How They Came Up: The Kendrick Lamar Story



Never underestimate the power of YouTube because you never know whose watching. Case in point: Kendrick Lamar, who was found on YouTube by hip hop legend Dr. Dre. Although there isn’t a magic formula that guarantees success in the game, there are strategies that work and Kendrick Lamar found a balance of promoting himself through videos, mixtapes, and live shows. The key ingredient here is ‘presence’ because surprisingly he has less than 300 fans on his Facebook page but he still managed to take social media by storm with Twitter and YouTube. He has a strong belief that artists shouldn’t focus too much time on finding the perfect radio single or having the mindset that they need a label. He believes the creative process should be the most important part. Maybe he is on to something.

 

• Born June 17, 1987 in Compton, California.
• Previously known as K. Dot, Kendrick Lamar started rhyming at the age of 13.
• Musical Influences: Tupac Shakur, Jay Z, Nas, and DMX.
• He is a member of South Central rap group called Black Hippy, along with Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and Schoolboy Q.
• Kendrick Lamar and the members of Black Hippy recorded their music in a cramped home studio and eventually took their music on the road.
• Kendrick Lamar was a ‘straight A’ student in high school but spent all of his childhood around the violence in the streets.
• He says what kept him out of trouble was the active role his father played in his life.
• In 2003, at 16 years old he recorded his first mixtape titled Head Nigga In Charge as K.Dot.
• He started promoting himself at his high school and other high schools around Compton by passing out his mixtape which created a buzz and got him a record deal with a local independent record label called Top Dawg Entertainment.
• He raps about some of his struggles of growing up being peer pressured and trying to escape the negative influences of Compton.
• After being signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, in 2005 he released his second mixtape called Training Day.
• In 2009 he toured with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on The Independent Grind Tour.
• From 2009 to 2010 Kendrick Lamar released 3 more mixtapes, C4, The Kendrick Lamar EP, and O(verly) D(edicated).
• Dr. Dre saw Kendrick Lamar on YouTube and while doing a radio interview on Power 106, he stated that he wanted to work with Lamar on Detox.
• Since working with Dr. Dre Kendrick Lamar has been hinting at signing to Aftermath Entertainment.
• Kendrick asked Dr. Dre what he thought about his music and he said that he liked the honesty and vulnerability of it.
• Kendrick was listed among the 2011, XXL Freshmen Class
• He is scheduled to release his debut album Section 80 and a collaboration mixtape with J-Cole sometime in 2011.

In an interview when asked about if he talks to Dr. Dre about dealing with the label, the process of putting out albums, or finding the right single he said “Yea sometimes but we don’t like to really get into the political side of it because if you think too much on that end of the business, you gonna fuck your whole creative process up. I mean cause I know myself, I was at one point where I was just searchin for a mother fuckin single. Because that’s what the industry confines you to when you hearing these songs on the radio, you figure like shit you can’t drop an album without it. But once you get trapped in that world, it’ll fuck your whole mental up on recording because your searchin, your steady searchin, and when your searchin, your basically patterning yourself after what’s ever on the radio so it’s not your unique sound, your just goin for somebody else shit and if it don’t work at the end of the day your fucked twice because you doin something that wasn’t truly you”.