Kendrick Lamar

Then came To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), a sonic journey where 70s funk meets spoken word and 60s soul. Partially recorded live, with collaborations ranging from Flying Lotus to Thundercat, the album didn’t aim to sound like a hit—it aimed to sound like a revolution. And it succeeded: it debuted at number one in the U.S. and the U.K., earning him his first two Grammys in 2015. But the real twist came when Taylor Swift invited him to remix Bad Blood: his version gave him his first number one on the Billboard Hot 100, proving his pen could cross genres without losing an ounce of power.

In 2017, Damn arrived to confirm that rap could be pop without betraying itself. With singles like Humble and a sound more polished yet equally hard-hitting, the album became his second number one in the U.S. and another global hit. But it was in 2022 when he closed a chapter with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, a double album so introspective it marked the end of his era with Top Dawg Entertainment and Aftermath. There were no massive tours or over-the-top promotions: just music and lyrics that spoke of therapy, family, and redemption.

2024 changed everything again. His public feud with Drake—which culminated in an album, GNX—wasn’t just drama: it was an exercise in authenticity in an industry that often sells smoke. The album gave him four number ones on the Hot 100, including Not Like Us, which dominated the Grammys with five awards, including Song of the Year. But beyond the records—27 Grammys, the first to win a Pulitzer outside jazz or classical, a Brit Award, seven Billboard Music Awards—what remains is the mark of someone who uses rap as a mirror: sometimes uncomfortable, always necessary.

He was born in Compton in 1987, son of a former Gangster Disciples member and a stylist. He was named after Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations, but on the streets he was K.Dot until the world knew him as Kendrick Lamar. He didn’t study music: he studied the human soul, and it shows. Today, with projects like PGLang—his creative company—and film collaborations alongside Dave Free, he keeps proving that art has no borders, only truths to tell.