Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar (born June 17, 1987, Compton, California, U.S.) is an American rapper who achieved critical and commercial success with such albums as good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) and To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) and singles such as “Not Like Us” (2024). Considered one of the best lyricists of his generation, in 2018 he became the first nonclassical or jazz recording artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, for his groundbreaking album DAMN. (2017). Two years after the release of GNX in 2024, he broke the record for the most Grammy Awards won by a rapper, having racked up 27 Grammys (two more than the record previously held by JAY-Z).

A good kid from Compton

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth grew up in a high-crime area of Compton, California, where his parents, Kenny Duckworth and Paula Oliver, had moved to escape a violent milieu in Chicago. His parents exposed him to a wide variety of music, from gangsta rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre to Motown legend Marvin Gaye. When he was eight years old he saw Dre and Tupac Shakur filming the music video for the song “California Love” at a local flea market, and from that day forward he wanted to be a rapper.

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.

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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.

Taking off with 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, evoking Lamar’s experience of growing up in Compton. 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. With songs about racism and piercing self-introspection and musical forays into jazz and funk (Miles Davis was an influence, and George Clinton is a featured guest artist), it was a huge success. The album broke a Spotify record—it was 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. As for the album’s inspired title, Lamar told Rolling Stone, “Just putting the word pimp next to butterfly…It’s a trip. That’s something that will be a phrase forever. It’ll be taught in college courses—I truly believe that.”

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The following year Lamar received 11 Grammy nominations, and he won for best rap album, best rap performance and best rap song (both for the protest anthem “Alright”), best rap/sung collaboration (for “These Walls,” which features Bilal, Anna Wise, and Thundercat), and best music video (for “Bad Blood”). He also enlivened the ceremony with a vivid performance of “The Blacker the Berry.”

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.

Making history with DAMN.

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 and best rap/sung performance (for “LOYALTY.”; a collaboration with Rihanna). “HUMBLE.” picked up the awards for best rap song, rap performance, and music video. DAMN. made history as the first nonclassical or jazz recording to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music. The judges cited the album as “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.” Many critics and fans saw the moment as a vindication of hip-hop’s artistry. In The New Yorker Amanda Petrusich wrote that the win “felt like a decisive dismantling of fusty ideas about high and low art and, especially, who gets to claim genius as his own.”

Lamar continued to explore new territory in music and pop culture. 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 lauded 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.”

GNX, “Not Like Us,” and one of the all-time great rap feuds

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 album’s mixed reviews, fans looked forward to Lamar’s appearance at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, which was his first time playing the event as the headliner. His performance, which featured an array of hit songs, included guest appearances by SZA and Samuel L. Jackson. In 2026 GNX won the Grammy for rap album of the year. The single “Luther”—a duet with SZA named for soul great Luther Vandross, whose 1982 song “If This World Were Mine” is sampled on the track—won for record of the year.

All of this followed on the heels of Lamar’s viral rap beef with Drake. 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. But his feud with Drake was on another level, cementing itself in hip-hop history and 21st-century pop culture.

After the beef erupted in early 2024, 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.

In 2025 “Not Like Us” won five Grammy Awards, including the trophies for song of the year and record of the year. That same year Drake sued his label, Universal Music Group (UMG), for defamation and harassment, claiming that UMG’s promotion of “Not Like Us” undermined “the safety and well-being of its artists.” A judge later tossed out the case, saying that listeners could come to the conclusion that the lyrics merely express an opinion.

The peculiar dynamics of technology in 2024 made the Lamar-Drake feud unique—it became an Internet sensation. Audio streaming services have made it possible for Drake and Lamar 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.

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