Kendrick Lamar's Complete Transformation The List
Before Kendrick Lamar took over the music world, he was K.Dot, an up-and-coming rapper who was ready to take the industry by storm.
By Feb. 7, 2025 2:15 pm EST
Kendrick Lamar has climbed to the pinnacle of the music industry, and he's got the hardware to prove it. Thanks to such hits as "Humble," "Like That," and 2024's "Not Like Us," Lamar can boast of winning 22 Grammy Awards (from a whopping 57 nominations). He's also no slouch when it comes to the Billboard charts, hitting No. 1 on the Hot 100 five times — and counting — while his 2017 hit "Love" spent a staggering 40 weeks on that chart. Oh, and he has a Pulitzer.
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Lamar has been in the headlines at the start of 2025, not just for his long-simmering feud with Canadian rapper Drake. In February, he will be in front of his biggest audience to date when he takes to the stage at the Super Dome in New Orleans for the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
From humble beginnings in Compton to the heights of superstardom, it's been an amazing journey that's far from over. To find out more, keep on reading to experience Kendrick Lamar's complete transformation.
He was born and raised in ComptonNamed for Eddie Kendricks of legendary singing group The Temptations, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in 1987 in Compton, California. His early years were not idyllic; he saw a dealer get shot and killed outside of his apartment when he was just 5 years old. "It let me know that this is not only something that I'm looking at, but it's something that maybe I have to get used to — you dig what I'm saying?" he said in an interview with NPR's "Morning Edition."Â
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That wouldn't be the last time he'd experience the trauma of watching someone die; just a few years later, when he was 8 years old, he saw another murder. "After that, you just get numb to it,"Â he once told Rolling Stone.
The oldest of four siblings, Lamar experienced poverty throughout his life. "My pops did whatever he could to get money. He was in the streets. You know the story,"Â he explained to Spin. Groceries were bought with food stamps, and he recalled the time that his family was evicted from their apartment, and wound up living in a hotel for half a year. "2Pac had just passed,"Â Lamar told Billboard. "My uncle was in jail, and we was in a hotel. My moms never owned a house until I was able to afford it for her."
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A teacher introduced him to poetry and sparked his interest in rapWhile attending school in Compton's Vanguard Learning Center, Kendrick Lamar was in the seventh grade when he began taking a creative writing course taught by English teacher Regis Inge. Inge introduced poetry to his students to help them process the trauma they encountered on a daily basis. "Poetry was a way for them to write their emotions down so they wouldn't come to school so angry," Inge told author Marcus J. Moore for his book, "The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America" (via an excerpt published in The Nation). "They'd be ready to fight at 7:30 in the morning."
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Inge immediately recognized that Lamar displayed talent with words, and pushed him to hone his work to a sharp edge. When Lamar submitted an assignment, Inge refused to let him coast. "I would always circle something and say, 'Kendrick, change this, move this right here,'"Â he recalled.Â
Those poems evolved into rap songs, and Lamar's subject matter grew more expansive. Initially, subject matter involved the gang fights and street hassles he witnessed in Compton, but he began looking further afield for topics. "As we got older and started maturing, I saw him take the craft more seriously,"Â Lamar's childhood friend, Matt Jeezy, told Moore.
His father encouraged him to stay away from gangsSurrounded by gang life in Compton, Kendrick Lamar couldn't help but become involved. However, he explained in an interview with Spin, he was never affiliated with any particular gang. "Gangs is my family, I grew up with them, I hung with them," he said. "So, I been around it, been through it, but I can't sit here and claim a gang."
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At age 16, Lamar's father — who'd been affiliated with the Gangster Disciples back in Chicago — saw the path his son was heading down, and had a heart-to-heart conversation. "My father said, 'I don't want you to be like me,'" Lamar recalled. At first, he didn't quite understand, since he'd admired his dad. However, as his father continued, it clicked for the future star. "He said, 'Things I have done, mistakes I've made, I never want you to make those mistakes. You can wind up out on the corner,'" Lamar continued. "He knew by the company I keep what I was gettin' into. Out of respect, I really just gathered myself together."
Lamar immediately reevaluated his lifestyle, leaving drug and alcohol use in the rearview. His father's intervention changed his life by changing his perspective. "I saw the same things over and over. A lot of my homeboys goin' to jail... And dyin' — it was a constant," he said. "It was a gift from God to be able to recognize that."
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He started releasing music as K.Dot when he was still in high schoolKendrick Lamar's gift for creating poetic imagery began emerging in the rap music he created as a teenager. He was still a student in high school when he began releasing his raps, calling himself K.Dot. Working with his musical collaborator, DJ Dave Free (now Lamar's manager), his mixtape, "Hub City Threat," captured the attention of record executives at rap label Top Dawg Entertainment. On the strength of that mixtape, in 2005 he was signed by Top Dawg.
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That same year, the 18-year-old released his second mixtape, "Training Day," his first release from TDE. Even in those early days, his ambitions were evident. "I'd say that we're bringing the pure form of artistry to the music game," the rapper then known as K.Dot boasted in a 2007 interview with DubCNN. "Everybody has set their own genres of rap, such as gangsta rap, happy rap, commercial ... We're doing everything, we ain't one-dimensional. You can't put a label or a title on us, we're just being true to ourselves and expressing ourselves on these records. That's everyday life. Pure artistry." He continued to use the K.Dot moniker on subsequent mixtapes for the label, including 2007's "No Sleep 'Till NYC" (a collaboration with Jay Rock), and "C4" in 2009.
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He began making music under his real name in 2010In 2010, Kendrick Lamar ditched the K.Dot name and released his first project using his own name, the mixtape "Overly Dedicated." Interviewed for Hard Knock TV, Lamar explained that he wanted to put more of his identity into his work. "[K.Dot's] just another cat in the streets that can rap good, right? But I was like, I want people to know who I am as a person, and what I represent, so I woke up one morning and I said, 'The best way to start is give 'em me, my name,'" she shared.
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Among the songs on that mixtape is "Ignorance is Bliss," a complex tune that seemingly glorifies gang life while ending each verse with the words in the title. That track grabbed the attention of rap legend Dr. Dre, whose musical talent at the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show had fans freaking out. It was watching an interview with the young rapper, however, that really intrigued the industry veteran. "He spoke, and the way he showed his passion for music, there was something in that," said Dr. Dre in an interview.
He was impressed enough to reach out to Lamar, serving as his mentor and boosting his career to the next level. "I can't take credit for Kendrick Lamar," Dr. Dre said while appearing on Kevin Hart's "Hart to Heart"Â talk show. "The only thing I can take credit for is opening the door for him because he's done everything himself."
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Snoop Dogg passed the torch to name Kendrick Lamar was dubbed the new king of West Coast rapWhile Dr. Dre may be too gracious to take responsibility for Kendrick Lamar's meteoric rise in the 2010s, being in Dre's orbit propelled Lamar to the big time. In 2011, Lamar released "Section 8.0,"Â and that debut album catapulted him to bona fide stardom.Â
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Shortly after the album's release, Lamar was performing in Los Angeles when he was joined onstage by rapper The Game, who symbolically passed the torch to Lamar. Then, Snoop Dogg took to the stage. "You're great at what you do,"Â Snoop told Lamar. "You got the torch, you better run with it."Â Â
Snoop Dogg hasn't always gotten along with his fellow rappers — Snoop had once feuded with Eminem — but has remained a staunch supporter of Lamar over the years. Discussing his anointment of Lamar back in 2011 while appearing on the "Bootleg Kev" podcast, Snoop declared, "That's how we do it in the West. We give it to who's accordingly running the show." In fact, Snoop recalled that he and Dr. Dre were watching Lamar perform, and made the spontaneous decision to crown him the new king of the West Coast, right then and there. "We felt like, he the one," he said of Lamar. "And it wasn't no discussion that we had three weeks ago, that s*** happened right there." In fact, he's continued to sing Lamar's praises; as Billboard reported, Snoop referred to Lamar as "King of the West" after his 2024 Juneteenth concert.
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He made rap history with his second album In 2012, Kendrick Lamar released his second album, "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City," which was also his major label debut (his first for Dr. Dre's Interscope label). An ambitious concept album, "GKMC" is an autobiographical coming-of-age saga, essentially tracing his transformation from aspiring Compton rapper K.Dot to West Coast rap king Kendrick Lamar.
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"The whole story and the concept is really a self-portrait about myself, you know, trying my best to escape the influences of the city, and figuring it out," he said during an appearance on Power 106's "Big Boy's Neighborhood." "If you listen to it from top to bottom you would get the whole aspect and concept."
Not only was "GKMC" a hit right out of the gates, but the album proved to have real staying power in the marketplace. In 2019, it became the longest-running rap album to maintain a spot in the Billboard Top 200 chart after spending its 358th week on that chart to displace the previous holder of that record:Â "The Eminem Show,"Â released in 2002 and spending 357 weeks on the Top 200.
He landed his first No. 1 with To Pimp a ButterflyKendrick Lamar issued his third album in 2015, an even more-ambitious project called "To Pimp a Butterfly." In that album, Lamar addressed the separation he was feeling from his Compton roots now that he was a rap superstar whose words were being absorbed by millions. Interviewed about the album by The New York Times, Lamar confirmed that was not a responsibility that he took lightly. "I'm the closest thing to a preacher that they have" he said. "I know that from being on tour — kids are living by my music." However, his recognition of that role was tinged with a heavy dose of humility. "My word will never be as strong as God's word," he added. "All I am is just a vessel, doing his work."
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"To Pimp a Butterfly" was an even bigger hit than its predecessor, giving Lamar his first No. 1 album as it rocketed to the top spot on Billboard's album chart immediately upon its debut. As Lamar told the Times, he didn't feel the record was making a political statement. "It's a record full of strength and courage and honesty," he said, but admitting it also represented "growth and acknowledgment and denial." He was, he explained, inviting listeners to experience the full range of emotions that he was going through. "I want you to get angry — I want you to get happy," he added. "I want you to feel disgusted. I want you to feel uncomfortable."
He got engaged to Whitney Alford and started a familyNot long after the 2019 release of "To Pimp a Butterfly," Kendrick Lamar revealed that he and his longtime girlfriend Whitney Alford had gotten engaged. The two first met when they attended high school together in Compton, and she's been by his side on every step of the way throughout his rise to the top. "She's been here since Day 1," he told The New York Times Magazine in 2014.Â
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While the two, as of this writing, have yet to tie the knot, they've remained a committed couple. That was evident when they welcomed their first child together in July 2019, daughter Uzi. In May 2022, they had a second child, son Enoch. Interviewed by W Magazine in 2022, Lamar reflected on how fatherhood had changed his perspective. "My children allowed me, in their development as human beings beginning to walk and talk, to remove my ego," he observed. "To know that my children, too, will have their own independence, that allows me to understand the unconditional love on my end."
In general, though, Lamar has displayed a tendency to keep his private life with Alford and their children to himself. "I want something that's just for me," he told Vanity Fair in 2017.
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Further success with Damn and Black Panther"To Pimp a Butterfly" may have been a tough act to follow, but Kendrick Lamar was undaunted when he released his 2017 album, "Damn." Interviewed by Zane Lowe of Apple Music's Beats 1 Radio, he contrasted his new album with his previous release. "'To Pimp a Butterly' would be the ... thought of changing the world, how we work and how we approach things," he explained. "'Damn' [is] the idea of: 'I can't change the world until I change myself.' So when you listen to records like 'Pride,' 'Humble,' 'Lust,' and 'Love,' these are all just human emotions and me looking in the mirror and coming to grips with them."
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Like his earlier record, "Damn" hit the top of the Billboard album chart, holding the No. 1 spot for three consecutive weeks — only to regain the top chart position 13 weeks later. On top of all of that, the album was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Music. "I think the more people talk about it, the more it becomes fascinating, and you can have a debate about it," he told Variety of the conversations he was hoping to spark via the album.Â
He followed up "Damn" with another hit, the soundtrack for Marvel's big-screen blockbuster "Black Panther." According to the film's director, Ryan Coogler, Lamar was initially just going to provide a few songs — until he saw footage from the film and decided to dive in. As Coogler told NPR, "the next thing I know, they were booking a studio and they were going at it."
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He delighted fans with the surprise release of GNXAfter "Damn,"Â Kendrick Lamar's fans patiently awaited new music. That arrived in 2024 with "GNX,"Â an album that he dropped without anyone knowing that it was coming. Shortly before the big surprise, he teased the upcoming release with a cryptic one-minute video featuring music from "GNX."
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Lamar welcomed some special guests for the album, including jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington and singer-songwriter SZA. Swifties were disappointed, however, when a rumor that transformative pop icon Taylor Swift would appear on the album turned out to be untrue.Â
While discussing the album during an Apple Music interview ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Lamar revealed that he drew inspiration for "GNX" from the music he'd listened to as a youngster. "I thought about 'Damn, what I used to like as a kid?' Hard raps, good beats, that's smackin', right?" he said, via Hot New Hip Hop. "It was necessary to come out of that cocoon like, 'I arrived now. I can spread my wings and show every state of who I am as far as Kendrick Lamar.'"
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Kendrick Lamar was tapped by Jay-Z to play the Super Bowl in 2025There was no surer a sign that Kendrick Lamar had entered the pantheon of rock royalty than his presence at the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, sharing the stage with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Eminem. Just a few years later, the NFL invited him back, this time as a solo act, to headline Super Bowl LIX in 2025. "Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date,"Â Lamar said about his Super Bowl performance in a statement, as reported by Variety. "And I'll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one."
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With the halftime show produced by Jay-Z's Roc Nation, Lamar revealed he'd be inviting SZA to perform with him as a special guest. As Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez told Nola.com, Lamar was the obvious choice to headline Super Bowl LIX. "He's had an incredible year, very deserving of the attention," said Perez, also referencing the five trophies he'd just won for "GNX" when she added that "Kendrick is the right person for the show at this moment."
During the aforementioned pregame Apple Music interview, Lamar shared his plans to bring a bit of Los Angeles to New Orleans. "Being in the now and being just locked-in to how I feel and the energy I have now, that's the L.A. energy for me," he said. "That's something I wanted to carry over to New Orleans and for the world to see. This is me. This is Kendrick Lamar, 37 years old, and I still feel like I'm elevating, I'm still on a journey."
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