Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was fighting to beat the odds
Hailing from the treacherous blocks of Compton, California,
his family got by with Section 8 housing and welfare assistance.
Kendrick was lucky to have both of his parents in his household,
but growing up in gang culture came with its own complications.
Witnessing two murders in his neighborhood by the age of 8
and spending a majority of his time with adults forced
Kendrick to mature quickly, earning him the nickname
“Man Man.”
and Kendrick was captivated by the usage of words
to convey emotions.
♪Uh, I'm tryna learn something new, I'm tryna find myself♪
♪I'm searching deep for Kendrick Lamar♪
♪I read about Napolean Hill and try to know God♪
He began writing freestyles nonstop, and when he saw
2Pac and Dr. Dre shooting the video for “California Love”
in a Bentley outside of the Compton Swap Meet,
Kendrick released his first mixtape ‘Y.H.N.I.C.
(Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year)’ in 2003.
The title is a variation of Prodigy of Mobb Deep’s
debut solo album ‘H.N.I.C.’ which came out three years prior.
In 2009, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith recruited Kendrick
for Top Dawg Entertainment along with Schoolboy Q,
Ab-Soul and Jay Rock to form the group Black Hippy.
"I come from a studio, you know, being locked in
with these cats, and having a competitive nature.
Not only do I build them up but they build me up."
Kendrick spent the year cutting tracks with the group
under the moniker K-Dot, but his throne was waiting
On the advice of producer Dave Free, K-Dot shed the
stage name for the one his mama gave him on
his debut solo TDE project “The Kendrick Lamar EP.’
Technically, 2011’s ‘Section.80’ is Kendrick’s first studio album,
but when ‘good kid, m.a.a.d city’ hit wax the next October,
GKMC was gold certified two months after its release and
became Kendrick’s first platinum-certified project in
the summer of 2013. It also received a Grammy nomination
for Album of the Year. Cornrow Kenny’s parents
constantly pushed him to strive for more
“Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” from GKMC
took a full year to come to realization because of how
heavily involved Kendrick is in production from start to finish.
He’d solidified a name for himself in the industry,
but his best keeps getting better.
2015’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ debuted at
No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
♪I'm at the preacher's door My knees gettin' weak♪
♪and my gun might blow But we gon' be alright♪
As ‘Alright’ quickly became the anthem of the growing
Black Lives Matter movement, King Kunta fairly regarded it as
based on the number of lives it impacted.
And the impact he seeks is
he feels everytime one of his friends has fallen dead
to street violence while he chases his dreams.
fter performing a series of unused tracks from TPAB
at the 2016 Grammy awards, NBA star
LeBron James tweeted at Kendrick requesting
he release all of the residual heat ASAP.
One week later, Kendrick delivered ‘Untitled Unmastered.’
♪Step inside my community, making a killing♪
♪You make me a killa' emancipation of a real hitta♪
‘DAMN’ hit hard, racking up not only
the Grammy award for Best Rap Album,
making Kung Fu Kenny the first musician outside of
the classical or jazz community to receive the honor.
Remarkably, had a chance meeting between Top Dawg
and Kendrick’s father gone differently decades prior,
we’d be telling a much different story.
Before young Kenny was born, his father ran with
Chicago’s Gangster Disciples, but supposedly left that
lifestyle behind when he and his wife moved to the
West Coast and started a family. In Compton,
he worked at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken to make ends meet.
In the late ‘80s/ early ‘90s, Top Dawg was selling drugs
and running the streets. One day, he robbed
the same KFC where Kenny Sr., a.k.a “Ducky,” worked,
but didn’t kill him because Ducky had built up
a repore with Top Dawg and his gang with free food.
When meeting at a recording session for K-Dot years later,
"Like man, look where we at. We're blessed.
But listen to these words, this is what happened.
This is real life."
Kendrick Lamar has rightfully earned the status as one of
the most skilled lyricists of his time.
His words have soundtracked social justice movements
and inspired conversations, not only about how Hip Hop
has progressed, but also how we could progress as a people.