"I Was Sleeping One Night & [2Pac] Said To Me..."

West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar has opened up about his admiration for the late Tupac Shakur and described an encounter he had with the iconic lyricist- in his dreams.

Lamar credits his nocturnal Tupac thoughts for helping keep the late rapper's legacy alive.

"It's a crazy true story, actually," Lamar said. "You know one of them things when you really delirious in your sleep? It's a real situation where I was sleeping one night and a silhouette [came] and he said, 'Keep doing what you doing, don't let my music die,' -- The sh*t scared the sh*t out of me! Just off the fact that prior to that, a day before, my mom [said], 'You know, you and Tupac, y'all like days apart, y'all birthdays.' I never knew that sh*t, that's some wild sh*t. Once she said that sh*t - and I'm really big on sh*t like that - somebody comes in your dreams and relays a message, you gotta listen to it because I've got past family relatives that's been coming to my dreams forever and been talking to me." ("Homegrown Radio")

This week, fellow Compton rapper Game attributed Shakur as the motivating force behind his music.

"I just talk about my life experiences and keep fans listening," Game explained in an interview. "I flow with as much positivity as I can. I want to shed light on better things so fans can uplift themselves, which is why I always try speaking positively. That 'keep your head up' music. Tupac started that first with his songs like 'Brenda's Got a Baby' and 'Keep Ya Head Up.' -- I didn't fight ['Red Nation' getting banned.] I have kids and understand why the networks didn't want to show it...They may have banned it -- but it still blew up on the Internet." (Dub)

Lamar was named one of XXL Magazine's Freshmen '11 this year.

"It means a lot to be on the Freshmen cover. I've always said XXL is an incredible magazine, and I've always looked up to it. I was always amazed by artists on the Freshmen cover. I'd be trying to figure out, 'D*mn, how'd they get on there.' I figured that they must've done a whole bunch of sh*t, and I've realized they did, because I've put in a lot of work, as far as me and my team, to get to this level to be on this cover. The day I see my face on this cover, I'll probably drop a tear or something. I'll cop about 15 copies of them muthaf*ckas. I'm always going to stay true to the people that came up with me from the bottom, as far as my family and friends that wanted to see me get to a certain level of success. I'm supporting a lot people now, just like they were supporting me when I had nothing. (XXL Mag)

His new Section. 80 underground retail project landed in stores earlier this month.

West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar's Section. 80 debuted on the chart this week at 113. After a week in stores, his new retail release has sold 5,300 copies. (SOHH Sales Wrap)