60 Fun Facts About Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar was born and raised in which California city?

He calls it Hub City on his early mixtapes, and Section.80's follow-up was billed on its cover as a 'short film' set there.

Under what stage name did a teenage Kendrick release his first mixtapes?

He retired the alias around 2009 because he felt it hid who he really was, and switched to his first and middle names.

Which independent label signed Kendrick in 2005, making him one of its first two artists?

He freestyled for two hours at the audition, and on signing he bought a minority stake in the company.

Kendrick's 2017 album DAMN. won which honor, a first for any music outside classical and jazz?

The award came on April 16, 2018, and was widely read as the cultural establishment formally recognising hip-hop as an art form.

Which 2024 diss track won all five of its Grammy nominations, including Record and Song of the Year?

That five-for-five haul tied the 5th Dimension's 'Up, Up and Away' as the most-awarded song in Grammy history.

Which singer joined Kendrick as the special guest at his Super Bowl LIX halftime show?

The pair then took the Grand National Tour on the road from April 2025, which became the highest-grossing co-headlining tour ever.

Which actor appeared throughout the Super Bowl LIX halftime show as a satirical Uncle Sam?

His running commentary between songs was staged to illustrate the cultural divide of America.

Which Compton-raised tennis champion danced on stage during Kendrick's Super Bowl 'Not Like Us'?

Her crip walk echoed the one she did after winning gold at the 2012 Olympics, for which she was criticised at the time.

Kendrick's first Hot 100 number one came as a featured artist on which Taylor Swift remix?

Years later he re-recorded his verse for Swift's Taylor's Version project during her masters dispute.

Which lead single from DAMN. became Kendrick's first Hot 100 number one as a lead artist?

It debuted at number two and climbed to the top in its second week, beating the peak of his earlier hits.

Which 2018 film soundtrack did Kendrick curate and executive produce?

He sang lead or background vocals on every track whether or not he was credited, and the album earned the most single-week streams of any soundtrack.

Which Kendrick and SZA duet spent 13 weeks at number one, his longest-running Hot 100 chart-topper?

Only Old Town Road has spent longer at number one among hip-hop songs.

Kendrick's sixth album, released as a surprise in November 2024, shares its name with what?

He bought a limited-run 1987 Grand National Experimental after the Big Steppers Tour, the high-spec version of the car his father drove him home from the hospital in.

Which DJ-producer, later a guest at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, made the beat for Not Like Us?

He had sent Kendrick roughly five beats a day for three months, and the one that stuck was finished in about 30 minutes.

Which To Pimp a Butterfly track became a Black Lives Matter protest chant?

Pharrell Williams co-produced the beat in 2014 with Fabolous in mind, and ended up singing the hook himself.

What is the title of Kendrick's independently released 2011 debut studio album?

It sold about 5,000 copies in its first week and peaked at 113 on the Billboard 200; Snoop, Dre and the Game crowned him 'New King of the West Coast' the same year.

good kid, m.A.A.d city carries which subtitle on its cover?

The nonlinear coming-of-age narrative has been compared to Scorsese and Tarantino screenplays, and Rolling Stone named it the greatest concept album ever.

Which single from good kid, m.A.A.d city was Kendrick's first top-20 hit on the Hot 100?

Its subject is peer-pressured drinking, and it climbed slowly to number 17 in its thirteenth week on the chart.

Kendrick and Dave Free's creative company, launched in March 2020, is called what?

Its first big campaign was a series of seven short films for Calvin Klein; it later scored and co-designed a Chanel couture show.

Kendrick's cousin, who he features on Family Ties and Range Brothers, records under what name?

Family Ties won Best Rap Performance at the 2022 Grammys; another cousin is former NBA player Nick Young.

Which TDE supergroup did Kendrick form with Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and ScHoolboy Q?

The four never released a group album, but appeared on each other's records constantly, often without a credit.

Kendrick's feud with Drake traces back to his 2013 verse on which Big Sean song?

He name-checked Drake among the rappers he wanted to compete with, and Rolling Stone called the verse a 'wake up call' for hip-hop.

Kendrick's surprise 2024 verse on which Future and Metro Boomin song reignited the Drake feud?

It became his first song to debut at number one, and its bass line samples Rodney-O & Joe Cooley's 'Everlasting Bass'.

Which Drake and J. Cole track, with its talk of a 'big three', provoked Kendrick's Like That verse?

Cole later apologised on stage and pulled his own reply, leaving Drake alone in the fight.

Drake's answer record to Not Like Us, released the very next day, was titled what?

The title hijacked Kendrick's own long-running 'The Heart' series of pre-album singles.

Kendrick's Juneteenth 2024 concert, The Pop Out: Ken & Friends, was held at which venue?

Amazon Music streamed it after ticket demand exploded, and it became the most-watched video production the service has ever distributed.

To close The Pop Out, how many times in a row did Kendrick perform Not Like Us?

Each run-through added a different element, with a stage full of LA rappers and athletes behind him.

What is the title of Kendrick's 2016 compilation of eight date-labelled leftovers from To Pimp a Butterfly?

LeBron James publicly lobbied TDE boss Top Dawg to release the songs after Kendrick played untitled tracks on Colbert and Fallon.

Which basketball star's public request led Kendrick to release his 2016 compilation of leftover demos?

The album debuted at number one anyway, Kendrick's second consecutive chart-topper.

Kendrick and SZA's 'Luther' samples a 1982 duet between Vandross and which singer?

The Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell original is played uninterrupted for the final minute of the music video.

Squabble Up is built on a sample of 'When I Hear Music', a 1984 freestyle record by which artist?

Pitchfork said Kendrick reshaped the 'classic 80s techno' loop into a 90s club hit; the song debuted at number one.

Which regional Mexican singer, discovered at a Dodgers World Series game, sings on three GNX tracks?

She appears on the opening and closing tracks and on Reincarnated, giving the album its mariachi bookends.

Which pop producer, known for Taylor Swift and Lorde records, co-produced most of Kendrick Lamar's GNX?

The pair cut somewhere between 80 and 100 songs over several years; twelve made the album.

Not Like Us samples a 1968 Monk Higgins version of which Ray Charles song?

Despite online speculation, the track does not sample Nas's diss record Ether.

Euphoria opens with a reversed clip of Kendrick reading a line by which comedian, taken from The Wiz?

The film is a 1978 remake of The Wizard of Oz starring Michael Jackson, an artist Drake has often compared himself to.

The Meet the Grahams cover shows prescription bottles in Drake's real name, one of them for which drug?

The others were for Adderall and Zolpidem, and the photo is an uncropped version of the 6:16 in LA artwork.

Which artist designed the loud red cover of DAMN., having also designed the To Pimp a Butterfly sleeve?

He described the design as 'loud and abrasive' and deliberately less political than the White House lawn shot on To Pimp a Butterfly.

Besides Rihanna and Zacari, which rock band guests on DAMN.?

Bono turns up on XXX; Kendrick returned the favour on U2's own track American Soul, which the song samples.

The DAMN. tracks Blood and DNA sample which cable channel's pundits attacking his BET Awards performance?

The clips feature Eric Bolling, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Geraldo Rivera reacting to Alright.

The opening track of To Pimp a Butterfly is named for which actor and his jailing for tax evasion?

Kendrick's point was that nobody teaches poor Black men how to manage money or celebrity, so success can be taken straight back.

Mortal Man, closing To Pimp a Butterfly, ends with a staged 'interview' using 1994 audio of whom?

The tape came from a Swedish radio interview with Mats Nileskär for P3 Soul; Kendrick wrote the song's lyrics on the Yeezus Tour.

Two women whose stories run through Kendrick's 2011 debut album are Tammy and who?

Keisha's Song (Her Pain) follows a sex worker to her death; the album is framed around the crack era and Reagan's presidency.

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers features narration from Whitney Alford and which German-born spiritual author?

The double album is structured like a theatrical play built from Kendrick's therapy sessions, and Beth Gibbons of Portishead sings on it.

On the cover of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, what is Kendrick wearing on his head?

The Renell Medrano photo also doubled as the birth announcement for his and Alford's second child, a son.

Kendrick was named after a member of which Motown group?

Eddie Kendricks sang lead on Just My Imagination; Kendrick's parents had moved from Chicago's South Side to Compton in 1984.

First-grader Kendrick correctly used which word, prompting his teacher to suggest writing?

He had a noticeable stutter as a child and would fill notebooks with lyrics instead of doing his other homework.

Kendrick Lamar briefly had a development deal with which major label before being let go after meeting its CEO, Jay-Z?

He later called it 'one of those situations where I wasn't ready' and went back to grinding out mixtapes with Jay Rock.

Kendrick's third mixtape, C4, was a tribute to which rapper's album Tha Carter III?

Rolling Stone's retrospective called it a 'wrongheaded homage', and his self-titled EP later that year restored his reputation.

Which of Kendrick's music videos caught Dr. Dre's attention on YouTube and led to his Aftermath deal?

Dre first wanted him for the never-finished Detox, and J. Cole was among those urging Dre to sign him.

At the 2014 Grammys, which rock band joined Kendrick for a mash-up of m.A.A.d city and Radioactive?

He went 0-for-7 that night, and Macklemore texted an apology for beating him to Best Rap Album.

Which artist won Best New Artist and Best Rap Album over Kendrick in 2014, then texted him an apology?

The screenshot of the text became a meme; Kendrick's seven nominations that night included Album of the Year.

Kendrick made his acting debut playing a drug addict named Laces in which TV crime drama?

He asked for the part himself, saying Laces was 'a character that I know so well, just growing up in Compton'.

Kendrick's Super Bowl LIX halftime show drew a record 133.5 million viewers, beating whose 1993 show?

It was the first halftime show built entirely around hip-hop and won three Primetime Emmys.

The Super Bowl LIX stage was designed to resemble part of what object?

Kendrick and his dancers climbed out of a 1980s Buick GNX to open, and a New York Times critic read the set as 'the gamification of the elusive American dream'.

Which university launched a course on Kendrick's life and legacy in the fall of 2025?

Lorde has called him 'the most popular and influential artist in modern music', and David Bowie's Blackstar was inspired by To Pimp a Butterfly.

Which longtime producer has worked with Kendrick on every project since his self-titled 2009 EP?

Kendrick prefers a small, close-knit team and is hands-on through mixing and mastering rather than chasing big-name producers.

Which R&B singer joined Kendrick, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show?

The February 2022 show won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live).

Whose 2013 arena tour did Kendrick open for, over the objections of his label and management?

He was baptised for a second time as the tour began and suffered a nervous breakdown near its end.

In 2013 Kendrick gave $50,000 to the music department of his alma mater. Which was it?

He later donated the takings of an entire small 2014 tour to Habitat for Humanity and his hometown.

What was the title of Kendrick's fourth mixtape, released in 2010 and his first sold through digital retailers?

It followed a new publishing deal with Warner/Chappell and peaked at number 72 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.