Music News - posted on October 30, 2012 by RealDJVybe.com

New Artist Hot-Vybe List: Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987), simply known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American hip hop recording artist from Compton, California, currently signed to Top Dawg, Aftermath, and Interscope. Lamar is a member of hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, along with fellow West Coast rappers and label mates Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. He first gained major attention after the release of his fourth mixtape, Overly Dedicated, in 2010. In 2011 he released his first independent album to critical acclaim, Section.80, released exclusively through iTunes and instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year.[4] Early in his career, before releasing his major label debut, Lamar amassed a large Internet following, and had already worked with Dr. Dre, Game, Drake, Young Jeezy, Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, E-40, Warren G, Bun B, Tech N9ne and Lil Wayne among other popular artists. His major label debut studio album good kid, M.A.A.D. city, was released October 22, 2012 to universal acclaim, going gold.

Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, to parents from Chicago, Illinois. In 1995, at the age of 8, Lamar witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre film the music video for their hit single “California Love,” a very significant moment in Lamar’s life. At Centennial High School in Compton, Lamar was a good student. In 2003, at the age of sixteen, Lamar released his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga In Charge, under the moniker K-Dot. The mixtape garnered enough attention for Lamar to get a record deal with Los Angeles-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment. He then released a twenty-six track mixtape two years later titled Training Day. More recognition came Lamar’s way after a video of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced, where Hamilton went in the crowd to battle rappers in attendance. Lamar didn’t hesitate and began rapping a verse over Miilkbone’s “Keep It Real,” that would later appear on a track titled “West Coast Wu-Tang.” In 2008, Lamar made a cameo appearance in the music video for Jay Rock’s debut single, “All My Life (In the Ghetto).” Lamar also went on tour with the rapper Game and was featured on Game’s song “Cali Niggaz” and “The Cypha” under the name K-Dot in 2006–2007, along with other young West Coast rappers such as Jay Rock and Ya Boy. After receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, Lamar released his third mixtape in 2009 titled C4, heavily themed around Tha Carter III LP. Soon after, he decided to drop K-Dot as his stage name and go by his real name. This resulted in him releasing a self-titled EP, the Kendrick Lamar EP, in late 2009.

In 2010 he toured with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on The Independent Grind tour. On September 23, 2010, he released Overly Dedicated, a highly acclaimed mixtape that included a song titled “Ignorance Is Bliss” in which he glorifies gangsta rap and street crime but ends each verse with “ignorance is bliss” giving the message “we know not what we do.” That song specifically made legendary hip hop producer Dr. Dre want to work with Lamar. This led to Lamar working with Dre and Snoop Dogg on Dre’s Detox album and him considering signing to Dre’s label Aftermath Entertainment.

In January 2011, Lamar stated his first independent album was 90{f6b09334f0aeb1294a0c146d54b005647a6400f235d4c7c08f88511a6fe1b8aa} finished. In early 2011, Lamar was included in XXL Magazine’s annual Freshman Class, and was featured on the cover along with fellow rappers CyHi the Prynce, Meek Mill, Mac Miller, Yelawolf, Lil B, Big K.R.I.T. and Diggy Simmons among others. On July 2, 2011, Lamar released his third solo project Section.80 to critical acclaim. The album features guest appearances from GLC, Colin Munroe, Schoolboy Q, Paul Mackey, Ab-Soul and includes production from longtime collaborator Sounwave, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin, J. Cole and many more. On the topic of whether Section.80 would be an album or a mixtape, Lamar answered: “I treat every project like it’s an album anyway. It’s not gonna be nothing leftover. I never do nothing like that. These are my leftover songs y’all can have ‘em, nah. I’m gonna put my best out. My best effort. I’m tryna look for an album in 2012.”

The first promotional single from Section.80 was the J. Cole produced track “HiiiPower,” of which the concept was to further explain the HiiiPower movement. Section.80 went on to sell 5,300 digital copies in its first week without any television or radio coverage and received mostly positive reviews. In the second half of 2011, Lamar appeared on Game’s The R.E.D. Album, Tech N9ne’s All 6’s and 7’s, 9th Wonder’s The Wonder Years and Drake’s Take Care. In August 2011, while onstage with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Game at a West Los Angeles concert, the three of them crowned Lamar the “New King of the West Coast.”

On February 15, 2012, a song titled “Cartoon & Cereal” featuring Gunplay of Triple C’s was leaked. Lamar later revealed that the track was for his debut studio album and had plans to shoot a video for it. In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, marking the end of Lamar’s career as an independent artist. Under the new deal, Lamar’s projects, including his upcoming debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city, will be jointly released via Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope, while releases from the rest of Black Hippy will be distributed via Top Dawg and Interscope. In March 2012, he appeared on the track “Fight The Feeling”, on Mac Miller’s mixtape Macadelic. Also, in 2012, he appeared on Drake’s Club Paradise tour, along with artists such as Meek Mill, J. Cole, French Montana, and 2 Chainz.

Lamar premiered his commercial debut single “The Recipe,” on Big Boy’s Neighborhood at Power 106 on April 2, 2012. The song, which serves as the lead single from his debut studio album, was released for digital download the following day. The song was produced by Scoop DeVille and mixed by, as well as featuring, his mentor Dr. Dre. It was announced on May 14, 2012, that Lamar is working on a collaborative album with J. Cole. In an interview with Bootleg Kev, Cole stated that “I just started working with Kendrick the other day. We got it in, finally, again. We got maybe four or five [songs] together.” On August 15, 2012, Lady Gaga announced via Twitter that she had collaborated with Lamar on a new song, “PARTYNAUSEOUS.” On August 17, 2012, Kendrick Lamar released a new song with Young Jeezy entitled “Westside, Right On Time.”  The song was released as a part of the “Top Dawg Entertainment Fam Appreciation Week” that the label was hosting and will not be featured on the album. Kendrick Lamar toured with the rest of Black Hippy and Stalley on the BET Music Matters Tour during 2012.

You can definitely look for one or two 2012 tracks on the next DJ Vybe Mixtape, and on my Friday night shows:

• B*tch Don’t Kill My Vibe
• Backseat Freestyle
• The Recipe
• Westside, Right On Time
• Swimming Pools (Drank)
• Poetic Justice (Remix) ft. Busta Rhymes and Q Tip

In the meantime, follow Kendrick Lamar and myself (DJ Vybe) on Twitter — tell him I sentcha!