Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar is a famous African American rapper, singer, activist, and songwriter. He is very successful in the music industry and is known for his progressive music styles and powerful lyrics. He is often labeled as the greatest rap artist of his generation. Lamar was born and raised in Compton, California. This city is known to be an infamously poor and violent city. He often writes about his childhood in the rough streets he grew up on. He used to rap under the name K-dot, creating many popular mix tapes that ended up catching the attention of many famous artists. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth has won many awards in his career including 17 Grammys, 25 BET hip hop awards, 11 MTV video music awards, and many more. He is the first rapper to ever win the Pulitzer Prize. …show more content…
Kendrick’s father was incorporated into the well known Gangster Disciples gang. The Gangster Disciples are a Chicago-based African American street gang. In the early 1980s the crack trade and West Coast gang increased so Kendrick was around a lot of dangerous street activity. Before Kendrick was born, his parents had to work at fast food restaurants, sleep in their car, stay in motels, and even sleep in the park at some point. It had taken them just about three years to be stable enough to get an apartment. Around that time, their first child was born, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth. His parents wanted to place a heavy emphasis on a great education and a safe home for their son. Kendrick frequently talks about how his parents always made sure they had food in the refrigerator and Christmas presents under the tree each year. Kendrick’s family often called him “man-man” as a reference to his maturity for being so young. Kendrick's father had told his family that he was working at KFC, but he later realized that he was lying and found out about that and he was secretly working in the streets. His father says “I did what I had to do.” Kendrick often tells positive stories