Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, his music features conscious, introspective lyrics, with political criticism and social commentary concerning African-American culture. Music journalists have listed Lamar among the greatest rappers of all time. In 2018, he became the first musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Born and raised in Compton, California, Lamar began releasing music under the stage name K.Dot in high school. He signed with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005 and co-founded the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy. His alternative rap debut album, Section.80, led to a joint contract with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Rolling Stone ranked his next albums Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012), To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), and Damn (2017) among the greatest albums of all time. In 2018, he curated the soundtrack to the film Black Panther. Its single "All the Stars" earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. His fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022), and feud-inspired sixth album, GNX (2024), each debuted atop the US Billboard 200. He has six US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Bad Blood" (as a featured artist), "Humble", "Like That", "Not Like Us", "Squabble Up", and "Luther". Lamar's accolades include 27 Grammy Awards—the most for a rapper—2 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Brit Award, 5 American Music Awards, 7 Billboard Music Awards, 11 MTV Video Music Awards and a record 37 BET Hip Hop Awards. Time listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. Three of his works were included in Rolling Stone's 2020 revision of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2025, he headlined the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history, while his Grand National Tour with SZA became the highest-grossing co-headlining tour of all time. Outside of music, Lamar co-founded the creative company PGLang and ventured into film with his longtime creative partner, Dave Free.