Leon Bridges Says Kendrick Lamar Makes Him Write Better, Talks Being Starstruck Around Miguel

(Photo : Getty Images/Angela Weiss) Leon Bridges said Kendrick Lamar makes him a better writer.

There's no doubt that Kendrick Lamar has inspired a whole generation of young MCs who want to rhyme about other topics besides cars, women, guns and jewelry, but he also gave inspiration to one particular singer who's been making plenty of noise.

Singer-songwriter Leon Bridges spoke with Complex about some of his musical influences and perhaps surprisingly, he pulls a lot from K Dot as far as writing goes.

"Anything, any type of music is something that I can be inspired by," he explained. "It doesn't mean it has to be old."

"But if you want to talk about classic, I love Bobby Womack and Neil Young, but I'm also inspired by hip-hop. Listening to Kendrick Lamar challenges me to be a better writer. I like to pull inspiration from different places," added Bridges.

He also said the singer Miguel is the only celebrity that he's met so far that's made him nervous, and the "Adorn" creator is the very reason he started playing an instrument.

"Meeting Miguel totally threw me off," Bridges recalled. "He's one of the reasons I picked up a guitar. It was encouraging to see a black man doing it. Kind of doing something off the path, off the norm."

You can read the "River" singer's full interview here.