Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar is a Californian musician born in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton on June 17, 1987. He began his career as a rapper under the artist name K-Dot in 2003, releasing his first mixtape. After four other increasingly acclaimed releases, he released his debut album, Section.80, in 2011 under the name Kendrick Lamar. The follow-up,Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, produced and mixed by Dr. Dre, was among the most awarded rap albums of 2012, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 (#16 in the UK. Returning in March 2015 with To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar this time reaches the top of the Billboard charts for this recording featuring collaborations with Snoop Dogg,Thundercat, Bilal, George Clinton, Rapsody and Ronald Isley. Nominated seven times for the Grammy Awards, it wins in two categories (Rap Album of the Year and Album of the Year). After a compilation of earlier demos released under the title Untitled Unmastered (2016), Kendrick Lamar became the first rap artist to win the famous Pulitzer Prize for the album Damn (2017), #1 on the Billboard 200 and a Grammy Award rap album. The following year saw his participation in the soundtrack to the film Black Panther. After opening the 60th Grammy Awards (2018), the rapper takes a four-year break and awaits the end of his contract with Top Dawg Entertainment, the label for which he records his fifth album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022). Rated No.1 in a dozen countries including the USA (No.2 in the UK), it features contributions from his cousin Baby Keem and Sam Dew, Sampha, Blxst, Summer Walker and Ghostface Killah, Kodak Black, Beth Gibbons, Taylor Paige and Tanna Leone. In 2024, after performing at half-time of the Super Bowl final, the rapper unveils his 6th album and 1st for Interscope, GNX, featuring contributions from SZA, Roddy Rich, Jack Antonoff and Kamasi Wahsington. At the beginning of 2025, five new Grammy Awards were added to his list of honors, bringing the total to twenty-two.