Kendrick Lamar
- In full:
- Kendrick Lamar Duckworth
- Also called:
- K. Dot
- Born:
- June 17, 1987, Compton, California, U.S. (age 37)
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Kendrick Lamar (born June 17, 1987, Compton, California, U.S.) is an American rapper who has achieved critical and commercial success with such albums as good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) and To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).
- Overly Dedicated (2010)
- Section.80 (2011)
- good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
- To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
- untitled unmastered. (2016)
- DAMN. (2017)
- Black Panther: The Album (2018)
- Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022)
- GNX (2024)
Early life and career
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth grew up in a high-crime area of Compton, California, where his parents had moved to escape a violent milieu in Chicago. He began writing rhymes as a young teenager, and he released his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga in Charge (2003), under the name K. Dot. The music impressed Anthony Tiffith, head of the newly formed record label Top Dawg Entertainment, and he signed the musician.
Duckworth put out two more mixtapes as K. Dot—Training Day (2005) and C4 (2009)—before releasing Overly Dedicated (2010) as Kendrick Lamar. He became a popular guest performer on tracks put out by other rappers and also joined fellow Top Dawg artists Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and ScHoolboy Q in a hip-hop collective known as Black Hippy.
In 2011 Top Dawg made Lamar’s album Section.80 available on iTunes, and at a concert that same year Lamar was ceremonially declared the “new king of the West Coast” by veteran rap artists Game, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre.
good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly
In 2012 Lamar signed with Dr. Dre’s label Aftermath Entertainment and released his first LP, good kid, m.A.A.d city; it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and yielded the R&B/hip-hop hits “Swimming Pools (Drank)” and “Poetic Justice.” Critics noted that it was a concept album with an autobiographical narrative. Lamar was nominated for seven 2013 Grammy Awards, including best album and best new artist, but failed to win. The following year, however, his single “i” took the awards for best rap song and best rap performance.
In 2015 Lamar released To Pimp a Butterfly, which was a huge success. The album broke a Spotify record—being streamed more than 9.6 million times—within a week of its release, and U.S. Pres. Barack Obama declared that the single “How Much a Dollar Cost” was his favorite song of 2015. The following year Lamar received 11 Grammy nominations, and he won for best rap performance and best rap song (both for “Alright”), best rap/sung collaboration (for “These Walls”), best music video (for “Bad Blood”), and best rap album (for To Pimp a Butterfly). He also enlivened the ceremony with a vivid performance of “The Blacker the Berry.”
untitled unmastered., DAMN., and additional recordings
In March 2016 Lamar unexpectedly released a new album, untitled unmastered., consisting of eight tracks that he described as unfinished demos. Later that year he was nominated for two Grammy Awards, both for his contribution to Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” from her popular 2016 album Lemonade.
In 2017 Lamar released another album, titled DAMN., which features the hit song “HUMBLE.” and was well received by fans and critics alike. He won Grammys for best rap album (DAMN.), best rap song, rap performance, and music video (all for “HUMBLE.”), and best rap/sung performance (“LOYALTY.”; with Rihanna). In addition, DAMN. became the first nonclassical or jazz recording to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music.
In 2018 the soundtrack for the film Black Panther was released. Lamar produced and curated the album, a collection of songs “from and inspired by” the movie, and he performed on every track. The single “King’s Dead,” which also features Jay Rock, Future, and James Blake, won a Grammy for best rap performance.
Lamar performed with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, and other hip-hop stars at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022. Later that year he released his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. The 18-track recording features collaborations with a diverse range of musicians and was noted for its complexity and introspection. It won Grammys for best rap album, rap song, and rap performance; the latter two awards were for “The Heart Part 5.”
In November 2024 Lamar released GNX, a surprise 12-track album that came after an epic months-long feud with Canadian rapper and singer Drake (which produced the biggest hit of Lamar’s career to date). Considered to be a return to Lamar’s California roots, GNX was hailed as another of Lamar’s monumental releases by some critics and called thematically uneven by others. Most agreed that it was less introspective than Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers though just as complex. Despite the mixed reviews, fans looked forward to his appearance at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, which would be his first time playing the event as the headliner.
Rap feuds
Lamar had stirred up trouble with his peers in previous work, such as his feature verse on Big Sean’s 2013 track “Control,” in which he took shots at a litany of other rappers, both new and old. However, in early 2024 Lamar started a viral rap beef with Drake.
Fans had called Lamar, Drake, and J. Cole the “Big Three” of hip-hop until Lamar started the beef by dissing both Drake and Cole on a feature verse of the song “Like That” (on the collaboration album We Don’t Trust You by Future and Metro Boomin). Cole quickly released a half-hearted diss track in response but then just as quickly apologized and removed the track from audio streaming services.
The two would go on to release several diss tracks against each other. Although the scathing bars began as relatively benign, they quickly devolved into sobering accusations. Drake, among other affronts, claimed that Lamar was physically violent toward his fiancée Whitney Alford, who was Lamar’s high school sweetheart. In one of Lamar’s responses, the catchy West Coast rap song “Not Like Us,” he attacked Drake for reportedly being a pedophile. Drake denied the allegations. “Not Like Us” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped radio charts. It also broke a record on Spotify for the most plays of a rap song in a single day.
The feud between Lamar and Drake has been compared to previous rap rivalries such as:
The peculiar dynamics of technology in 2024 have made the Lamar-Drake feud unique—it became an Internet sensation. Audio streaming services have made it possible for Drake and Kendrick to quickly release response tracks, in some cases just minutes after the latest diss. Artificial intelligence is a near-omnipresent element; not only have Drake and others incorporated its use in songs, but also fans online have sifted through inauthentic diss tracks made by unknown actors. Furthermore, the historic feud has made headlines as both artists weaponized controversy in addition to lyricism. Fans, hip-hop content creators, and journalists have raced to analyze the layers of each subsequent surprise release, always debating, of course, who is beating who.