Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American rapper and songwriter from Compton, California. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, his music features conscious, introspective lyrics, political criticism, and social commentary concerning African-American culture. Widely listed by music journalists among the greatest rappers of all time, Lamar became the first musician outside of classical and jazz genres to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018.

Born on June 17, 1987, Lamar was raised by his parents in Section 8 housing in Compton, where his family experienced poverty, welfare, and homelessness. Despite witnessing local gang violence and police brutality during his childhood, he excelled academically in school. Inspired by his teachers, he began writing poetry and lyrics to process adolescent trauma. He graduated from Centennial High School in 2005 as a straight-A student and decided to focus on his music career rather than attending college.

Lamar initially performed under the stage name K.Dot during high school, releasing mixtapes and collaborating with Dave Free. In 2005, he signed with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) and co-founded the hip-hop supergroup Black Hippy. After dropping his stage name in 2009, he released his self-titled EP and the 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated. His debut independent studio album, Section.80 (2011), led to a joint venture recording contract with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.

Lamar achieved widespread fame with his gangsta rap-influenced second album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012), which became the longest-charting hip-hop studio album on the Billboard 200. In 2015, he featured on the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood", earning his first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, and released To Pimp a Butterfly, his first of five consecutive Billboard 200 number-one albums. His fourth album, Damn (2017), spawned the number-one single "Humble", and he subsequently curated music for the film Black Panther in 2018.

His fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022), marked his final release with TDE and Aftermath. In 2024, Lamar released his sixth album, GNX, and engaged in a publicized feud with Drake, producing multiple Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, including "Not Like Us" and "Luther". "Not Like Us" won five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. In 2025, Lamar headlined the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history and launched the Grand National Tour with SZA.

Lamar's accolades include 27 Grammy Awards—the most for any rapper—two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Brit Award, five American Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, and 37 BET Hip Hop Awards. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. Beyond recording, he co-founded the creative company PGLang and entered film ventures alongside Dave Free.