Who is Kendrick Lamar? A Monarch

By Trevor Durham on February 16, 2016

Don’t know who Kendrick Lamar is? It’s alright. We here at ULoop have you covered. You can hop the band-wagon and nobody will notice.

K-Dot’s massive Grammy performance last night eclipsed the Taylor Swift fluttering, Kanye’s The Life of Pablo debacle, and any other musical performance (except maybe Hamilton, but I already wrote on that). He performed a medley of two of his recent songs and premiered a new one in such a massively political fashion that nobody can forget his imagery. So now you’re wondering who this political rapper with only three albums out could be?

Kendrick came from the streets of Compton, a straight A student who witnessed Dr. Dre and Tupac filming California Love. Understandably, he found himself in love with the power of spoken word, and began working on his own music. He released a mixtape as a teenager called Youngest Head Nigga in Charge under the name K-Dot.

The sixteen year old was a little prodigy. Two years later, he dropped another mixtape (twenty six songs!) called Training Day. As a nineteen year old, he worked with The Game, Jay Rock, and Ya Boy. Lil Wayne found him and co-signed him. Wayne worked hard to produce K-Dot’s next mixtape with influences from his new album Tha Carter III, and the mix was called C4.

Kendrick decided to return to his birth name, Kendrick Lamar, and found confidence in himself. As he toured with Tech N9ne, he began a hip-hop supergroup called Black Hippy (we can thank this for Schoolboy Q). He released a fourth mixtape Overly Dedicated by himself and even placed on the Billboard charts. On the mix was an insane track, ‘Ignorance is Bliss’. That’s how Dr. Dre found him.

Dre called Kendrick in to work with him and Snoop on Detox (what has now become Compton), furthering his mentoring and the skills he was learning.

Kendrick dropped his first single in 2011. Titled ‘HiiiPoWeR’, it took the Internet by storm. It was produced by none other than J. Cole… Begin your excitement.

After dropping a surprise track featuring RZA, Kendrick dropped his first full studio album Section.80. Without any marketing coverage, it sold thousands of online copies in a week. A month later, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg dubbed Kendrick Lamar the ‘New King of the West Coast’. Watching his early BET Cypher makes it evident why. In 2011, he appeared on albums with The Game, Tech N9ne, and Drake.

Within seven years of dropping his first mixtape, Kendrick had signed with Aftermath and Interscope. K-Dot was in the big leagues with Eminem in his early twenties.

Here’s where you know the story: Kendrick puts out good kid, m.A.A.d city with the catchiest singles from three years ago: Swimming Pools (Drank), The Recipe, Bitch Don’t Kill my Vibe, and Poetic Justice. He began hyping a collaboration with fellow artist J. Cole in 2012. He worked with people from Lady Gaga to the Lonely Island (‘YOLO’ is hilarious).

Grammy controversy is not exclusive to this year, either. In 2014, Macklemore beat out Kendrick for Best Rap Album, and Kendrick also lost Best New Artist and Album of the Year. Outrage followed.


We get to 2014, Kendrick’s pivotal year. He announced in February that he would be releasing his next album within the year. He failed that promise, but gave fans two singles: i and The Blacker the Berry. In March, he put out his third album: To Pimp a Butterfly.

The album sold. It topped the Billboard charts, broke Spotify streaming records, and received rave reviews. TPAB broke rap tradition, becoming more a spoken word, free flow, jazz and funk album than expected. The songs flow together into a poem spun by Kendrick in an indescribably beauty that makes the entire album crucial to understanding each song. It grows from comedic slams such as King Kunta and For Free? into heavy metaphoric songs about injustice and morality, such as How Much a Dollar Cost and Mortal Man. Obama cited his favorite song as being How Much a Dollar Cost and invited Kendrick to sit down with him.

To Pimp a Butterfly changed lives. Chants of Alright became the motto of Black Lives Matter protestors. The message of love, unity, and an end to discrimination empowered a generation of new rappers and activists. He even scared Grammy censors with his powerful messages.

But Taylor Swift definitely deserved the award for her break up songs.

“I love myself” is a better hook than “I’ll write your name”, Grammy voters.

Oh well. Here’s to hoping Kendrick drops that new J. Cole mix today.

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