Prince reveals he secretly fanboys Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West

Prince is not generous with his praise so the two rappers must be good

Prince does like some modern music after all (Getty Images)

Amid all that moaning about it being a "bad time for music", it turns out Prince has been secretly fanboying two of 2015's biggest stars.

The legendary singer has revealed that he has been playing a lot of rappers Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West and guess what? He thinks they're really good. "Pure" and "perfect", in fact.

"He just has something he has to say. It's pure, and with Thundercat on the album? Come on. You're not taking 'Alright' off my playlist," he told Medium of Lamar's latest album To Pimp a Butterfly.

Kendrick Lamar has been making waves in the rap world (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch)

As for West, it was his sampling of Ray Charles on hit "Gold Digger" that most impressed Prince. "The way he made something new with that sample was perfect," he said.

Rapper Kanye West has a big enough ego already thanks Prince (GETTY)

Prince also has a lot of time for Janelle Monae ("She's gonna be president!" and Jill Scott ("Every song on that first album was the truth"), but he's keen to make sure aspiring musicians "learn from the masters".

"I played Sly Stone to Lianne La Havas and she had not ever heard him," he said. "Then she listened and was totally inspired."

Prince's next album with band 3rdEyeGirl is called HITNRUN and will be released on Tidal later this month.