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Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to receive the award. Lamar's music, rooted in West Coast hip-hop, features conscious, introspective lyrics, with political criticism and social commentary concerning African-American culture.

Born and raised in Compton, California, Lamar began releasing music under the stage name K.Dot in high school. He signed with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005 and co-founded the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy. His alternative rap debut album, ''Section.80'', led to a joint contract with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. He rose to stardom with his gangsta rap–influenced sophomore album ''Good Kid, M.A.A.D City'' (2012), which became the longest-charting hip hop studio album on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was named the greatest concept album of all time by ''Rolling Stone''. In 2015, he had his first ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one single, with the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood", and released his third album, ''To Pimp a Butterfly'', which infused hip-hop with historical African-American music genres such as jazz, funk, and soul, his first of five consecutive number-one albums on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Lamar's critical and commercial success continued with his R&B and pop-leaning fourth album ''Damn'' (2017), featuring his second US number-one single, "Humble". He contributed to the soundtrack of the 2018 film ''Black Panther'', earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "All the Stars". His fifth album, ''Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers'' (2022), delved into introspection and concluded his tenure with TDE and Aftermath. In 2024, his highly publicized feud with Drake and sixth album ''GNX'' spawned the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles "Like That", "Not Like Us", "Squabble Up", and "Luther". "Not Like Us" won five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year, while "Luther" became his longest-charting number-one song in the US, at 13 weeks. His 2025 Grand National Tour with SZA is the highest-grossing co-headlining tour in history.

His accolades include 22 Grammy Awards (the third-most won by a rapper), two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Brit Award, 5 American Music Awards, 7 ''Billboard'' Music Awards, 11 MTV Video Music Awards (including 2 Video of the Year wins), and a record 37 BET Hip Hop Awards. ''Time'' listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. Three of his works were included in ''Rolling Stone''s 2020 revision of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Outside of music, Lamar co-founded the creative company PGLang and ventured into film with his longtime creative partner, Dave Free. Provided by Wikipedia