Kendrick Lamar | Artist
Kendrick Lamar is an American Rapper born 1987 in Compton, California. His discography boasts a wide variety of sounds across rap, contemporary R&B, Jazz and poetry. His 2011 debut album Section.80 formally began Lamar’s studio career. Here Kendrick showed himself to be both versatile yet well versed in the art of building compelling tracks with captivating stories filled with characters inspired by those around him, a gift that carries through his entire discography. Lamar had been making music since his preteens and already had released several mixtapes. He signed to Top Dawg Entertainment to release his debut, where he met label-mates and future collaborators, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Isiah Rashad and SZA, who together became the now defunct Black Hippy collaboration. After releasing the grammy-nominated Good Kid, MAAD City to great critical and commercial success, Lamar toured with the likes of Eminem and Kanye West (after a sold-out headlining tour in support of the album). His masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly was released in early 2015 and featured production and sessions from Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, George Clinton and Dr Dre. The album reflects on the artist's experiences with racial discrimination and personal success, painting a compelling portrait of a young artist experiencing success without ever feeling gratuitous or disengaged. The album is one of the greatest hip-hop releases of all time. A year later he released an album of B–Sides entitled Untitled Unmastered which was also hugely successful. Lamar then solidified his claim to Rap History with the surprise release of Damn (2017), and a subsequent Coachella headlining slot. Damn saw Lamar directly attack radio and streaming platforms with an array of songs that resonated with a broad spectrum of listeners. It earned him a Pulitzer Prize (the first of any rap album/artist to achieve so) and dominated the year with consecutive hit singles "Humble", "DNA" and "Loyalty". Kendrick Lamar proves to be one of the best Rappers to emerge in the 2010s and is bound to continue climbing the ranks of rap to become one of the greatest of all time.
Artist Website: kendricklamar.com
Featured Albums: Kendrick Lamar
Related Artists: Black Hippy
