Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American rapper from Compton, California. Lamar embarked on his musical career as a teenager under the moniker K-Dot, releasing a mixtape that garnered local attention and led to his signing with Carson-based indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment. Lamar began to gain major recognition in 2010, after his first retail release, Overly Dedicated. The following year, he released the independent album Section.80, which included Lamar's debut single, "HiiiPoWeR". By that time,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRapper
Date of Birth17 June 1987
CityCompton, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I'm putting out this free music, constantly putting it out.
From the moment I started writing raps, I was always aware of the pressure. I always wanted to live up to how huge Snoop got, how huge Dre got, how huge Pac got. I was always aware.
Teenagers expressing this on a daily basis in the middle of the streets - you can't help but believe we are in the mind state of taking our losses and changing people's perceptions of us and our community. We are strong. Our families are tired of being hurt.
You can have the platinum album, but when you still feel like you haven't quite found your place in the world - it kind of gives a crazy offset.
Found myself screaming in a hotel room. I didn't want to self-destruct.
My mom's one of 13 siblings, and they all got six kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton.
Poetic justice, poetic justice.. if I told you that a flower bloom in a dark room would you trust it. I mean I write poems in these songs.
Groups break up because they never got across what they wanted to do personally, and they have creative differences, and egos start to clash.
There's a lot of other artists doing things outside of that depth that I enjoy - that music that I can actually have fun to, and not be in depth and think about, then I appreciate that.
How am I influencing so many people on this stage rather than influencing the ones that I have back home?
As long as my music is real, it's no limit to how many ears I can grab.
I don't vote. I don't do no voting.
A lot of incredible rap albums over the past couple of decades have deserved Album of the Year. To Pimp a Butterfly is an extension of those albums.
I always felt like there was a certain standard of music that I had to do from the beginning, even when I didn't have the recognition that I have now.