Recently, sensational rapper Kendrick Lamar, expressed his concerns and ideas about the issues going on right now between the police and civilians in Ferguson, Missouri and New York.

During an interview with Billboard Magazine Lamar discussed many things, but one of the most notable were his opinions on the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

Lamar mentioned that growing up in the rough neighborhood of Compton, California he was frequently treated unfairly by cops.

Lamar said mistreatment by the authorities happened “plenty of times. All the time.”

But in lieu of this, Lamar believes that the rebellious attitude of protestors who are looting and reacting violently is not conducive to helping in the fight against police injustice, and stereotyping.

The phrase which Lamar repeated, “the change must come from within,” is the mantra he believes is necessary to fix the issues going on in the U.S. concerning police brutality and racial stereotyping. Lamar’s train of thought is this: if individuals continuously misbehave it will only weaken their case and position, but if positive changes begin to occur in the communities where police injustice is found, he believes the issues will go away altogether.

He stated, “I wish somebody would look in our neighborhood knowing that it’s already a situation, mentally, where it’s fucked up. What happened to [Michael Brown] should’ve never happened. Never. But when we don’t have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us? It starts from within. Don’t start with just a rally, don’t start from looting — it starts from within.”

In the rest of Billboard’s cover story on Kendrick he went on to speak about music stars Iggy Azalea and Macklemore.