Who is Kendrick Lamar? Kendrick Lamar is a West Coast rapper who has become one of the biggest names in hip-hop. Kendrick has released two studio albums—“Section.80” (2011) and “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” (2012)—five mixtapes and numerous singles, and he’s worked with such artists as Solange, Drake, Adam Levine, Miguel, 50 Cent , Robin Thicke and Dido.
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Kendrick Lamar is part of the Black Hippy collective—a rap stable also featuring Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock—and in 2011, three of Kendrick Lamar’s heroes, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Game, named him “The New King of the West Coast.”
“Who is Kendrick Lamar?” is a question virtually no one acquainted with modern hip-hop is prone to ask. Born June 17, 1987 in Compton, California, the 26-year-old rapper has become ubiquitous on the music scene, and in 2013, MTV named him the Hottest MC in the Game. His major label debut, “good kid, m.A.A.d. city,” has gone platinum, and his singles “Swimming Pool (Drank),” “Bit*h, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” and “Poetic Justice” have cracked the Top 40.
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Who is Kendrick Lamar? He’s a true student of hip-hop, and in 1995, he watched as Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur shot their “California Love” video. It was a transformative experience, and by 2009, he’d released three mixtapes—“Youngest Head Nigga in Charge” (2003), “Training Day” (2005), and “C4” (2009), all released under the name K. Dot. In 2010, Kendrick Lamar began rapping under his birth name, and that year’s “Overly Dedicated” mixtape cracked the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
The question “Who is Kendrick Lamar” is one that critics have debated since he broke big, as the Compton MC is a complex songwriter who both celebrates and criticizes inner-city life. Reviewing “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” for Spin, critic Andrew Nisnitsky called the record a “completely exhausting listen, one that might prove easier to admire than enjoy. But at the very least, it’s never anything less than fascinating. A master craftsman should be entitled to some degree of self-indulgence.”
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