Lenny Kravitz News

Lenny Kravitz is not the kind of person who spends much time thinking about the past.

So the rocker found it "surreal" to work on his latest project, which is, in essence, his first project — the rerelease of his debut album, "Let Love Rule."

It's been 20 years since that album arrived on the music scene. Back then, Kravitz was a dreadlocked 24-year-old who was being called a new version of Prince or Jimi Hendrix.

In the time that has passed, Kravitz has more than proved he's his own man. The artist has endured through two decades because he remains a unique voice in pop and rock. With the 20th anniversary edition of "Let Love Rule," re-mastered with additional material, fans can remember how that voice began.

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The Associated Press: Listening to the songs on "Let Love Rule" now, do any of them have a different meaning for you?

Kravitz: I feel like things have evolved. A song like "Let Love Rule," which is really an anthem for me, and has become the people's song. I think beyond it's original intent, I think it means more now and has even more relevance now based upon the circumstances that we're in on the planet.

AP: How so?

Kravitz: Well, if you had asked me 20 years ago if I thought the world would be a better place in 20 years, I would have thought yeah, I would have thought that we'd have some kind of evolution even if it was minimal, but in actuality we are in a much worse place as a global community and as just the planet earth, itself, environmentally as well.

AP: Are you less hopeful?

Kravitz: I'm not less hopeful. I take the position of remaining optimistic but there's a much deeper hill to climb.

AP: Looking back, how do see how you've grown as an artist and personally in these 20 years?

Kravitz: I don't know if the music shows me how I've changed, I've just changed through time and growth. When I listen to it, it's not like I listen to it and say, listen to that young naive kid. But I guess in some was there was a naivete that was there, and there was a real openness that was there that is maybe still part of me at my core but I had to change to adapt to what happened to me after becoming popular.

AP: You've moved to Paris. What about the city drew you?

Kravitz: For a city I love it, because I'm moved by architecture and this is the most beautiful city as far as I'm concerned. It's a very magical city, but it's not overwhelming. It's not a city that stresses me out.

AP: Did New York stress you out at times?

Kravitz: New York got to that point for me. Everything. just everything. I still love New York, I'm a new Yorker. I'll always be a New Yorker. But New York also changed a lot, and what I miss about New York is the individualism it used to have. It's become so just like everywhere else.

AP: You're in the upcoming movie "Precious." What does acting do for you that music doesn't?

Kravitz: It's completely different. And it's a medium in which you've put your faith in the director, it's completely a director's medium. I'm used to doing my own thing, my own music, my own words, my own this, my own that, and this is taking direction, and I like that, I like that very much.

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