Your Name: Marc Giordani

Period: 7

Date: May 1st 2017

K-Dot
Kendrick Lamar has established himself as one of the greatest rappers of all time, with other
legendary rappers like Tupac, the Notorious B.I.G, and Eminem. Born in Compton, Kendrick Lamar used
his experiences as a child and how he was directly affected by the violence of the streets. Kendrick
Lamars childhood greatly influenced his rap career and it helped him become into one of the most well
known and respected rappers of all time.
Kendrick Lamar was born on June 17, 1987, in Compton, California. Before Kendrick Lamar was
born, his parents lived in Chicago but, they moved to Compton to escape the gang culture of Chicagos
streets. They originally planned to move to San-Bernardino but a close relative was living in Compton at
the time and offered to give them a hand until they got back on their feet. They did this even though it was
known that his dad was related to the notorious Gangster Disciples gang. Kendrick Lamars life was
greatly affected by Compton and the streets. On April 29, 1992, the first day of the South Central riots,
Kendrick and his dad Kenny were driving down a street. Then, they saw people running and they could
also see smoke coming out of buildings. Then, his dad went into an auto shop and came out rolling four
tires, Kendrick asked his dad What's going on? and his dad told him that they are all taking stuff. At
this time Kendrick was only 4 years old. At 5 years old, Kendrick Lamar saw his first murder where a
teenage drug dealer was gunned down outside his apartment building. When Kendrick Lamar was eight
years old, he saw his second murder when he was walking home from McNair Elementary. Dude was in
the drive-thru ordering his food, and homey ran up, boom boom smoked him.
When Kendrick Lamar was young he really wanted to become a basketball player but, when he
was in seventh grade his teacher got him into writing and poetry. Kendrick started to write all the time,
usually about his life. His writing started as stories, which then turned into poetry, which then became
lyrics. When Kendrick Lamar began to start singing his lyrics, he sang under the name K-Dot. When
Kendrick was 16 years old, he released his first mixtape which drew a lot of interest all over California.
The project helped him land a deal with Top Dawg entertainment, a well-known California independent
label. Top Dawg entertainment would also provide songs to major labels. Under this label, he went on to
release two other popular mixtapes, Training Day in 2005 and C4 in 2009. Then, in 2010 he dropped the
K-Dot tag and began to go with his own name. He also released his fourth mixtape Overly Dedicated and
he released his first full-length independent album under Top Dawg Entertainment, called Section.80.
Over time Kendrick Lamar has established himself as one of the greatest rappers of all time and
the greatest and most exciting living rapper. In 2012, Kendrick Lamar released his major-label debut
album good kid m.A.A.d city which was very popular and well respected. Then he released hit singles
like Poetic Justice and Swimming Pools (Drank) this resulted in the rapper's increased popularity. This
new popularity led to him being invited to TV shows such as Saturday Night Live, Late Night With David
Letterman, and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. While on those shows he was able to promote his album.
The well thought out lyrics led to MTV naming him the Top MC of 2012 putting him in the same
category of other rappers who have won the award such as Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, and Kanye West. Kendrick
released his next album in 2015 called To Pimp a Butterfly the album featured other artists like Bilal,
Snoop Dogg, and Pharrell Williams. Kendrick Lamar was nominated for 11 Grammys later that year and
won the first award of the 2016 show, for Best Rap Album.
The violence of the streets of Compton had a major impact on Kendrick Lamars life. This helped
him when he started to write lyrics and began his rap career. Kendrick Lamar developed as a person and a
rapper through his life and after landing a major record deal he established himself as one of the greatest
rappers of all time and maybe the greatest rapper currently alive now.