At 15 years old, Young Dylan is already on a path that would be enviable to most adults: He’s the star of the eponymous hit show on Nickelodeon, handles co-hosting duties for “NFL Slime Time” and is currently working on new music of his own with legendary star maker, Jermaine Dupri. 

This past weekend at the Kendrick Lamar press conference leading up to the Super Bowl, the Maryland native stole the spotlight when he asked K. Dot to give advice to young people about being authentic while pursuing their path, and the answer was as poignant as any of the “Humble” MC’s bars. (See below). 

What advice could you give to kids about not being like anybody else and how can they stay authentic while pursuing their path? The whole weekend was a positive for the young multi-hyphenate, but as he told Rock The Bells in an exclusive conversation, getting to soak up game from Kendrick was the highlight. 

“I gotta say, the best part was Kendrick Lamar. He's such a cool guy and so wise,” said Dylan. “I just listened to everything he said and I just took it all in honestly. He's really a smart man, and this was my first time talking to him,” he added. Though he was born in 2009, Dylan’s parents made it a point from the jump to teach him about the value of storytelling in Hip-Hop, and his father in particular used one of the culture’s most prominent figures to hammer home that point.

“My dad is a Jay-Z fan, so he always would play Jay in the house,” Dylan recalled. “I really got my musical mindset from my dad. He's not a rapper but he's so into music. He put me on to mixtape Drake, when Drake was with Wayne, he put me on to Wayne, he put me on to Jay-Z, Biggie and so many of the greats. 

In addition to prepping for season five of Tyler Perry’s “Young Dylan,” which comes out later this month, Dylan also recently dropped his latest mixtape ‘2nd To None,’ and has been working on new music with one of Hip-Hop’s most notable producers. 

It’s been a great experience because Jermaine Dupri is a genius, so I love taking advice from him, applying it to my craft, and making myself better as an artist. Also, everyday there's a new artist coming in that I haven't met. Nelly, Bow Wow, Usher, it was new people coming in every day,” noted Dylan, who also revealed some of the best pieces of advice he’s gotten from the So So Def mogul.

“If you don't feel right about the verse do it over. I'm a perfectionist. so, if I don't like something on the verse I'll do it over again and over again until I think it's perfect,” Dylan revealed. “No matter how many times it takes, I might get upset, might get mad about it, but do it over again, If I'm not in the right space and I need to take some time, take some time and then do it over again. It's your art so if it takes some time to make it perfect that's okay.” 

With Dylan’s dad present, it felt only right to find out what kind of debates came out with two lovers of the culture from two very different generations. His father made it clear that they definitely have a healthy dialogue on the subject. 

“We have a lot of debates and I try to tell him, before he was born, music was so much better. it was lyricism in those days. We made R&B songs for the ladies, now they just take two words and put them together,” said Dylan’s father. While acknowledging the greatness that came from the 90s, Dylan also stuck up for his generation, specifically citing Hip-Hop’s most notorious present day battle. 

“We're always arguing over what era was better. He'll be like 'y'all couldn't mess with the 90s,' I'll give it to him, 90's was better than what's going on now, but let's not forget we just had a [battle] between two of the greatest rappers from my generation, Kendrick and Drake,” Dylan responded.

“Let's not forget 2010s, we had a few heads too, Wayne was still poppin,' Jay was still poppin,' Ye was still poppin,' Kendrick was still poppin.' we had everybody. Me personally, I think 2010s was better than the 2000s, 90s was hot, but I give love to my generation, and that's just cause I'm a little biased.”