Kendrick Lamar, born in Compton, California in 1987, is his generation's defining rapper — DAMN. (2017) won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first non-classical, non-jazz work to do it. Start with good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) or To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) and work forward to GNX (2024). Explore Kendrick Lamar vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California on June 17, 1987. He launched his recording career as K. Dot in 2003 and signed with Top Dawg Entertainment in 2005. His major-label debut good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) was widely cited as one of the most important hip hop albums of the 2010s. His 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly is widely considered one of the most important albums of the 21st century, drawing on jazz, funk, soul, and spoken word traditions to address Black American experience. DAMN. (2017) won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018 - the first non-classical, non-jazz work to receive the honor. He left Top Dawg Entertainment in 2022 with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, his last TDE album, before launching his own pgLang multimedia company. His 2024 single Not Like Us (a Drake diss) became a cultural phenomenon, with the resulting Kendrick vs. Drake beef widely cited as one of the most important hip hop feuds in years. He performed at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February 2025. He has won 22 Grammy Awards including Album of the Year (2025) for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
Kendrick Lamar's sound combines hip hop, West Coast hip hop, conscious hip hop, jazz rap, gangsta rap, and alternative hip hop with his distinctive technically virtuosic flow, extensive narrative and conceptual approach to album-length work, lyrical content addressing Black American experience, identity, faith, and social justice, and consistent collaboration with the broader TDE and Compton hip hop community.
Top Dawg / Aftermath / Interscope pressings of the Kendrick Lamar catalog have been issued in extensive color variant editions and elaborate limited deluxe pressings. Multiple anniversary editions of good kid m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly have been released.
Listeners new to Kendrick Lamar typically start with To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) or good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012).
