Mr. Duckworth

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, better known as just Kendrick Lamar, is an MC from Compton, California. He was born in 1987 and is an American hip hop artist who initially signed with independent label Top Dawg Entertainment.  In 2012, Lamar and the label signed a joint venture deal with Aftermath and Interscope Records, and Lamar is also part of thewest coast hip hop supergroup Black Hippy.  His label mates include Ab-soul, Schoolboy Q, and Jay Rock.   

On August 12, 2013 Big Sean released a single named "Control" which had a verse from him, Kendrick, and Jay Electronica.  Big Sean did indeed kill his verse but Kendrick made history with his.  In Kendrick's verse he called out many rappers for the sake of bringing competition back to hip hop.  Many say that Kendrick just name dropped, but everything with him has a reason.  His mentality is that all of these rappers are his friends but during game time he is trying to take out all.  He wants to be the best and has proven to be one of the best.  His verse alone sent shock waves out to the hip hop community and many people were astounded.

Lamar's major label debut studio album Good kid, M.A.A.D. City was released October 22, 2012. The album was met with critical acclaim and debuted at number two, selling 240,000 copies in its first week. In December 2012, Fuse TV named Lamar's single, "Backseat Freestyle," one of the top 40 songs of 2012. The album has sold almost a million copies by July 2013 and has been certified Gold by the RIAA.   HipHop DX named Lamar "Emcee of the Year" for their 2012 Year End Awards. On January 26, 2013, Lamar performed the album's lead singles "Swimming Pools (Drank)" and "Poetic Justice", on Saturday Night Live.

He has stated that 2Pac, The Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, Nas and Eminem are some of his top five favorite rappers. Tupac Shakur, arguably his biggest influence, has influenced not only his music, but his day-to-day lifestyle as well. In terms of subject matter and technical ability, Kendrick Lamar has often been compared to Tupac, and they both had/have a large influence on California and the west coast.  Another one of Kendrick's favorite rappers is Andre 3000 who is known for being one of the most mysterious rappers ever to be in the game.