When Kendrick Lamar performed as the musical guest for Saturday Night Live last weekend he seemed to pay homage to Wu-Tang Clan rapper Method Man by braiding half his hair and wearing black contacts. The tribute coincided with the 20th anniversary of the release of Method Man’s debut album Tical, and when MTV spoke with RZA after the performance he noted that it was also just days away from the 10th anniversary of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s passing.
“Yeah I did catch that,” RZA said when asked about Kendrick’s performance and apparent tribute. “It was Dirty’s birthday and the anniversary of Tical. We celebrated in L.A., we had a kung-fu night at a movie theatre. We showed 5 Deadly Venoms and we had a special ODB cake made.”
“As we sitting there with the cake, one of the writers came over and showed the Kendrick thing,” he continued. “He just said to me, ‘Yo I feel like Kendrick is showing respect to Dirty right now, do you see this?’ I looked at it and I was like, ‘Wow, that looks like respect to me too. So, respect.
“Dirty was an unique emcee, a unique artist that’s in our time period of this world,” RZA added. “Whether it was done intentionally—maybe he didn’t even think that, maybe he was just inspired. Who knows? I didn’t speak to Kendrick but it definitely, for me, it made me nod my head. We miss Ason. We miss him.”
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Watch Kendrick Lamar’s SNL performance here.
