Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is also recognized professionally as Kendrick Lamar, an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer recognized as one of the most influential rappers in history.
Early Life
Kendrick was born and raised in Campton, California and currently [calculate_years datestring=”06/17/1987″]years of age. He grew up with his Chicago parents, who relocated to Campton to escape the notorious gangster life in Chicago in which his father, Kenny Lamar, was involved. His mom, Paul Oliver, is a homemaker. The two couples fled from Chicago, hoping to give their son the best life away from the gangster kind of lifestyle in which they grew up. But unfortunately, it seems the lifestyle accompanied them to the coast.
Although He was born and raised among gangsters, Kendrick was well-conducted and focused but had a lot of gangster traits.
With California’s expensive cost of living, Kendrick’s parents were forced to apply for welfare while trying to maintain their house at section 8 housing.
Kendrick was a shy and quiet kid who remained thoughtful and soft-spoken, ever the keen observer. His mother also did describe him as a Lone Person.
His life took a change after He witnessed the video shooting of Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre for a music video for “California Love.”
He was a big fan of hip hop, and after watching his favorite celeb, He made up his mind to place more focus on music and began spitting raps at his teenage age while growing up.
Kendrick was highly influenced in his locality and always smoked and drank. At some point, he had chosen to focus more on his life career. He decided to quit smoking and drinking and look more into his musical lifestyle.
Career
Kendrick focused much of his attention on his career, and in 2003 He dropped and distributed his mixtape titled “Youngest Head Nigga In Charge” with his then-stage name, K-Dot. The song did well locally and garnered him his basic fans in California.
Tony Tiffith, the CEO of ‘Top Dawg Entertainment, ‘was impressed at the hard work He put into making and promoting the mixtape. He invited him over and offered him a record deal.
Kendrick dropped another mixtape, ‘ Training Day,’ released in 2005.
He released his third mixtape in 2009 after He co-signed with Lil Wayne. He tagged the album C4′. And shortly after, The rapper Changed his stage name, K-Dot, to his birth name, Kendrick Lamar and decided to drop a self-titled EP in late 2009, titled ‘Kendrick Lamar.’
Kendrick continued with his songs, becoming one of the most famous artists. He features as a guest artist on other artists’ tracks. Kendrick began his tour in 2010 with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on the ‘Independent Grind Tour‘ He released His fourth Mixtape, “Overly Dedicated.”
The mixtape made it to number 72 on R&B and also Hip-Hop charts.
‘Ignorance is Bliss’ off the mixtape caught the attention of the Popular Producer, Dr. Dre.
He was invited over by Dr. Dre to work with him alongside Snoop Dogg on the Album, Detox.
He also joined fellow Top Dawg artists Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and ScHoolboy Q in a hip-hop collective called Black Hippy.
He released his first full-length autonomous Album in 2011 and labeled it “Section.80″ under Top Dawg Entertainment. The Album was released exclusively on iTunes.
While performing at a west Los Angeles concert, Kendrick was announced as The “New King Of West Coast” in August 2011 by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Game.
He was signed to Dr. Dre’s Record Label, Aftermath Entertainment, in 2012 and Interscope Records(Universal Music), a distributing label. He was signed into Aftermath alongside some renowned artists like Eminem and 50cents.
He released his first major studio work under his three record labels. He released “Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City” The LP debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Later the same year, Kendrick released his hit single “The Recipe,” produced by Scoop DeVille.
In the same year, “Swimming Pools(Drank)” and” Poetic,” which are singles from his Album, began to pave the way for him. He was seen in major American television appearances while promoting the Album, including Saturday Night Live, where he also appeared alongside Adam Levine and The Lonely Island.
After working with several artists, He has nominated for seven awards at the Grammy Awards Nomination in 2013. But unfortunately, He didn’t get to win any which made the media suggest that he was being snubbed at the event.
He released the album “To Pimp a Butterfly “in early 2015. The Album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.
He made a remix featured with Taylor Swift on the song “Bad Blood.”
Kendrick was nominated again for the 2015 Grammy Awards, winning five awards, including the Best Album Award.
In April 2017, He released another album, “Damn,” the Album debuted at number one. In less than a month, the Album was certified Platinum, and the single “Humble” on the Album went viral, massively streamed, and got to number one on the Billboard top 100.
He developed the soundtrack for the superhero Marvel Movie “Black Panther,” which was shot in 2017 and earned him an Academy Award for Best singer.
Kendrick got nominated for seven awards in the 2018 Grammy Awards, which include Album of the Year and Best Rap Album for Damn, the Revied of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video for “Humble,” and Best Rap/Sung Performance for “Loyalty” with Rihanna. Lamar eventually won five awards at the ceremony, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, Best Music Video, and Best Rap/Sung Performance.
Kendrick Lamar performed at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show on February 13, 2022, with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 cents, Mary J. Blige, and Anderson Park.
In May 2022, Kendrick released his fifth studio album, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.”
On September 3, 2022, He was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for the Super Bowl LVi halftime show.
Personal Life
Kendrick has been relatively quiet about his personal life, including his love life, family, and educational background.
He is currently known to be in a relationship with Whitney Alford. The couples have two children, which identity is concealed from public view.
His first daughter, whose name is unknown, was reportedly born on July 26, 2019.
He probably has past relationships, but Kendrick prefers keeping them all low not to be the topic on social media.
Kendrick is a Christian and has always been outspoken about it in his music and interviews. He got converted after he lost a friend of his and announced to the entire audience during Kanye West‘s tour that he’d been baptized in 2013.
He had always given credit to God for all of his successful steps.
In 2022, Kendrick visited Ghana for a documentary shoot ahead of his album ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers‘.
During his visit to Ghana, He met with some of the Popular music acts in Ghana, like Stonebwoy, Amaarae, Black Sherif, and Smallgod, during a private album listening.
Discography
– Album
- Training Day
- To Pimp a Butterfly
- Damn
- Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Social Media
- Instagram @Kendricklamar
- Twitter @Kendrick Lamar
Net Worth
The celeb has accumulated a lot of funds from the sales of his songs and has an estimated net worth of US$75 million.