Lamar is frequently talking about kids in underprivileged neighborhoods, whether in his formative stomping grounds of Compton or elsewhere. It makes sense, as his own formative years were spent trying to “make it” in a positive way, instead of turning to gang participation by default. The futures of the young and disadvantaged is a topic of tremendous importance to Lamar. The rapper believes in the immense value of a kid’s cultural currency, regardless of his or her roots — in person, it’s clear just how passionate he is about the topic. In a fashion context, Lamar perceives youth as the ultimate trendsetters. (We’re all about the taste making abilities of the younger set here at Refinery29.)“You've always gotta look at what the next 13-year-old is wearing — the same person I was once — because these are the people who make the culture. We can't run from the kids,” Lamar says. “We throw the high cost [price tags] on shoes and clothes, to try to distract it from the kids,” he explains about the prohibitive price of brand-name sports brands and streetwear. "But [kids] make the culture, period.”His relationship with the Reebok Classic kick goes back a long way — the shoe surrounded him during his youth, before he even owned his first pair. “Kids were wearing them heavy,” Lamar explained of the Reebok Classic’s presence in his childhood. “But prior to me actually [wearing] the shoe, I just remember my uncle and older cousins wearing them, when I was four or five years old,” he says. “It wasn’t, like, a new shoe that popped in my face once Lil Wayne and Cash Money came out; it was something that has always been in my house. By the time I was able to understand that these are some cool, classy kicks, it just so happened that some of my favorite rappers were wearing them. It just worked like that.”Lamar wants his work with Reebok to be significant beyond simply making merchandise, and the rapper’s desire to do so comes off as authentic. Plastering red and blue onto a shoe to send a message isn’t enough for the musician — he wants to be the impetus for actual change. (Sneaker culture is an incredibly powerful thing, regardless of socioeconomic background.) Kendrick wants Reebok — plus any and all sneaker brands, really — to positively affect at-risk kids.