Kendrick Lamar's appearance on Power was somewhat of a surprise.

But he's been preparing for it for years.

“I’ve always been a fan of the show,” Kendrick told showrunner Courtney Kemp in a video for Variety. “Me, 50 and Top always communicate like, man, we got to do something one day and make something right. It’s been a process for like, I want to say four years. It’s been a while. It’s just timing about everything.”

Kendrick's only request is he didn't want to play a drug dealer. Instead, he portrayed a bilingual crackhead named Laces.

The critics on Twitter were impressed with his performance. What did you think?