Kendrick Lamar Vinyl, CD & Tape

The new king of the West Coast

A year after Kendrick Lamar’s birth in 1987, N.W.A released the legendary record Straight Outta Compton, drawing West Coast attention to gang-influenced Compton – in the city that shaped G-Funk, Kendrick grew up as the son of a gang member and became passionate about hip hop at a young age. At 16, he recorded his first mixtape under the name K.Dot – with success: the new indie label Top Dawg Entertainment expressed interest, took him under its wing and let the rapper, significantly inspired by 2Pac and Dr. Dre, grow over the next few years alongside artists like Ab-Soul and ScHoolboy Q into a promising new voice of the West Coast. Rap great Tech N9ne took him and fellow rapper Jay Rock on tour in 2010, the same year, Overly Dedicated, Kendrick’s first mixtape under his birth name, was released – and went straight up the charts. He had his debut single HiiiPoWeR produced by none other than J. Cole, and while his face could now be seen on the cover of XXL magazine, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and The Game announced him as the “new king of the West Coast” shortly after the release of his vinyl Section.80 – there could hardly be a more meaningful honor for the newcomer.

Unvarnished truths and self-reflection

In 2012, he then landed a huge hit with his record good kid, m.A.A.d city on the Interscope-label : he suddenly found himself in the charts all over the world, the press celebrated his reality-based storytelling, and on a world tour he performed for a newfound fanbase. The album chronicles his youth in his hometown of Compton – through various characters he expresses the violent external conflicts as well as his own internal ones, unvarnished truths meet self-reflection. His unique lyrics put him on countless annual music press best lists, and to this day the album is his best-selling. In 2013, he went on tour with Kanye West and announced that work on his next album would be already on the schedule. Influenced by funk and jazz, Kendrick then showed himself in 2015 on To Pimp A Butterfly, but the album is hardly limited to its G-Funk borrowings – much more it constructs an attempt to represent Black music history, while the political lyrics can be located in the realm of Conscious Rap. In doing so, Kendrick Lamar always shows himself critical of the zeitgeist, and also questions himself – in the process of the release, his track Alright became a protest anthem for anti-racism demonstrations. With the record, the rapper topped his previous success: in 2016, he was nominated for seven different Grammys, Rolling Stone placed To Pimp A Butterfly high on its list of the best albums of all time.

90s with a view to the future

In the same year, the rapper proved his qualities again on untitled. unmastered. Here he combined the musical debauchery that didn’t make it onto the previous album and charted at number one again. He then landed his biggest hit single in 2017 with HUMBLE, and the following vinyl DAMN was instantly declared another masterpiece by his fans: in a wide variety of tonalities, here he combines his roots from 90s hip hop with a clear view to the future. For the album he received the Pulitzer Prize. A year later, Marvel hired him for the soundtrack production of the blockbuster Black Panther, after which the rap giant, for the first time in his career, took a creative break. He explained the reason for this in 2022 on his comeback album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers : “Writer’s block for two years, nothin’ moved me / Asked God to speak through me, that’s what you hearin’ now.” The record reflects his coming to terms with himself as a result of therapy and discusses themes of trauma, spirituality, toxic masculinity and trans identity – with a lyrical honesty that few others in US-hip hop embody as well.