Kendrick Lamar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kendrick Lamar
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Lamar at the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes
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Kendrick Lamar Duckworth
June 17, 1987 Compton, California, U.S.
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| Education | Centennial High School |
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| Years active | 2003–present |
| Organization | PGLang |
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| Partner(s) | Whitney Alford (eng. 2015) |
| Children | 2 |
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| Awards | Full list |
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Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he is the only musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music. His inclusion of social commentary and political criticism in his songwriting has influenced a rise in social conscience within his generation.
Lamar began releasing music under the stage name K.Dot while he was attending high school. He signed with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005, where he co-founded the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy. Following the success of his alternative rap debut album Section.80 (2011), Lamar secured a joint contract with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. ..... It is the longest-charting hip hop studio album on the Billboard 200, spending over ten consecutive years on the chart.
..... It became his first of four consecutive number-one albums in the U.S., and was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 2010s. Lamar's work on the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" garnered his first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100. ..... The double album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022) concluded Lamar's tenure with TDE and Aftermath. His 2024 feud with Drake spawned the number-one songs "Like That" and "Not Like Us".
Lamar has received various accolades throughout his career, including one Primetime Emmy Award, one Brit Award, four American Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, 11 MTV Video Music Awards (including two Video of the Year wins), 17 Grammy Awards (the third-most won by a rapper), and 29 BET Hip Hop Awards (the most won by any artist). Time listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. ..... Three of his works were included in Rolling Stone's 2020 revision of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Outside of music, Lamar co-founded the creative company PGLang and ventured into film with his creative partner, Dave Free. He has worked with various charities and advocates for racial equality and mental health awareness.
Contents
Life and career
Early life
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born on June 17, 1987, in Compton, California. He is the first child of Kenneth "Kenny" Duckworth and Paula Oliver. Both of his parents are African Americans from the South Side of Chicago; they relocated to Compton in 1984, when they were teenagers, due to his father's affiliation with the Gangster Disciples. Lamar was named after singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations. He was an only child until the age of seven and was described as a loner by his mother. Eventually, his parents had his two younger brothers and younger sister, businesswoman Kayla Sawyer (née Duckworth). His cousins include basketball player Nick Young and rapper Baby Keem.
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Lamar and his family lived in Section 8 housing, was reliant on welfare and food stamps, and experienced homelessness. Although he is not a member of a particular gang, he grew up with close affiliates of the Westside Pirus. Despite suffering hardships, Lamar remembered having "good memories" of his childhood that sparked his interest in hip hop music; such as sneaking into his parents' house parties. He was raised secular, although he seldom attended church services and was taught the Bible by his grandmother. He felt "spiritually unsatisfied" as a child due to the "empty" and "one-sided" nature of the sermons.
After hearing a recording of his voice for the first time, Lamar became interested in rapping. He was introduced to police brutality after experiencing the first day of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. When he was five years old, he witnessed his first murder while sitting outside of his apartment unit. "It done something to me right then and there," Lamar later admitted to NPR Music. "It let me know that this is not only something that I'm looking at, but it's something that maybe I have to get used to." His parents nicknamed him "Man-Man" due to his precocious behavior, although he confessed it "put a stigma on the idea of me reacting as a kid sometimes—I would hurt myself and they would expect me not to cry."
In school, Lamar was a quiet and observant student who excelled academically and had a noticeable stutter. His first grade teacher at Robert E. McNair Elementary School encouraged him to become a writer after she heard him correctly use the word "audacity". As a seventh grade student at Vanguard Learning Center, Lamar was introduced to poetry by his English teacher, Regis Inge. He integrated the literary form into the curriculum as a response to the growing racial tensions amongst his students. Through its connection to hip hop, he studied rhymes, metaphors and double entendres, which made him fall in love with songwriting: "You can put all your feelings down on a sheet of paper, and they'd make sense to you. I liked that." Instead of completing assignments for other classes, Lamar would scribe lyrics in his notebooks. Inge played a vital role in his intellectual growth, often critiquing his lexicon and suggesting prompts to strengthen his prose.
Lamar later attended Centennial High School, where he failed physical education in the ninth grade. He was enrolled in summer school during the tenth grade, which he dreaded because it forced him to be embroiled in a gang war. Despite his efforts to avoid them, Lamar soon became heavily involved with Compton's hedonistic gang culture, which led to numerous health scares and encounters with the police. He distanced himself from the lifestyle following an intervention staged by his father. When he was 16, he was baptized and converted to Christianity following the death of a friend. Lamar entered a lasting romantic relationship with his classmate, beautician Whitney Alford. Lamar graduated from high school in 2006 as a straight-A student. He flirted with the idea of studying psychology and astronomy in college, but suspended his academic pursuits to focus on his music career.
2003–2008: Career beginnings
During high school, Lamar adopted the stage name K.Dot and began freestyling for his classmates. His performances caught the attention of fellow student Dave Free, who traveled from Inglewood to watch him rap. They quickly formed a friendship over their love of hip hop and the television sitcom Martin. They recorded music together at Free's makeshift garage studio and at his older brother's Hyde Park apartment. Lamar's earliest performances were held at a "super hood" comedy club and behind of a tattoo parlor. Free was his hype man during that time, while his older brother was his manager and disc jockey. Lamar recorded five mixtapes throughout the 2000s; his first mixtape was released during his senior year of high school. The mixtapes primarily consisted of freestyles over the production of popular hip hop songs.
In a series of retrospective reviews for Rolling Stone, Mosi Reeves complimented Lamar's "unerring" sense of rhythm and timing found in Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year, but criticized his "overly beholden" flow and "clumsy" lyricism. Free, who was working as a computer technician, introduced the mixtape to record producer Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith while attempting to repair his computer. Tiffith was impressed with Lamar's burgeoning abilities and invited him to partake in an audition process for entry into his newly established independent record label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). During his audition, Lamar freestyled for Tiffith and record executive Terrence "Punch" Henderson for two hours; a strategy that impressed Henderson but bewildered Tiffith. He was offered a recording contract from TDE in 2005, joining Jay Rock as the label's first signees. Upon signing, he purchased a minority stake in the label for an undisclosed amount.
Lamar had a brief stint as a security guard when he started working on music with Jay Rock at TDE's in-house recording studio. The bond he formed with him, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q led to the formation of the hip hop supergroup, Black Hippy. In 2006, Lamar signed an artist development deal with Def Jam Recordings and was featured on two singles by the Game. He also heavily contributed to Jay Rock's first two mixtapes, Watts Finest Vol. 1 and Watts Finest Vol. 2: The Nickerson Files. Lamar was ultimately let go from Def Jam after an encounter with its president and chief executive officer, Jay-Z; he later described it as "one of those situations where I wasn’t ready." He released two projects in 2007: his second mixtape, Training Day, and a collaborative mixtape with Jay Rock titled No Sleep 'til NYC. Reeves complimented Training Day's varied production and "well-executed" concept based on the 2001 film of the same name. He described No Sleep 'til NYC as a "fun cypher session, nothing more, nothing less."
2009–2011: Overly Dedicated and Section.80
Lamar's third mixtape, C4 (2009), is a tribute project to Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III (2008) and was supported by his co-sign. Reeves felt that the mixtape was a "wrongheaded homage to a year-old, well-worn album." From February to July, he toured with the Game on his LAX Tour as a hype man for Jay Rock. Lamar disliked how his stage name diverted attention away from his true identity, and decided to retire it. He opted to use his first and middle names professionally and regards the name change as part of his career growth. For his eponymous debut extended play (2009), Lamar eschewed from the creative process of his mixtapes in favor of a project heavily focused on his songwriting over "lovely yet doleful" production. Reeves described the EP as the "first standout project" of his career, praising its melancholic tone. He felt that the project restored his reputation following the sting of criticism he received over C4.
After striking a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music, Lamar released his final mixtape, Overly Dedicated (2010), to digital retailers for the first time in his career. He and Whitney Alford separated prior to its release. Reeves described Overly Dedicated as a partial "victory lap" that marked a shift in his songwriting. The mixtape peaked at number 72 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Lamar served as Jay Rock's hype man for a second time during Tech N9ne's Independent Grind Tour, where Overly Dedicated was introduced to Dr. Dre. After watching the music video for the song "Ignorance Is Bliss" on YouTube, he reached out to Lamar with hopes of working with him and Snoop Dogg on his unfinished album, Detox. He also considered signing him to his record label, Aftermath Entertainment, and was encouraged to by artists such as J. Cole.
Lamar entered a brief relationship with emcee Nitty Scott, and was featured on XXL's 2011 Freshman Class list. He released his debut studio album, Section.80, on July 2, 2011, which was supported by its lead single "HiiiPower". The album explored conscious and alternative hip hop styles and experimented with "stripped-down" jazz production. Ogden Payne of Forbes considers it to be "the genesis to [Lamar] successfully balancing social commentary with mass appeal." Section.80 marked Lamar's first appearance on the Billboard 200 chart, where it peaked at number 113. It sold approximately 5,000 copies in its first week of tracking, with minimal coverage from mainstream media outlets.
To promote the album, Lamar performed at small venues and college campuses across the U.S. He was dubbed the "New King of the West Coast" by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and the Game during a performance in West Los Angeles. At the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, Section.80 was nominated for Best Mixtape. During the ceremony, Lamar appeared alongside B.o.B, Tech N9ne, Machine Gun Kelly and Big K.R.I.T. in a cypher. Throughout the year, he appeared on the Game's The R.E.D. Album, Tech N9ne's All 6's and 7's, 9th Wonder's The Wonder Years, and Drake's Take Care.
2012–2013: Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Lamar began planning his second album before Section.80 was released. From February to April 2012, he opened for Drake on his Club Paradise Tour. He began working with J. Cole on a collaborative album around that time, but nothing came to fruition; Cole later admitted that the two "put it to bed years ago". On March 8, The Fader reported that Lamar had signed a joint venture recording contract with Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records; under the deal, TDE continued to serve as his primary label. His first commercial single, "The Recipe" featuring Dr. Dre, premiered on rhythmic crossover radio on April 2.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Lamar's second album, was formally announced on June 26, 2012, with a tentative release date of October 2. Its lead single, "Swimming Pools (Drank)", peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking his first top 20 single in the U.S. From September to October, he headlined the BET Music Matters Tour with Black Hippy and Stalley. Lamar won Lyricist of the Year at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards, where he performed a mashup and appeared in a cypher. ..... Lamar worked with producers such as Pharrell Williams, Hit-Boy, Scoop DeVille, Jack Splash, and T-Minus to create an atmospheric West Coast hip hop album with heavy gangsta rap influences. It was met with widespread critical acclaim, who lauded Lamar's nonlinear songwriting and thematic scope. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune applauded him for giving gangsta tropes a "twist, or sometimes upend[ing] them completely" on a record that "brims with comedy, complexity and the many voices in [Lamar’s] head." Good Kid, M.A.A.D City debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 242,000 copies. It earned the highest first-week album sales of the year by a male rapper. ..... Good Kid, M.A.A.D City surpassed The Eminem Show (2002) to become the longest-charting hip hop studio album on the Billboard 200. In October 2022, the album became the first hip hop studio album to spend over ten consecutive years on the Billboard 200.
Lamar and Whitney Alford rekindled their romantic relationship following the release of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. He promoted the album throughout 2013 by appearing on television programs and embarking on two concert tours: a national college tour with Steve Aoki and his first international headlining tour. ..... In an interview with MTV, he confessed that "psychologically, it messes your brain up. You live in this life, you know what I'm saying, but you still have to face realities of this. I gotta get back off that tour bus and go to these funerals."
From October to December 2013, Lamar opened for Kanye West on his Yeezus Tour, despite disapproval from his label and management team. He was baptized for a second time during the beginning of the tour, and experienced a nervous breakdown near the end. ..... At the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards. he performed a mashup of "Collard Greens" and "Money Trees" with Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock, and was featured in a TDE cypher. Lamar was named Rapper of the Year by GQ during their annual Men of the Year issue. Following the issue's release, Tiffith pulled him from performing at GQ's accompanying party and accused Steve Marsh's profile on him of containing "racial overtones".
Throughout 2013, Lamar was featured on six songs: "YOLO" by the Lonely Island featuring Adam Levine that premiered during his first appearance as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, the remix of "How Many Drinks?" by Miguel, "Collard Greens" by Schoolboy Q, "Control" with Big Sean and Jay Electronica, "Give It 2 U" by Robin Thicke featuring 2 Chainz, and "Love Game" by Eminem. His performance on "Control" was described as a “wake up call” for the hip hop industry and commenced his decade-long feud with Drake. Rolling Stone noted that his verse made the track one of the most important hip hop songs of the last decade.
2020–2022: Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
On March 5, 2020, Lamar and Dave Free launched the creative entity PGLang, which was described at the time as a multilingual, artist-friendly service company. In October, he signed a worldwide administration agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group. Lamar announced through an August 2021 blog post that he was in the process of producing his final album under TDE, confirming rumors that emerged last year that he would be leaving to focus on PGLang. The following week, he appeared on Baby Keem's single "Family Ties", which won Best Rap Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Lamar made additional contributions to Baby Keem's album The Melodic Blue by providing background vocals and appearing on the song "Range Brothers". In November, he held a "theatrical exhibition of his musical eras" during his second headlining performance at Day N Vegas, and featured on Terrace Martin's album Drones. He co-headlined the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, and Mary J. Blige on February 13, 2022, which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live).
After releasing the promotional single "The Heart Part 5", Lamar's fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, was released on May 13, 2022. He and Alford used the album's cover art to reveal the birth of their son, Enoch. The double album drew on jazz, R&B, trap, and soul influences; Alford served as its primary narrator. It was widely acclaimed by critics, who applauded Lamar's vulnerable songwriting and scope. Every track from the album charted on the Hot 100; its three singles–"N95", "Silent Hill", and "Die Hard"–debuted in the top-10. Selling 295,000 units in its first week, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers became Lamar's fourth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200. It later became the first hip hop album of 2022 to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
In support of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Lamar embarked on the Big Steppers Tour, which ran from July 2022 to March 2024. The tour grossed $110.9 million in worldwide revenue, becoming the highest-grossing rap tour ever at the time. Lamar wrote, co-directed, and executive produced the short film adaptation of the song "We Cry Together", which was released worldwide in September 2022. An accompanying concert film for the tour, Kendrick Lamar Live: The Big Steppers Tour, was released in November 2022. Lamar won Favorite Male Hip Hop Artist at the 2022 American Music Awards, and Favorite Hip Hop Album for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. He received six awards at the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards, including Album of the Year. During the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was named Best Rap Album, while "The Heart Part 5" won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song.
Artistry
Influences
Tupac Shakur is Lamar's biggest influence, having impacted both his professional and personal lives. One of his earliest childhood memories is watching him and Dr. Dre film the second music video for their single "California Love" with his father at the Compton Swap Meet. Lamar has described himself as an "offspring" of Shakur's artistry and sociopolitical views. Although some publications regard him as the Shakur of his generation, he strives to maintain his individuality.
Shakur's The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996), The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death (1997), and DMX's It's Dark and Hell is Hot (1998) influenced Lamar's artistic direction: "I don't look at these albums like just music; it sounds like an actual film." He also listened and took influence from Mos Def and Snoop Dogg during his childhood, and said, "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Eazy-E." 50 Cent's mixtape success inspired Lamar to become an independent artist, while his view on being categorized as a conscious rapper, "Yeah, I'm a conscious artist because I have a conscience," gave him a sense of perspective.
Prodigy of Mobb Deep was a key influence on Lamar's earlier mixtapes, while his rapping technique was stemmed from Lil Wayne and his longevity. Eminem and his album The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) introduced him to songwriting elements, such as ad-libs, and impacted his aggressive approach to records such as "Backseat Freestyle". He took inspiration from N.W.A's tenacity of representing his hometown with "courage, honesty and artistic brilliance." Various R&B and soul artists, including Marvin Gaye, the Isley Brothers, Michael Jackson, Teddy Pendergrass, Sade, and Anita Baker, have influenced Lamar. He performed with Prince, who impacted his vocal register, at Paisley Park to celebrate the release of the latter's 2014 albums Plectrumelectrum and Art Official Age, which GQ described as "five minutes of brilliant insanity."
Musical style
The nature of Lamar's musical style has been described as "anti-flamboyant, interior and complex." He is rooted in West Coast hip hop, and has continually reinvented his sound by branching out into other genres. Due to his contributions to its audience growth, through his appeal to mainstream listeners, music critics generally categorize Lamar as a progressive rap artist. He suggests that his music is genreless, explaining in a 2012 interview, "You really can't categorize my music, it's human music." PopDust opined that during the 2010s, a decade that was arguably defined by hip hop, Lamar constantly pushed the boundaries of what the genre could be.
Lamar did not care for music production during the beginning of his career. However, as he placed an emphasis on songwriting and "making material that's universal", he grew more exacting and adventurous with his compositions. He is heavily involved with every aspect of his production process, including the mixing and mastering stages, and is known for working long hours in the recording studio. "You gotta be hands on and know the different sounds and frequencies," Lamar explained to Variety. "What makes people move, what melodies stick with you, taking the higher octaves and the lower octaves and learning how to intertwine that in a certain frequency, how to manipulate sound to your advantage." Lamar chooses to work with a close-knit team of musicians, rather than constantly seek high-profile talent. He has been working with his longtime producer, Sounwave, since his 2009 self-titled EP.
Kendrick Lamar marked a pivotal change in Lamar's artistry. Unlike his earlier mixtapes, which consisted of freestyles over CHR and urban radio singles, the EP incorporated melancholic and "doleful" original production that emphasized his lyrics. Austere jazz production was blended with alternative rap styles on Section.80, with instrumentals drawing from R&B, boom bap and downtempo. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City abandoned the tastes of contemporary hip hop by exploring a subtle, atmospheric side of West Coast hip hop and gangsta rap. The third album is an amalgamation of genres synonymous with African-American music, most prominently jazz, funk, and soul. It redefined jazz rap by highlighting improvisation and soloing rather than primarily using sampling. Minimalist arrangements are incorporated in the fourth album and Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. The fourth album appealed to mainstream listeners through its pop and R&B-influenced production, while the scattered and distorted instrumentals of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was designed to make listeners feel anxious and uncomfortable.
Voice
Several media outlets consider Lamar to be the greatest and most important rapper of his generation. Billboard and Vibe named him the second-greatest rapper of all time, behind Jay-Z. Described as a "blazing" technical rapper and "relentless searcher" by The New York Times, Lamar's "limber, dexterous" flow switches from derivative to generative metrics, while incorporating internal and multisyllabic rhyme schemes. His rhymes are typically manipulated within common time, allowing him to subtly control his metrical phonology and suggest formal ambiguities similar to pop and rock repertoires. Some of his rhyme manipulations feature "flexible" new school styles evoking the 1990s, while others use "rigid" old school elements recalling the 1980s. Lamar frequently uses syncopation in his melodies to create contradictions between his lyrical content and rhythms. With Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, he liberally plays with pronunciation, inflections, and delivery to mirror the album's emotional range. Swing is used throughout the third album in a nod to the performance methods of jazz musicians.
Lamar possesses a versatile tenor vocal range, and a raspy, half-shout timbre; where "his throat sounds dry and his mouth sounds wet." André 3000 was the first rapper that introduced him to singing sensibilities in hip hop, and he writes melody-driven songs as practice for his rap albums. Lamar became comfortable with his vocals over time, to the point where he feels confident enough to create singing-based albums. Pitchfork noticed how his harmonies on the third album never made him sound alone throughout his "desolate" performance; comparing his vocal layering to "standing in the middle, unnoticed, of a large quarrelsome crowd."
Praised for his willingness to use his voice as an instrument, Lamar adopts different cadences, tones, modulations, and timbres to suggest conflicting personalities, paint distinct emotions, and communicate stories using characters and personas. His falsetto register, which he calls the "ghetto falsetto", has been likened to Curtis Mayfield's. MTV writes that by manipulating his voice, Lamar calls back to a lineage that runs through James Brown's foundational work in the 1960s, 1970s, Prince's "sweaty" phantasmagoria in the 1980s, and 1990s gangsta rap. He was ranked the tenth-best solo singer of the 21st century by The Times in 2023.
Songwriting
Branded as a "master of storytelling" by The New Yorker, Lamar has been referred to as one of the greatest lyricists in modern hip hop by several publications and his peers. Pharrell Williams suggests that what makes his songwriting stand out is because he "knows how to be very disciplined with a subject matter, he knows that stickiness is important, and he knows that it has to be great." American Songwriter notes that for as much as Lamar is a musician, lyricist, and emcee, he is also "a playwright, a novelist, a short story author. He's literary within the art form of music." Lamar's reflective narrative songwriting pulls from a wide range of literary and cinematic techniques, such as hip hop skits and voice-overs, to allow his audience to follow internal and external storylines. His fusion of various film styles and his sonic influence has elevated his works to be some of the most "consistently poignant" in hip hop, and promoted the advancement of the narrative device.
Lamar, who self-identifies as a musician and writer, begins his songwriting process with an assortment of premeditated thoughts that he jotted down over the course of one year. His personal experiences are a common source of inspiration, but he also pulls ideas from meeting new people, traveling, and experiencing different cultures. A devout Christian, he additionally shares his spiritual triumphs and struggles on his songs. He is an avid note-taker, and has developed keywords, phrases, and sounds to help him "trigger the exact emotions" he felt when writing the initial demo.
Considered to be a "radio-friendly but overtly political rapper" by Pitchfork, and a populist by The Wall Street Journal, Lamar's songwriting regularly infuses political criticism and social commentary concerning African-American culture. Common themes explored include racial inequality, institutional discrimination, and black empowerment. Lamar's critiques has been compared to the State of the Union Address by The Guardian, while Billboard described it as "Shakespearean". HuffPost opined that his work is a "great" piece of journalism because it "speaks from the prerogative of black communities facing oppression and directly attacks the institutions responsible for their pain," an achievement most reporters cannot attain.
Lamar tries to carry a conceptual idea inside of his music, "whether it's a big concept or it's so subtle you can't even tell until you get to 20 listens." Fans and publications have theorized that his albums are related to different forms of mass media. Section.80 is regarded as a short story collection inspired and themed around events that impacted the millennial generation, such as Ronald Reagan's presidency. The nonlinear narrative structure of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City is billed as a coming-of-age short film that chronicles Lamar's harsh teenage experiences in his native Compton. Its cinematic scope has been compared to the screenplays written by Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. ..... Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers takes on the form of a theatrical play, with confessional lyrics based on Lamar's experiences in therapy. Lamar has won the BET Hip Hop Award for Lyricist of the Year nine times, the most wins by any artist. He has also published articles for Billboard, Interview, Paper, and XXL.
Achievements
Throughout his career, Lamar has won 17 Grammy Awards (the third-most by a rapper in history), a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awards, 29 BET Hip Hop Awards (the most won by any artist), 11 MTV Video Music Awards (including two Video of the Year wins), 6 Billboard Music Awards, and a Brit Award. As a songwriter, he has received nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, Lamar received the most Grammy nominations by a rapper in one night, with 11. During the 65th ceremony, he became the first artist from any genre to be nominated for Album of the Year with four consecutive lead studio albums since Billy Joel (1979–1983).
Lamar has appeared in various power listings. In 2015, he was featured on Ebony's Power 100 list that honors leaders within the African American community. Time included him on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. He has appeared on Forbes' Celebrity 100 ranking (2019), and its 30 Under 30 list twice in the music category (2014 and 2018). Lamar was included twice in Billboard's lists of the greatest rappers of all time (2015 and 2023). Complex named him the best rapper alive twice (2013 and 2017), and included him in their list of the 20 best rappers in their 20s thrice (2013, 2015, and 2016). In May 2015, Lamar was declared a generational icon by the California State Senate for his contributions to music and philanthropy. He was a grand marshal for the Compton Christmas Parade, and was presented with the key to the city of his hometown for representing its evolution. He served as Compton College's surprise commencement speaker on June 7, 2024.
..... Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was additionally featured in the magazine's list of the 100 best debut albums of all time, and was named the greatest concept album ever. It was named the seventh greatest album of all time by Apple Music in 2024. ..... As of February 2023, it is the top ranked album on the online encyclopedia Rate Your Music. .....
Discography
Studio albums
- Section.80 (2011)
- Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012)
- Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022)
Filmography
- Lennon or McCartney (2014)
- Quincy (2018)
- Kendrick Lamar Live: The Big Steppers Tour (2022)
- Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (2023)
- Piece by Piece (2024)
Tours
Headlining
- Good Kid, M.A.A.D City World Tour (2013)
- Kunta's Groove Sessions (2015)
- The Big Steppers Tour (2022–2024)
Co-headlining
- The Championship Tour (with Top Dawg Entertainment artists) (2018)
See also
In Spanish: Kendrick Lamar para niños
- List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
- List of artists who reached number one in the United States
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Rhythmic chart
- List of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
- Music of California
