Who is Kendrick Lamar? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Kendrick Lamar Duckworth

Age: 36 Years, 36 Year Old Males

Family:

father: Kenny Duckworth

mother: Paula Oliver

Born Country: United States

Quotes By Kendrick Lamar Rappers

Height: 5'6" (168 cm), 5'6" Males

Notable Alumni: Centennial High School

U.S. State: California

City: Compton, California

More Facts

education: Centennial High School

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Childhood & Early Life

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born on 17 June 1987, in Compton, California. He was named by his mother in honour of singer and songwriter Eddie Kendricks.

He completed his preliminary education from the McNair Elementary in Compton Unified School District. Later, he attended the Centennial High School in Compton. Kendrick Lamar was known to be a bright student and consistently got A grades.

Quotes: Life, Alone, I

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Career

In 2004, at the age of 16, Kendrick Lamar released his debut project; a mixtape titled ‘Youngest Head Nigga in Charge’, under the pseudonym K-Dot. The album earned him appreciation in the locality as well as a contract with record label Top Dawg Entertainment. He began work with the label and in 2005 released the album ‘Training day’, a mixtape of 26 song recordings.

Between 2006 and 2007, he worked alongside rappers like Jay Rock and Ya Boy. He was featured by his pseudonym in rapper The Games’ songs ‘The Cypha’ and ‘Cali Niggaz’. 8He featured in Jay Rock’s single ‘All My Life (In the Ghetto)’ in 2008, which was supported by Warner Bros. Records.

In 2009, he released his next mixtape ‘C4’, which was featured on Wayne’s ‘The carter III LP’. Around this time he began using his original name and stopped using his pseudonym at work. Later that year he released ‘The Kendrick Lamar EP (Extended Play)’.

In 2009, he also formed a hip hop group ‘Black Hippy’ with Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. In a majority of instances, each team member appeared in the others videos and tapes.

In 2010, he released his first mixtape ‘Overly Dedicated’ as Kendrick Lamar and the album made an entry to the Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart that year.

In 2011, he released his first official album titled ‘Section.80’ digitally, and the album went on to gain the 13th position at the Billboard 200.

It was in this period that he gained much popularity with guest appearances and album releases. In 2011, during a concert he was named ‘The New King of the West Coast’ by Game, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. In 2011, he partnered with Windows Phone and created an original song titled ‘Cloud 10’

In 2011, he released two albums, ‘Good Kid’ and ‘M.A.A.D City’. His albums earned much appreciation and were nominated for the prestigious Grammy Awards that year.

He remained active with tours between 2013 and 2014. He also made guest appearances in albums of artists like YG, Tame Impala and SZA. In 2014 he released a single ‘I’ from his album ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’. The album was released the following year to highly positive reviews.

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In 2015, he featured in Taylor Swift’s official remix version of ‘Bad Blood’ as well as video too. The song went on to top the Billboard Hot 100. In 2016, he released a compilation album of unfinished demos, titled ‘Untitled Unmastered’.

In 2017 he released a promotional single ‘The Heart Part 4’. The following week he released the lead single ‘Humble’ along with its video. In April 2007, he released his next album titled ‘Album’ with guest appearances by U2, Rihanna and Zacari. Along with being certified as Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, the album released as number one in the Billboard 200 chart.

Quotes: Me, Time, I

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Major Works

Kendrick Lamar is an acclaimed rapper and lyricist. He has several award winning albums to his credit like ‘Studio.80’, “Good kid, “M.A.A.D city’, ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ and ‘Damn’.

Awards & Achievements

Kendrick Lamar received the BET Hip Hop Award in the ‘Lyricist of the Year’ category in 2012 and 2013.

In 2013, he won the Vanguard Award at the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards; BET Award in two categories - ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Best Male Hip-Hop Artist’.

In 2013, he also won the Soul Train Music Awards for ‘Album of the Year’ for Good Kid, m.A.A.D City.

In 2014 and 2015, he was chosen the ‘Best Male Hip-Hop Artist’ at the BET Awards. In 2014 he won the BET Hip Hop Awards for several categories, such as Album of the Year and Lyricist of the Year

In 2015, he won the Grammy Awards for ‘Best Rap Song’ and ‘Best Rap Performance’ for ‘I’.

In 2016, he received the Grammy Award for ‘Best Rap Performance’ and ‘Best Rap Song’ for “Alright”. He was also the recipient of the Grammy Award for ‘Best Rap/Sung Collaboration’ for ‘These Walls’ (with Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat).

In 2015, he received the Grammy award for ‘Best Music Video’ for ‘Bad Blood’ (with Taylor Swift). His album ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ won the ‘Album of the Year’ at the Grammys in 2016.

He has been nominated for the Grammy Awards in several categories in 2017 as well.

Quotes: Me, Love, War

Personal Life & Legacy

He is a Christian by faith and discusses the same in his songs as well.

In 2015, he got engaged to longtime girlfriend Whitney Alford.

Trivia

NBA player, Nick Young, is Kendrick Lamar’s cousin brother.

2019	Best Rap Performance	Winner
2019	Best Rap Performance	Black Panther (2018)
2018	Best Music Video	Kendrick Lamar: Humble. (2017)
2018	Best Rap Song	Winner
2018	Best Rap Album	Winner
2018	Best Rap/Sung Performance	Winner
2018	Best Rap Performance	Winner
2016	Best Music Video	Taylor Swift: Bad Blood (2015)
2016	Best Rap Album	Winner
2016	Best Rap/Sung Collaboration	Winner
2016	Best Rap Song	Winner
2016	Best Rap Performance	Winner
2015	Best Rap Performance	Winner
2015	Best Rap Song	Winner
2015	Best Short Form Music Video	Taylor Swift: Bad Blood (2015)

2017	Video of the Year	Kendrick Lamar: Humble. (2017)
2017	Best Hip-Hop Video	Kendrick Lamar: Humble. (2017)
2015	Best Collaboration	Taylor Swift: Bad Blood (2015)

Kendrick Lamar Biography