lamar is the most important musician alive today, says Bon Iver's Justin Vernon

He'd be Justin dream dinner guest

Christopher Hooton
Monday 04 January 2016 13:32 GMT
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Recording artist Kendrick Lamar performs onstage during the 2015 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on 20 June 28 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Recording artist Kendrick Lamar performs onstage during the 2015 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on 20 June 28 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Christopher Polk/BET/Getty Images)

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Though he made his name in shoegazey folk pop, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is clearly a big fan of hip-hop, and has become Kanye West’s go-to guy for eerily-autotuned vocal hooks.

He revealed his favourite rapper - and musician in general - during an interview in Billy Reid last month, which pairs off musicians and chefs with a mutual admiration and just lets them chat.

This was the exchange with chef Ashley Christensen:

AC: Most kitchen folks have a true love of music. Getting to know you and a number of our mutual pals made me realize that so many musicians hold cooks in the same high regard as we cooks hold musicians. Choose one cook and one musician with whom to share a meal, and give me a glimpse of where the conversation might go.

JV: If I had to pick one chef, I WOULD pick YOU and then I would pick Kendrick Lamar. I’d want him — he’s the most important musician alive today, in my opinion — to taste the food I’ve tasted of yours and for you two to speak about the struggles of your cities and how culture and expression and hard work can heal basically anything.

Kendrick’s hard work on the sprawling, complex album that is To Pimp A Butterfly looks set to finally bring him the awards he deserves this year, with K-Dot receiving 11 nominations at the 2016 Grammys - the most of any artist.

He’s already thinking about his next LP.

"I know exactly what I want to say next," he told the Guardian last summer. "Everything is going to make sense – not only to myself but to anybody who wants to understand life and music. Everything will make a little more sense."

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