Meet Kyle Gonzales: A Kendrick Lamar Stan Who Rapped With Him Onstage 13 Years Ago
"Life definitely did not peak when I rapped with Kendrick. It only made things that much sweeter, which is sick."
On January 20, 2012, Kyle Gonzales experienced a moment of a lifetime. At 17 years old, he was an avid fan of the blog rap era, championing artists like the Cool Kids, Dom Kennedy, and Kid Cudi. He quickly became a stan of one of the era's most prominent and promising voices: Kendrick Lamar.
Gonzales had attended punk-rock shows before, but when Kendrick announced that he was coming through Austin, Texas on tour, Gonzales bought a ticket to his very first rap concert. In a ridiculously lit moment that can only be described as serendipitous, Kendrick Lamar pulled Gonzales onstage to rap "Look Out for Detox," a deep-cut loosie, with Kendrick serving as his hype man. I was in the crowd that night, having a unique experience of my very own, as Kendrick playfully teased me throughout the show (we initially met in February 2011, so I was a familiar face). But Kyle's moment was above and beyond the highlight of the concert. Seeing Kendrick amped up to the highest power turned the crowd up to insane levels, which you can still see on TDE's YouTube page. "It's so funny looking back on it now," Gonzales says. "Such an intimate moment for him to call people like you and me out and be connected about something like that. It's almost magical at that point, right?"
More than 13 years later, Kendrick Lamar is exceeding the expectations of even his earliest listeners. He's always been one to watch, but I'm almost certain nobody could have predicted he would amass over 100 million monthly Spotify listeners, the first rapper ever to hit that achievement. We definitely weren't expecting him to sweep five whole categories at the Grammys, off a diss record, including the biggest accolades of the ceremony. Above all else, who could have anticipated that Kendrick would thoroughly molly-whop his peer, Drake AKA the world's most dominant rapper, and become hip-hop's unequivocal top dawg? As I watched Kendrick Lamar perform at the Super Bowl earlier this month, I was brought back to day one. I vividly remember feeling different about Kendrick's potential for success—but this outcome was totally unprecedented and unexpected.
I reached out to Kyle to see if he'd be down to talk about his experience all those years ago, and to ask if he foresaw Kendrick's career reaching the heights we've witnessed and beyond. He graciously said yes. This is the story of how Kyle Gonzales came to share the stage with one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Kiana Fitzgerald: I'm here with a very special guest. I'll describe exactly who he is in a second. But for now, I want to say that we share a common experience and it involves Kendrick Lamar. My most memorable experience with his music is not the Super Bowl. It's not the Grammys. It's not anything like that. It's the very early days. And my guest today, Kyle Gonzales, was a participant and an attendee at a Kendrick Lamar event on January 20, 2012. Tickets were $28.87 after fees. So that just goes to show how long ago this was. I would just love to get into your story and your experience with Kendrick. So I'll start out by asking what drew you to Kendrick Lamar's music in the first place?
Kyle Gonzales: Needless to say, being in that scene—think about it. It's 2012, the blog era is hot. You have artists like the Cool Kids, Kid Cudi. There were so many people that were out at that time, Dom Kennedy. Kendrick was just another name that was in this wheelhouse of amazing artists that were out at the time. And something about the way that he performed his music just kind of drew me in. I saw that he was coming to Austin, and I was like, "That sounds like a cool concert to go to."
Was that your first concert for Kendrick?
Yeah, first time ever going to a Kendrick concert, and first rap concert ever. At that point, I had been to a good handful of good punk-rock shows, going to some random clubs, paying 15, like you said, 20 bucks to go into a show. First time ever going to a rap show—didn't know what to expect.
Wow, that's crazy. I want to talk a little bit more about your moment. I can tell it, but I would love to hear you break it down, because it's you. That's a highlight—career, life, whatever, highlight. So I just wanted to hear you talk about what that started out like, how you became a part of the process, and everything like that.
Yeah, thanks, Ki. Honestly, that's the wild part, too. I feel like I've never really had the chance to tell the full, in-depth rundown and the whole story about how it ended up happening. So it was the week before my 18th birthday, I saw the show was going on. And for my birthday present, my brother drove me and one of my best friends down to Austin to go to the show. He had some friends in Austin, dropped us off, and that was really about that, right?
Well, in the week—like, a full five to seven days leading up to the concert, I was like, "Man, I think it would be pretty wild if I could have the chance to meet him." Found out there was a free meet-and-greet happening on the drag before the show. Which, for those of you all that don't live in Austin, the drag is the Guadalupe, a big long road, full of cool businesses, whatever. Well, he was having this free meet-and-greet at this boutique that's not even there anymore…
Was it Nice Kicks?
I don't think it was Nice Kicks, I think I would remember that. Wouldn't be surprised, but I don't know, man. Either way, we were at this boutique and I thought it would be cool if I rapped to him at the meet-and-greet. So I picked a song, "Look Out for Detox." It was a random YouTube deep cut, the beat was a Childish Gambino beat, another one of my favorite artists, pretty awesome. And then met him at the meet-and-greet, rapped him the song. He thought it was cool, didn't really think that much of it, right?
And then I go to the show, he sees me in the crowd and plays the song, pulls me up onstage afterward. He hands me a mic and says, "I wanna see you do it." And here we are now. So afterward, he ended up trying to take me with him to Houston. I wasn't able to go, my mom got the phone call at 2am, and said she wasn't about that action. But in her defense, hey, I wasn't even 18 yet. I still had the X's on my hands.
I was gonna say, you still had the X's on your hands, wow.
Needless to say, ever since then, I've always had this connection with Kendrick Lamar. And here we are now, I'm 31 now.
Yeah, I'm 35. So I'm like, "I can't believe it's already been this much time."
You get it! Both you and me have been able to grow with this music.
Absolutely. I did want to ask, how long did it take you to memorize "Look Out for Detox"?
Like I said, five to seven days. I picked that particular song because when I rapped it to him, I thought he would think it was interesting if somebody rapped to him one of his songs that was just a random video. It wasn't on any of his mixtapes. At that time, he had Section.80 out, Overly Dedicated, the Kendrick Lamar EP. "Look Out for Detox" was just some random throwaway track that he just put up on YouTube. So I thought he would be like, "Oh man, that's pretty cool. Of all songs for you to rap, it'd be that one." Rap Genius was fresh and brand new. I remember reading the lyrics every night, leading up until that moment. So it's pretty crazy being able to look back on it now, man.
Do you still remember all the lyrics?
Oh, yeah, I feel like as soon as somebody starts to say, "Tire marks, tire marks," I got it in the bag. Now my biggest problem is if I ever met Kendrick Lamar again, and he wanted me to rap with him again, I wouldn't wanna do that song. [Laughs] It's a whole laundry list of songs I think I would rather pick.
What's at the top of that list of songs that you would perform if you were given another chance?
"Hood Politics," I think "Momma" is definitely one of my other ones. "Hol' Up!" "Hol' Up" from Section.80, actually. There you go.
Those are some good ones. So, I was looking at the YouTube video that TDE has posted, and it looks like you were in two cities—so you were in San Antonio and Austin?
Yes, that's correct.
So, I think I was at the Austin show. Was that the same show where he was kind of giving me a hard time the whole show and was playing "Tammy's Song" and everything, if you remember that?
You were Tammy! I remember that! It's so funny looking back on it now. Such an intimate moment for him to call people like you and me out and be connected about something like that. It's almost magical at that point, right? But yeah, the Austin show ended up happening. Afterward, he let me and my best friend that I went to the show with, he let us come backstage, hang out with him and Jay Rock and Punch and all these other people that you think about now and it's so crazy being in a room with those guys.
But he wanted me to go with him to Houston and do the same bit. "Hey, I'm gonna pull you from in the crowd. It's gonna be so wild and we're just gonna go on a little mini tour." I called my mom at 2am, because my phone was dead. Charged my phone, she answers and she thinks I'm in jail. And I'm like, "No, this random rapper wants me to go with him to Houston! They're gonna put me up in a hotel, they're gonna take me to Walmart, I got a toothbrush. We're in there, man." And she's like, "Absolutely not. That's not happening."
Like I said, my brother had dropped me off—he was waiting in the parking lot, didn't even know that this was going on. Not Houston, but the next day after that was San Antonio. I got somebody's phone number for the production company that put the show on, and they were like, "Yeah, man. Still down for you to come to San Antonio." So that third day, me and my friends hopped in a car and drove to San Antonio. And that's how that ended up happening.
Perfect. It's so cool to actually hear you talk about it because it's such an ingrained memory for me. Just to hear the complete picture, it's really reassuring. So thank you. [Laughs]
[Laughs] Yeah, it's so funny, too, because I've been that guy, I've gotten on Kendrick Lamar Reddit. And I've seen posts and people talking about it. And I'm like, "Bro, I've never came out and told the story on the internet." It's just almost been like this personal tidbit for me. You would think, for something like this to happen to somebody and then it's the one thing they tell everybody about. But I never tell people the story unless they see it. But once every six months, I feel like it goes viral on Facebook and I have people tagging me on it. "I went to high school with that guy!" It just cracks me up, man. Here we are now, how many years later, 13 years later?
Yeah, 13 years, almost exactly. Did your life change at all after that, or was it just kind of like, "back to normal"?
I feel like the one tidbit that I always end up getting is, "Do you still talk to him?" Like bro, I work a 9-to-5 as a manager at a bank. Since then, I started my own DJ company. I started doing trivia and stuff like that on the side, locally from where I'm from, which is tight, which is cool. But as far as life changing, like, bro I wasn't at the Super Bowl with him. [Laughs] He didn't put me in a private suite or nothing like that. I've seen Kendrick six times.
Wow.
The most recent time was Mr. Morale, the Big Steppers tour. Him and Baby Keem. The time before that was right after good kid, m.A.A.d city came out. So that man's dropped DAMN., he's dropped To Pimp a Butterfly, untitled unmastered., so much material since then. So for me, I wasn't able to watch him from good kid, m.A.A.d city all the way to Mr. Morale. Me, I felt introspective. My life has changed. Just as anybody does when they grow up with something like that. Not much else. Like I said, I go viral like once every six months. I went to Chick-fil-A and a chick was taking my order and she goes, "Hey, weren't you that guy that rapped with Kendrick Lamar?" And I'm like, "That's pretty wild. Yeah, that was me." I've gotten recognized at my job a couple of times.
Really?
Swear to God! I was selling a bank account in the middle of Walmart. A guy comes up to me like, "Bro, I just seen you rap with Kendrick! Go ahead and hit 'em with it." He's like "Tire marks, tire marks…" I'm like, "Yo chill, I'm at my job right now, dawg. You're crazy." [Laughs]
Wow. [Laughs] I was not expecting that, okay.
I promise you. And honestly, that's the wild part, too. Like me, the way I am right now, I'm like this all the time. It never gets turned off.
I know in the TDE video, y'all have that moment where he's like, "I'm Kyle Gonzales," "I'm Kendrick Lamar," you say. What all went down behind the scenes?
I honestly forget that even happened, just because I think it's so crazy that I have a music video with Kendrick Lamar, of all people. Just one of my favorite musicians, period, let alone a guy like Kendrick Lamar, right? So we were backstage hanging out and he starts talking about how he wants to make a music video with all this footage that happened. And then we do a random take, start chopping it up, just kind of organic how you and me are chopping it up, right?
And then he goes, "Well, let's do one where you say you're me, and I'm you." And I'm like, "Okay, cool. Do you wanna just like, freestyle, talk about whatever? I used to do theater as a kid a little bit, you know, I can improv. Let's do it." That's kind of where you end up seeing the footage about me talking about talking to Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre doesn't know who I am. But what if he does? That's the wild part. In that case, Dre, what's up, man? Hit me up, fly me out. I'm here for it, dawg. But yeah, that was all his idea. He wanted to do all that, and I went, "Yeah, I'm the guy. I can do that." Both footages together are Austin and San Antonio. Which is just bananas. It's crazy, being able to do that more than once?
That's crazy. So, I want to take a step back and talk about the past year of hip-hop real quick. The Drake and Kendrick beef, obviously. What was your reaction to that unfolding? Have you been a Drake fan? Were you ever one? Were you listening to him when you were listening to Kendrick? What was that like for you?
That definitely was crazy, especially with everybody in my intermediate life. Everybody knows that I'm a Kendrick fan. Always have been. The funny thing about Drake, too, is that my middle-school girlfriend loved him on Degrassi. And then he started rapping out of nowhere. So, I remember when "Best I Ever Had" dropped and it was all over the radio at that point. I remember downloading So Far Gone track-by-track on LimeWire. So yeah, needless to say, there's always gonna be a part of me that ends up liking Drake, right?
But then when you start getting into the Big 3 conversation, yeah, it definitely was interesting watching it all pan out in real time. I remember the day that Future and Metro Boomin dropped We Don't Trust You, and I see Kendrick's got a featured track. I'm like, "Aww buddy, this is gonna be good." And then it's that first initial reaction of listening to it and you go, "Whoaaaa, man—how else is this gonna pan out?" I felt like everybody in my circle of people that I would see on a day-to-day basis, one day it was "Euphoria" drops. And then, "Kyle, what do you think about this?" "Oh, man, it's awesome." He said, "I hate the way that you talk, the way that you walk…"
I've been on "Euphoria" so heavy for the past week. I can't stop listening to it.
Out of that whole segment of music that came out, I feel like it's definitely a little bit less recognized. Not enough people are talking about "Euphoria" is my point.
I agree.
But then you get to "Meet the Grahams," this creepy murder beat. What is that, Alchemist, right? It's wild. And then you get "Not Like Us" and I felt like that was 2024 in a nutshell. Honestly, I kind of wish that Drake would have retaliated just a little bit more, because that's what rap beef really is. But it's good. It's just all good music, man. I'm having to explain it to folks that don't understand just how good of a time this is. Being able to watch it all in real time. It's like watching two great boxers fighting, you know?
Exactly. Except nobody's getting physically hurt. Just spiritually and psychologically.
Psychologically, definitely. That's definitely the best way to be able to put it. I don't know how I would react if I was Drake watching the Super Bowl halftime show in real time.
What did you think of the Super Bowl? The Super Bowl and his performance, specifically.
It was cool being able to see the Eagles knock it down—Go Birds. As far as the halftime show ends up going, I think about past halftime shows, especially with music in its current state. We had Rihanna, we had the Weeknd. More so recent artists, I'm kind of drawing a blank a little bit, but as a Kendrick fan? Fantastic show. You can see he's dropping nonstop GNX hits. Hearing a whole stadium yell out "MUSTARD" was crazy. But especially as somebody who expects good performances, I wish that he would have encapsulated a little bit more of his discography. He should have done "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe." He should have done "Alright." Maybe a little bit of "King Kunta." He did "DNA." which was dope, he did "HUMBLE." which is dope. But I don't know, I think about "ELEMENT." or like, "LOYALTY." Other songs that people would hear and be like, "Oh, I didn't know this was Kendrick Lamar."
I definitely understand that, but I'm also thinking about how he has this recent catalogue that he hasn't been able to perform. He had the Pop Out over the summer last year where he was able to perform "LOYALTY." and "ELEMENT." and all those songs. And then, he's getting ready for this tour, obviously. But I feel like he just wanted to get it off the way he wanted to. He didn't really, to be frank, give a fuck, what anybody particularly thought of the set list. I think he was just like, "This is me, this is what represents me at this moment." So I think that's maybe what he was thinking, but I don't know that man.
And then, of course, you get the fan theories that are like, "Oh, he's doing this because this is the reason." And it sounds almost too good to be true, to be honest. But hey, I mean, he might be hard-wired different, man. It makes so much more sense. I don't know. Of all artists, it's gotta be Kendrick Lamar that would do something like that, right? But especially trying to get off on the new material, I understand it 100 percent. When you look at the playability factor behind GNX, inviting SZA out and doing "luther" together, "All the Stars." That's crazy. Think about the Black Panther soundtrack. People forget that was a whole Kendrick Lamar project. It's just real wild, you know? One of the best movies, or one of the most memorable, remarkable, momentous? I don't know, it's crazy.
I saw your tweets about Timothée Chalamet jocking your style. So what are your thoughts on this Super Bowl ad that he participated in in which he rapped "Kush & Corinthians" and "The Heart Pt. 2" together with Kendrick Lamar?
[Laughs] I was with my brother when that dropped. Me and him, we were DJing at some random gig and I was like, "Wow, peep this out. Timmy Boy is out here jocking my style, man." I was just joking, and he was like, "Dude, what if you started an internet beef with Timothée Chalamet? And say you were a Kendrick fan before he was, and now he wants to be you so bad." And I just went, "Yeah, that's a really good bit. I think that would be funny. What if he ends up seeing it?"
Of all songs, though, for him to rap, I thought it was crazy that it was "Kush & Corinthians" and "The Heart Pt. 2." "The Heart Pt. 2," off top, top-five Kendrick song, personally. That song has a very special place in my heart, just from that time in my life. So he starts rapping it in this commercial, and I'm like, "Oh my God: is Timothée Chalamet cool?" [Laughs] But then I had that thought—what if he'd seen my video? And it kind of took me back a little bit. But yeah, no, the internet beef, it's all for clicks, man. Don't worry. Oh, that's so good. I think this interview would be so much better if I was like, "Yeah man, fuck Timothée Chalamet, man! When I see that cat, it's on sight!" I would never.
Don't worry, I'll chop it up and make it look salacious. I got you. [Laughs] Okay, so it sounds like you've been keeping up with Kendrick's music pretty much throughout his career, right?
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Do you have favorite albums and or songs?
Yo, dude, yeah. Favorite albums? Personal favorite, Section.80 definitely ends up holding a special place in my heart. When you start talking about top to bottoms, I kid you not, I spent a whole hour and a half shopping at H-E-B the other day, and I just had that thought about listening to DAMN. for the first time. Even top to bottom, you let "YAH." ride, then you get to the spots where it's like "XXX." and "LUST." That's such a great album. That album definitely helped him, I don't want to say pop off—he was already starting to do fantastic at that time, dude. Like I said, "Hood Politics," "Momma." Those are always two personal favorites of mine, because I feel like they come on To Pimp a Butterfly and they almost don't get enough recognition.
I've seen "Momma" hate, and I'm like, what is that about? Why? I don't get it.
That's just trolls on Reddit, bro. Don't even give them the clicks! That's so wild. It's so tough for me talking about Kendrick Lamar because, maybe it's just my personal connection, but because of that personal connection, I've been able to deep dive into his discography. Of course, that love for hip-hop has been a thing since I was in middle school, and I met my best friend. So, growing into that music, you grow with it. It's wild, man. I can go on and on. I feel like you could play his whole discography on a 12-hour road trip and I would know every song. Off top, "The Heart Pt. 2," tell Timmy Boy I'm coming for him. [Laughs]
The message has been sent. [Laughs]
The message has been sent, man!
Are there any other songs that you've memorized of Kendrick's or anybody else's that are near and dear to you?
Almost too many to talk about, especially as a music guy. When you start talking about hip-hop in particular, I mean, Travis Scott, ScHoolboy Q, Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper. The list goes on and on. Especially whenever you start talking about that blog era of hip-hop. There's gonna be the Kid Cudis and the Kanye Wests and the ASAP Rockys. I'm over here talking about skipping Easter to go see Wiz Khalifa, Larry June, and Ab-Soul in Denver. Like, "Sorry, mom! Can't make it to Easter, gotta go to Denver, gotta go to a concert!" And especially with that Kendrick Lamar moment, there's that thought in the back of your head like, "Oh man, they could call me up at any time!" They could see me freaking out and be like, "I want that guy onstage right now!" So you always gotta keep one in the chamber, man. Needless to say, because of that, I'm fantastic at karaoke. It just all depends on who's around in the room. [Laughs] But honestly, my brain is a whole catalogue of memorized music. So, trust me. You want me to get up onstage and rip one? I got you.
I completely forgot to ask this question earlier: What was it like to be onstage being hyped up by Kendrick Lamar? And you not being the hype man?
Oh, buddy! When you do such a good job that the artist you're rapping along with or playing a song with, whatever the case may be, they wanna be you? There's no feeling close to that. I had somebody who, even at 2012 Kendrick Lamar, would look at me and be like, "Oh, I'm Kyle Gonzales." That's an unprecedented feeling, man. [Laughs] But I think that I find a lot of solace knowing the fact that I didn't peak in that time. You get the guys, "Oh, I was quarterback on the high-school football team. We went to state." You would think that somebody like me would go, "Oh, I rapped with Kendrick Lamar and that was the peak of my life." But that definitely was not the case. I feel like life has only been great since then. Dude, I was barely 18 when that happened. And since then, I'm dating the love of my life. I'm going around seeing concerts and making new memories. I own my own business, I'm a trivia and wedding DJ. I run a banking center; I'm a manager at a bank. That's crazy. Life definitely did not peak when I rapped with Kendrick. It only made things that much sweeter, which is sick. Having somebody like Kendrick Lamar being able to hype you up is definitely bananas. That's a wild time. I'm actually in the process of trying to get him to notice me so I can go out to see him in Dallas. Can't afford a $500 ticket, man. I'm just saying.
I feel you. We'll see what happens. Maybe we'll all be blessed. Maybe we'll all be blessed.
Oh Ki, if that happens, I'm taking you with me, man!
Thank you, thank you. [Laughs] Last question. How do you feel about the Kendrick that you shared that moment with, having over 100 million Spotify monthly listeners, breaking Billboard records, breaking Grammy records? How do you feel about the person that you shared that moment with becoming the person he is today?
I would like to think that if I had the chance to chop it up with him, I could have that same sentiment and statement, the way that I have with you just now, and have him see the growth in me as I see in him. We're almost like new people, man. Ten years can change a lot out of somebody in the first place. And I think about Kendrick as like, a $20 club show rapper. Like, that's one of my favorite bits. I go to a lot of concerts. I'm like, "Yeah, man. I saw Kendrick for $20 at a club that's not even there anymore in downtown Austin, bro." And now this man's selling out whole stadiums, nationwide. And then I think about me when I was 17. I was still in high school. I cut out of my class early to go to that concert. And here I am now, living life. It's awesome, man. You grow with somebody like that over time and you always feel a personal connection to the music. Music speaks a lot.
Perfectly said, thank you. Is there anything else that you would like to say, promote, share, anything at all?
Thank you for doing what you're doing, Kiana. Thank you for letting me have my chance to tell my story, dude.