Latest Release
- 22 NOV 2024
- 12 Songs
- DAMN. · 2017
- Not Like Us - Single · 2024
- DAMN. · 2017
- euphoria - Single · 2024
- Black Panther: The Album · 2018
- good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe) · 2012
- good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe) · 2012
- WE DON'T TRUST YOU · 2024
- Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers · 2022
- DAMN. · 2017
Essential Albums
- Afrofuturist, personal themes plus jazz-funk aesthetics brought hip-hop to a new cosmic plane. Thanks to multiple hit singles—and no shortage of critical acclaim—2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city propelled Kendrick Lamar into the hip-hop mainstream. His 2015 follow-up, To Pimp a Butterfly, served as a raised-fist rebuke to anyone who thought they had this Compton-born rapper figured out. Intertwining Afrocentric and Afrofuturist motifs with poetically personal themes and jazz-funk aesthetics, To Pimp A Butterfly expands beyond the gangsta rap preconceptions foisted upon Lamar’s earlier works. Even from the album’s first few seconds—which feature the sound of crackling vinyl and a faded Boris Gardiner soul sample—it’s clear To Pimp a Butterfly operates on an altogether different cosmic plane than its decidedly more commercial predecessor. The album’s Flying Lotus-produced opening track, “Wesley’s Theory”, includes a spoken-word invocation from musician Josef Leimberg and an appearance by Parliament-Funkadelic legend George Clinton—names that give To Pimp a Butterfly added atomic weight. Yet Lamar’s lustful and fantastical verses, which are as audacious as the squirmy Thundercat basslines underneath, never get lost in an album packed with huge names. Throughout To Pimp a Butterfly, Lamar goes beyond hip-hop success tropes: On “King Kunta”, he explores his newfound fame, alternating between anxiety and big-stepping braggadocio. On “The Blacker the Berry”, meanwhile, Lamar pointedly explores and expounds upon identity and racial dynamics, all the while reaching for a reckoning. And while “Alright” would become one of the rapper’s best-known tracks, it’s couched in harsh realities, and features an anthemic refrain delivered in a knowing, weary rasp that belies Lamar’s young age. He’s only 27, and yet he’s already seen too much. The cast assembled for this massive effort demonstrates not only Lamar’s reach, but also his vast vision. Producers Terrace Martin and Sounwave, both veterans of good kid, m.A.A.d city, are among the many names to work behind-the-boards here. But the album also includes turns from everyone from Snoop Dogg to SZA to Ambrose Akinmusire to Kamasi Washington—an intergenerational reunion of a musical diaspora. Their contributions—as well as the contributions of more than a dozen other players—give To Pimp a Butterfly a remarkable range: The contemplations of “Institutionalized” benefit greatly from guest vocalists Bilal and Anna Wise, as do the hood parables of “How Much A Dollar Cost”, which features James Fauntleroy and Ronald Isley. Meanwhile, Robert Glasper’s frenetic piano on “For Free? (Interlude)” and Pete Rock’s nimble scratches on “Complexion (A Zulu Love)” give To Pimp a Butterfly added energy.
Albums
- 2024
- 2022
- 2022
- 2022
Artist Playlists
- Raw bangers and introspective tales fuelled by mind-blowing flow.
- K-Dot's best videos are deep visual journeys.
- Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
- Relive the hits performed at the news-making Juneteenth concert.
- Embracing discordant samples and fierce lyrical honesty.
- From Compton and beyond, he found his voice studying the best.
Compilations
- A Compton prodigy realigns rap by going personal.
- Kendrick, Future, and Metro Boomin are a serious combination.
- The story behind that insane beat—and its legendary switch-up.
- Exploring the rich history of Golden State rap.
- The story behind 2018’s 'Black Panther: The Album.'
- One of hip-hop’s best ever — 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' — turns 10.
- The Kendrick Lamar classics you know and love.
About Kendrick Lamar
In an interview with Apple Music, Kendrick Lamar reflected on his 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly—in particular, the song “Alright”. It wasn’t that it sold well (it did). It wasn’t that it won awards (it did). It wasn’t even that it broke new ground for where hip-hop might go. For Lamar, the success was that people sang it in the streets. “A lot of people don’t have voices out there,” he said. “So to see them actually express themselves through song, through lyrics that I wrote?” For a kid from Compton whose life was transformed by hip-hop, the fame was nice, but the singing, the spirit, the possibility that his music was opening a cultural inroad for people joining the fight for civil rights—that was real. He might’ve been writing alone. But he was speaking for many. Born in 1987, Lamar grew up under the influence of JAY-Z, Eminem and 2Pac—for the wordplay, for the imagination, for the heart and sense of community. Given its popularity, Lamar’s music can be surprisingly dense, taking shape in winding, album-length narratives (good kid, m.A.A.d city), live-band hybrids of jazz and funk (To Pimp a Butterfly), and quasi-conceptual explorations of self (2017’s Pulitzer Prize–winning DAMN.). Yes, he wants greatness. But he wants it on his own terms. “I’m not doing it to have a good song,” he said. “Or one good rap. Or a good hook, or a good bridge. I want to keep doing it every time, period. And to do it every time you have to challenge yourself, and you have to confirm to yourself—not anybody else—that you’re the best.” Five years after the release of DAMN., Lamar continued his self-administered competition with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, an album that was as cathartic as it was exhilarating. Cultivated during a time he sought therapy, the release saw the rapper find creativity, controversy and clarity as he unearthed the dormant trauma beneath his own rap stardom. Inventive and unsparing, the LP gave new dimensionality to an artist and an entire community, proving that, sometimes, the best tests are the ones we give ourselves.
- HOMETOWN
- Compton, CA, United States
- BORN
- 17 June 1987
- GENRE
- Hip-Hop/Rap