KENDRICK LAMAR DUCKWORTH

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Raised in Compton, California, Lamar embarked on his musical career as a teenager under the stage name K-Dot, releasing a mixtape that garnered local attention and led to his signing with indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE).

He began to gain recognition in 2010, after his first retail release, Overly Dedicated. The following year, he independently released his first studio album, Section.80, which included his debut single, "HiiiPoWeR". By that time, he had amassed a large online following and collaborated with several prominent artists in the hip hop industry, including The Game, Busta Rhymes, and Snoop Dogg.

Lamar's major label debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, was released in 2012 by TDE, Aftermath, and Interscope Records to critical success. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The record contained the top 40 singles "Swimming Pools (Drank)", "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe", and "Poetic Justice".

His critically acclaimed third album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) comprised funk, soul, and spoken word, debuted atop the charts in the US and the UK, and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 58th ceremony. In 2016, Lamar released Untitled Unmastered, a collection of unreleased demos that originated during the recording sessions for Butterfly. He released his fourth album Damn in 2017 to further acclaim; its lead single "Humble" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Lamar has received a number of accolades over the course of his career, including twelve Grammy Awards. In early 2013, MTV named him the number one "Hottest MC in the Game", on their annual list. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. Aside from his solo career, Lamar is also known as a member of the West Coast hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside his TDE label-mates and fellow South Los Angeles–based rappers Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Schoolboy Q. In 2018, Damn became the first non-classical and non-jazz album to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California on June 17, 1987, the son of a couple from Chicago, Illinois. His father, Kenny Duckworth, was a member of a street gang called Gangster Disciples, and Lamar's family had ties to the Bloods.

His first name was given to him by his mother in honor of American singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations. In 1995, at the age of eight in his hometown of Compton, Lamar witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre, film the music video for their hit single "California Love", which proved to be a very significant moment in his life. He grew up on welfare and section 8 housing.

As a child, Lamar attended McNair Elementary and vanguard learning center in the Compton Unified School District. As a teenager, Lamar went on to attend Centennial High School in Compton, where he was a straight-A student.

In 2004, at the age of 16, 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 was released under Konkrete Jungle Muzik and garnered local recognition for Lamar. The mixtape led to Lamar securing a recording contract with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), a newly founded indie record label, based in Carson, California. He began recording material with the label and subsequently released a 26 track mixtape two years later, titled Training Day (2005).

Throughout 2006 and 2007, Lamar would appear alongside other up-and-coming West Coast rappers, such as Jay Rock and Ya Boy, as opening acts for veteran West Coast rapper The Game. Under the moniker K-Dot, Lamar was also featured on The Game's songs "The Cypha" and "Cali Niggaz".

In 2008, Lamar was prominently featured throughout the music video for Jay Rock's commercial debut single, "All My Life (In the Ghetto)", which features American hip hop superstar Lil Wayne and was backed by Warner Bros. Records. Lamar garnered further recognition after a video of a live performance of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced, in which Hamilton battled fellow rappers who were in the audience. Lamar did not hesitate and began rapping a verse over the instrumental to Miilkbone's "Keep It Real", which would later appear on a track titled "West Coast Wu-Tang".

After receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, Lamar released his third mixtape in 2009, titled C4, which was 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 The Kendrick Lamar EP in late 2009. That same year, Lamar along with his TDE label-mates: Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and ScHoolboy Q formed Black Hippy, a hip hop supergroup.