Kendrick Lamar (Compton, California, 1987) is one of the most critically acclaimed and culturally significant artists in the history of hip-hop. Raised in Compton amid the tensions of gang culture, he signed with Top Dawg Entertainment as a teenager and rose to global prominence with good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012). His subsequent albums — To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), DAMN. (2017), and Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (2022) — cemented his reputation as a generational storyteller whose music weaves together politics, spirituality, trauma, and Black American identity. In 2018, he became the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. His 2024 album GNX won the Grammy for Best Rap Album, while his duet with SZA, "Luther," took Record of the Year — bringing his total Grammy count to 27, the most of any rapper in history. In 2025, he headlined the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show ever and co-headlined the highest-grossing tour of all time alongside SZA.