A popular artist today, he was born in Compton (California, USA) on June 17, 1987. The name he received at birth was Kendrick Lamar Duckworth.
Nicknames: K-Dot, Kung Fu Kenny, King Kendrick, King Kunta, K-Dizzle, Kendrick Lama, K. Montana.
Height: 1,65 m.
Kendrick Lamar is a hip-hop artist from Compton. The first rapper in history to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Childhood Kendrick Lamar
One of the most famous rappers of our time was born in Compton, in a large family. The African-American area in which the Duckworths lived was not very prosperous.
Thus, little Kendrick, already at the age of 5, became an unwitting witness to a serious crime - a man was shot before his eyes. Perhaps this stress led to the fact that the boy stuttered for a long time.
It was not even worth dreaming about the career of a vocalist with such a speech impediment. His passion was basketball and his goal was the NBA. But everything changed when Kendrick, along with his father, got on the set of the video clip California Love super popular artists 2Pac and Dr. Dre.
This event impressed the boy so much that he also decided to become a rapper. And even the death of the famous Tupac in a street showdown did not cross out his dreams.
He began to be interested in the work of 2Pac, Mos Def, Eminem, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and at the age of 12 the boy collected a decent record library of these performers.
At school, as a 7th grade student, Lamar was fond of poetry and began to write his own poems. At the same time, the guy had problems with the law, despite this, Lamar graduated with honors from school, which was surprising.
Later in the interview, Kendrick regretted not going to college, even though there were excellent opportunities to do so.
Early Career of Kendrick Lamar
Rapper K-Dot made his debut in 2003 with the release of the mixtape Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year. The distributor was the mini-company Konkrete Jungle Muzik, and four years later the new album "Training Day" was released.
In 2009, the C4 mixtape, but the audience did not like it, and Kendrick decided to change the style and presentation.
The result of these changes was the next mixtape, The Kendrick Lamar EP, released at the end of 2009 and marked the beginning of the rapper's professional career.
The mini-compilation was so successful that not only the "fans" of rap paid attention to it, but also the employees of the Top Dawg Entertainment label.
The collaboration resulted in the mixtape "Overly Devoted", released on September 23, 2010. Some tracks were performed at joint concerts with rappers Tech N9ne and Jay Rock, which took place in the same year.
But cooperation with the TDE label turned out to be short-lived, and in early July 2011, Kendrick released a new full-length album, Section 80. It was recorded in the studio, and in 2012 he entered into an agreement with the label Aftermath Entertainment.
Kendrick was already quite famous, the press called him the discovery of the year, and collaborations with Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes, The Game and Snoop Dogg did not go unnoticed by the public.
Under the auspices of Aftermath, rapper Good Kid's second studio album, MAAD City, was released, and its appearance "blew up" the charts and reached the platinum mark.
A video clip was shot for the song "Swimming Pool" (the second name is "Drunk"), which was played by all music channels.
Lamar was invited to perform with 2 Chainz and ASAP Rocky as the opening act for Drake on his tour. He gladly agreed, and after his return, he began his own tour with the presentation of the Good Kid, MAAD City album.
World famous rapper
Duets recorded with such performers as Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Big Sean increased Kendrick's popularity.
In 2013, they became hits, and Lamar wrote the soundtrack for the new part of the game "The Ghost of Tom Clancy", collaborated with Reebok and became a guest on the popular show Jimmy Fallon.
On March 15, 2015, the next album of the artist To Pimp a Butterfly was released, which became the best album of the year. At the 57th Grammy Awards, Kendrick received 11 nominations.
Just imagine, he lost only one position to Michael Jackson - the record holder who received 12 awards at a time.
Then there was Lamar's film debut - he starred in the video clip of Taylor Swift and in the feature film "Voice of the Streets", and the following year "Time" included Kendrick in the list of 100 most influential people of the year.
On April 14, 2017, the artist presented his fourth album with the loud name Damn. A new style of performance, themes, directness and sharp topics - all this gave the "effect of an exploding bomb".
Notably, all 14 of his songs entered the Hot 100, and he was certified multi-platinum within three months. Among the participants were Rihanna and the group U2.
But at this stage, supporting roles were more beneficial to the guest artists than to Lamar. Although his creative influence was unsurpassed...
The first lines of the hit parades and charts were occupied by the single "Modest", for which a video clip was filmed in March 2017.
At the very beginning of 2018, at the next Grammy Awards, Damn became the best rap album, and in the spring Kendrick Lamar became the first rapper to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music.
The personal life of a rapper
In 2015, it became known about the engagement of the artist with the beauty Whitney Alford. In an interview, the rapper said that he and Whitney have known each other since school. She always believed in his talent and supported the rapper in every possible way. On July 26, 2019, the couple had a daughter.
In 2022, Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar became a father for the second time. The rapper shared a picture with a three-year-old daughter in her arms, and his wife, who is holding a newborn in her arms. Let's add that the image became the cover of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
Interesting facts about the artist
- Earning $250 per song, he was one of the most humble celebrities in Hollywood.
- Bought a Toyota for his younger sister Kayla as a prom present and was heavily criticized for being greedy.
- In the world of digital technologies, he madly dislikes social networks, but is forced to use them.
- When recording another work, he kicks everyone out of the studio, does not like extra people and everything that interferes with his work.
- His song "Fear" is about the story of his life at 7, 17 and 27 years old, it lasts 7 minutes.
Kendrick Lamar: present day
At the beginning of 2018, the premiere of the Black Panther film took place, the soundtrack for the film was produced by the American rapper. Around this time, Lamar and SZA released a music video for the track All The Stars.
A scandalous event took place at the Hangout Fest, the headliner of which was the rapper. To perform the song "MAAD City", the singer invited one of the fans directly to the stage. At the beginning of the track, “N-Word” is pronounced (euphemism, used instead of the incorrect “Nikger”-“Negro”). The fan, who knew the words of the composition by heart, preferred to do without euphemism. Она произнесла слово «nigger».
For the rapper, the girl's trick was a surprise. He accused her of racism. The spectators who watched the girl's action booed her. The singer forgave the fan's trick, and even continued to perform the song with her. Such a trick cost the “fan” very dearly. She was pursued by an offended public. Moral pressure forced the girl to delete all social networks.
In 2022, Lamar returned to the fans not empty-handed. The artist dropped the unrealistically cool LP Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The double compilation included 18 tracks. Topics range from religion to social networks, capitalism and romance.
