Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987), known simply as Kendrick Lamar, is an American hip hop recording artist from Compton, California. In 2004, Lamar signed to the Carson-based indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment and in 2012, Lamar and the label signed a joint venture deal with Aftermath and Interscope Records. Lamar is also a member of West Coast hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside his label-mates and fellow California-based rappers Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul.

Kendrick Lamar

Lamar first gained major attention in
2010, after the release of Overly Dedicated, his first retail-release. The following year he released his first independent album, titled Section.80, exclusively through iTunes. The album received critical acclaim and instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year. Early in his career, before releasing his major-label debut, Lamar amassed a large internet following and had already worked with prominent artists such as Dr. Dre, Game, Drake, Young Jeezy, Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, E-40, Warren G and Lil Wayne, among others.

His major-label debut studio album good kid, m.A.A.d city, was released October 22, 2012, to widespread acclaim. The album spawned the Top 40 hits "Swimming Pools (Drank)", "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe", and "Poetic Justice". Upon its release, the album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In early 2013, MTV crowned Lamar the No. 1 "Hottest MC in the Game" on their annual list.[6] Lamar also received a total of seven Grammy nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards (2014), including Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Rap Song.


1987–2009: Early life and musical beginnings

Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, to parents from Chicago, Illinois. His birth name was given to him by his mother in honor of singer Eddie Kendricks. In 1995, at the age of eight, Lamar witnessed his idols Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre, film the music video for their hit single "California Love", which would later prove to be a very significant moment in Lamar's life. As a teenager, Lamar attended Centennial High School in Compton, where he was a straight A student

In 2003, at the age of sixteen, Lamar released his first full-length project, a mixtape titled Youngest Head Nigga in Charge (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year), under the pseudonym K-Dot. The mixtape garnered enough local attention for Lamar to secure a recording contract with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), a newly founded local indie record label, based in Carson, California. He began recording material with the label and subsequently released a twenty-six track mixtape two years later, titled Training Day (2005). Throughout 2006 and 2007, Lamar, alongside other up-and-coming West Coast rappers such as his TDE label-mate Jay Rock and Ya Boy, toured and opened for veteran West Coast rapper Game. Lamar, under his moniker K-Dot, was also featured on Game's songs "The Cypha" and "Cali Niggaz".

In 2008, Lamar made a brief cameo appearance in the music video for his Top Dawg label-mate Jay Rock's commercial debut single, "All My Life (In the Ghetto)". More recognition came Lamar's way after a video of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced, where Hamilton went in the crowd to battle fellow rappers in attendance. Lamar did not hesitate and began rapping a verse over the instrumental to Miilkbone's "Keep It Real", that would later appear on a track titled "West Coast Wu-Tang". After receiving a co-sign from American hip hop superstar Lil Wayne, Lamar released his third mixtape in 2009, titled C4, heavily themed around Wayne's Tha Carter III LP. Soon after, Lamar decided to drop K-Dot as his stage name and go by his birth name. He subsequently released a self-titled extended play (EP) in late 2009. Also in 2009, Lamar formed Black Hippy, a supergroup with label-mates and fellow California-based rappers Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q.

2013–present: Controversy and third studio album

In August 2013, Lamar's verse on the Big Sean track "Control", made waves across the hip-hop industry, with Lamar vowing to lyrically "murder" every other up-and-coming rapper, namely J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale, Pusha T, Meek Mill, ASAP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electronica, Tyler, The Creator, and Mac Miller. He also went on to call himself the "King of New York", which caused controversy and several New York-based rappers to take offense. Seeing as many also considered the song a "call to arms", several New York-based rappers such as Papoose, The Mad Rapper, Mickey Factz, JR Writer, Mysonne and Joell Ortiz, as well as fellow American rappers Lupe Fiasco, Cassidy, Joe Budden, King L, Bizarre and B.o.B, among many others, have all released a response or diss track within a week. In the week following the track's release, Lamar's Twitter account saw a 510% increase in followers, while his Wikipedia page garnered 200,000 page views.
Lamar performing "Money Trees" during the Yeezus Tour

On September 6, 2013, American recording artist and record producer Kanye West, announced he would be headlining his first solo tour in five years, in support of his sixth album Yeezus (2013), with Kendrick Lamar accompanying him along the way. The Yeezus Tour would later begin in October. In October, it was revealed Lamar would be the only rapper to be featured on Eminem's eighth studio album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. Also in October, at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards, Lamar won five awards, including Album of the Year and Lyricist of the Year, the latter of which he also won the year before. At the award show, Lamar performed "Money Trees", and was also featured in a cypher alongside his Top Dawg label-mates Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, Isaiah Rashad and Ab-Soul. During an October 2013 interview with XXL, Lamar revealed that following The Yeezus Tour, he would begin to start working on his next album.

In November 2013, he was named GQ's "Rapper of the Year," and was featured on the cover of the magazine's "Men of the Year" issue. During the interview, he stated that he would begin recording his second major-label studio album in January 2014. Following the issue's release TDE's CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, pulled Kendrick Lamar from performing at GQ's party that accompanies the issue, calling out writer Steve Marsh's profile, "Kendrick Lamar: Rapper of the Year," for its "racial overtones." GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson responded saying: "Kendrick Lamar is one of the most talented new musicians to arrive on the scene in years," the EIC said in a statement that was posted to the magazine's website this weekend. "That's the reason we chose to celebrate him, wrote an incredibly positive article declaring him the next King of Rap, and gave him our highest honor: putting him on the cover of our Men of the Year issue. I'm not sure how you can spin that into a bad thing, and I encourage anyone interested to read the story and see for themselves."

Lamar received a total of seven Grammy nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards (2014), including Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Rap Song. Lamar failed to win a Grammy and many, including Seattle-based rapper Macklemore, who won Best Rap Album, which Lamar was also nominated for, felt that The Recording Academy snubbed Kendrick Lamar. Although he did not win a Grammy, Lamar did perform "m.A.A.d city" and a remix to "Radioactive", in a mash-up with American rock band Imagine Dragons, at the awards ceremony. The remix was again performed by Lamar and the band, on February 1, 2014, during the airing of Saturday Night Live, marking Lamar's second appearance on the show.

On February 28, 2014, it was revealed during an interview with Billboard, that Lamar is planning to put out a new album in September 2014. During the same interview with Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith and Dave Free, the possibility of a debut effort from the Black Hippy collective (composed of Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul) appearing in 2014 was revealed.

On July 31st, 2014, it was announced that Lamar would premiere his short film "m.A.A.d" at Sundance's inaugural NEXT Fest in Los Angeles on August 9th. The film is inspired by good kid, m.A.A.d city and was directed by Kahlil Joseph, who had previously worked with Lamar on the Yeezus Tour.