Kendrick Lamar Performs on 'Ellen,' Talks Taylor Swift (Video)

Lamar and Swift are fans of each other.

Kendrick Lamar visited The Ellen DeGeneres Show for the first time on Wednesday, performing a song from his new album and talking about his latest collaboration with Taylor Swift.

During the performance, an artist painted an image of the male and female dancers that accompanied Lamar as he rapped "These Walls" from his recent album To Pimp a Butterfly.

Following his performance, DeGeneres gave a congratulatory shout out to his Grammy win and asked the singer what it means for him to be a positive icon. "It means everything to me because I know there's a lot of kids in my neighborhood that's (sic) watching TV and saying 'you know what, I want to be a positive influence just like Kendrick Lamar, or whoever is out there doing something for the good,' " Lamar said.

The Compton native extended gratitude to his parents for pushing him to succeed: "They put something in my heart to do something more than what I was raised around, in taking all my influence, whether negative or positive, and doing it in the right way.

As for Taylor Swift, Lamar said the singer — a self-declared fan of the rapper — reached out to him about appearing in her "Bad Blood" music video: "I've always been a fan of hers, and she was a fan of my music and she reached out and we got it done."