Kendrick Lamar

Lamar began releasing music at 16 under the name K-Dot. His 2003 mixtape Youngest Head Nigga in Charge (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year) earned local recognition and helped him secure a recording contract with Top Dawg Entertainment in 2005. He followed it with Training Day in 2005 and C4 in 2009, the latter paying tribute to Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III.

In 2009, Lamar released his self-titled extended play and began using his given name professionally. That year, he formed the hip-hop supergroup Black Hippy with Top Dawg Entertainment artists Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and ScHoolboy Q. He also performed as an opening act for The Game and appeared on recordings by Jay Rock and other West Coast artists.

Lamar released the mixtape Overly Dedicated through Top Dawg Entertainment in 2010. The project entered the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and drew attention for songs such as “Ignorance Is Bliss,” which explored street violence, destructive choices, and personal contradictions.

Dr. Dre became interested in Lamar after seeing the video for “Ignorance Is Bliss.” J. Cole helped introduce Lamar to Dre, leading to collaborations involving Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and eventually to Lamar's association with Aftermath Entertainment. In 2011, Lamar appeared on the cover of XXL's Freshman Class issue and was named “The New King of the West Coast” during a concert appearance with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and The Game.

Released on July 2, 2011, Section.80 was Lamar's first independent studio album. Its title refers to his generation, born in the 1980s, as well as his childhood in Section 8 housing. The album combines personal testimony with commentary on Reagan-era politics, drug violence, mass incarceration, and the pressures facing young people.

Songs including “A.D.H.D.,” “HiiiPoWeR,” and “Ronald Reagan Era” established Lamar's long-form approach to writing. The production included contributions from Top Dawg Entertainment's Digi+Phonics team, Terrace Martin, Wyldfyer, and J. Cole. The project received positive reviews and introduced the themes and narrative structure that would define Lamar's later albums.

Lamar's breakthrough came with good kid, m.A.A.d city, released in 2012 through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. Presented as a “short film,” the album follows a young man navigating peer pressure, violence, religious guilt, police encounters, and the difficult choices of growing up in Compton.

“Swimming Pools (Drank),” “Backseat Freestyle,” “Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe,” and “Poetic Justice” brought the album to a broad audience while preserving its larger narrative. Drake appeared on “Poetic Justice,” while Dr. Dre contributed to the deluxe edition. The album reached number two on the Billboard 200, earned six Grammy nominations at the 2014 ceremony, and was later certified triple platinum.

Released in 2015, To Pimp a Butterfly expanded Lamar's sound through jazz, funk, soul, and experimental hip-hop. Musicians including Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, and Terrace Martin contributed to the sessions. The album addressed institutional racism, identity, fame, guilt, self-criticism, and the tension between despair and hope.

Tracks such as “King Kunta,” “The Blacker the Berry,” “u,” “i,” and “Alright” became central to the album's impact. “Alright” was adopted as a protest anthem during Black Lives Matter demonstrations. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 and won five Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album. In 2016, Lamar released Untitled Unmastered, an eight-track collection of demos from the To Pimp a Butterfly sessions that also debuted at number one.

Lamar released DAMN. in 2017 after the singles “The Heart Part 4” and “HUMBLE.” The album used a leaner combination of trap and boom-bap production while examining faith, pride, fear, loyalty, survival, and consequence. Songs including “DNA.,” “FEAR.,” “LOVE.,” and “DUCKWORTH.” continued his interest in personal history and moral conflict.

DAMN. became Lamar's third number-one album on the Billboard 200, and “HUMBLE.” became his first number-one single as a lead artist on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won five Grammy Awards and became the first hip-hop album to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Lamar later curated and executive produced Black Panther: The Album with Top Dawg Entertainment founder Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith. The project featured artists including SZA, The Weeknd, Jay Rock, and Future.

After a period of limited solo output, Lamar released Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers in 2022. Structured as a two-part album, it turns inward toward therapy, fatherhood, shame, family patterns, and generational trauma. “Father Time” examines the influence of Lamar's relationship with his father, while “Mother I Sober” confronts inherited pain and personal accountability.

“ We Cry Together” presents an argument between Lamar and his fiancée Whitney Alford. Lamar has been engaged to Alford since 2015. The album won Best Rap Album at the 2023 Grammy Awards and marked his final project released through Top Dawg Entertainment.

In 2020, Lamar co-founded the multidisciplinary creative company pgLang with Dave Free. The company has supported music, film, advertising, and other creative projects, including work connected to Lamar's cousin Baby Keem. Lamar and Baby Keem collaborated on “family ties” and “range brothers.”

Lamar released GNX as a surprise album on November 22, 2024, through pgLang and Interscope Records. The 12-track project includes “Squabble Up,” “TV Off,” and “Luther,” with SZA contributing uncredited vocals to “Luther.” The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

The release followed Lamar's highly publicized lyrical conflict with Drake. The dispute intensified after Lamar's verse on Future and Metro Boomin's “Like That,” and continued through tracks including “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA,” “Meet the Grahams,” and “Not Like Us.” “Not Like Us” became a major cultural success and won five awards at the 67th Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video.

Lamar headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in 2025, with a surprise appearance by SZA. His performance used Samuel L. Jackson as an Uncle Sam figure and included social commentary about the treatment of Black artists in American entertainment.