In this piece from NPR Music, rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose latest album, To Pimp a Butterfly, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's albums chart earlier this year, visits Brian Mooney's class at High Tech High School in North Bergen, N.J. Lamar's work engages themes of blackness and beauty, which is why Mooney decided to use it to with his freshman English students as they studied Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye.

About his visit, Lamar had this to say: "Something even — for me — even bigger than mentoring is really listening," he says. "And when I do that, we have a little bit bigger connection than me being Kendrick Lamar and you being a student. It's almost like we're friends, you know? Because a friend listens and we learn off each others' experiences."

Kendrick Lamar, who will be playing at Essence Festival in New Orleans on Sunday, July 5.