Bruce Springsteen is here to send blue-eyed rockist critics further into the abyss. The Boss held a Q&A at SoHo’s Apple Store on Wednesday to promote his new memoir Born to Run and its accompanying album, Chapter and Verse. Of course he got hit with the cliché question that most legends get from time to time: What is Bruce Springsteen listening to in 2016?
The “Glory Days” champ replied that he likedGreen Day (“They’re always thoughtful and intense”) and U2 (who’re “still doing just fine”). But what about stuff other than rock?
“I like Kendrick Lamar a lot,” Springsteen said, perBillboard. “He’s intense. He’s a great rapper, very intense. I like Kanye West, I think Kanye West makes great records. I love his records. Those are just very, very creative, amazing records.”
This isn’t the first time Springsteen has given West a shoutout. He explained his fandom during a 2014 interview withNPR’s Ann Powers.
“I saw him on television, he did the song called ‘Blood on the Leaves’ on theLater…With Jools Holland—it was fantastic,” he said. “I still find him very interesting. I’m not necessarily driving [to] it in my car, you know. I probably fall back on the stuff that I listened to as a kid or something if I’m driving around. But I do listen.”
West’s rock-star ambitions aren’t a secret, so he’d probably think highly of the Boss’s co-sign. Meanwhile, Lamar is probably out theresomewhere replaying Lil Wayne’sSqad Up mixtapes.
