Kendrick Lamar Responds To Geraldo's Criticism Of Him & Hip Hop

Geraldo Rivera made news this week for his criticism of Kendrick Lamar's performance of 'Alright' at the BET awards, taking particular objection to K.Dot rapping on top of a vandalized police car.

Lamar fired back at Rivera yesterday during an interview with TMZ, explaining that the cop car wasn't central to the song's positive message.

"He took a song about hope and turned it into hatred," Lamar said.

He also took on Rivera's bigger point -- that Hip Hop is more damaging to black people than racism is.

"Hip Hop is not the problem ... This is our music. This is us expressing ourselves. Rather [than] going out here and doing the murders myself, I want to express myself in a positive light the same way other artists are doing. Not going out in the streets, go in the booth and talking about the situation and hoping these kids can find some type of influence on it in a positive manner. Coming from these streets and coming from these neighborhoods, we're taking our talents and putting 'em inside the studio."