Kendrick Lamar has some work to do. MTV's reigning Hottest MC in the Game thrilled fans with his cinematic major-label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city, but now that [article id="1715967"]a year has passed[/article], Kendrick is just about ready to go back in for album #2.

"I definitely got ideas; ideas for sure. Going back in and locking in, I haven't done that yet, but I have ideas and I know what I want to do," he told MTV News shortly before he performed at [article id="1716720"]Power 105's Powerhouse concert[/article] in Brooklyn earlier this month.

The good kid album was a highly conceptualized affair, where Lamar told connected tales of meeting his first love and the violent fallout, which ultimately shaped who he is today. A number of artists talk about the pressures of having to deliver on a sophomore album, but Kendrick is just taking it easy for his next time out.

"[I'm] letting the inspiration come for sure. If I knock myself into the wall, I'll probably be out the game for a minute because it's stressful trying to be creative rather than letting creativity come to you and being inspired by something," he explained, before admitting to MTV News that he rarely listens to gkmc.

"Man if I wasn't onstage, I probably wouldn't be listening to it [after] the day I put it out," he said. "I don't like to get stuck in doing something [so] that once I do move on and do my next joint, I don't want to get caught up in it sounding the same or being locked in to what I've done already. I always want to elevate myself and challenge myself."

Lamar has done an excellent job at elevating himself as evidenced by the latest GQ Man of the Year issue, which includes him as one of a select group of covers. But in the mag, K-Dot goes on to address his relationship with Drake, after Lamar called him out with his verse on Big Sean's "Control" track.

"Pretty cool," Kendrick reportedly told the mag of the current status of his relationship with Drake. "I mean, I would be OK if we weren't," he added.