As a kid he grew up around poverty, gang violence, and economically challenged areas. But soon in his life he eventually found peace and inspiration in music which pushed him to chase a dream.

In high school Kendrick Lamar began releasing music under the original pen name "K.DOT" releasing a song called "Youngest Head N**** in Charge". Later meeting a man called Dave Free which changed his life's trajectory more ways than he could've ever guessed.

In 2005 he ended up signing with Top Dawg Entertainment.

A few years later eventually releasing his 4th famous solo mixtape known as "Overly Dedicated". After the release of "Overly Dedicated" he shortly began to work on a brand new album called "Section.80".

Whether its talking about past mistakes, present ones, making an uplifting song or making a sound that hits your soul with a weight that makes you genuinely feel what he talks about. His music and lyricism are so broad and vast you could find a song for each mood and common experiences.

On one of the songs from the album "DAMN." labeled "FEAR." Kendrick Lamar talks about the idea of fear and things that the lyrics might stem from, one of the biggest examples of this would be;

"I'll prolly die anonymous, I'll prolly die with promises

I'll prolly die walkin' back home from the candy house

I'll prolly die because these colors are standin' out

I'll prolly die because I ain't know Demarcus was snitchin'

I'll prolly die at these house parties -

I'll prolly die from witnesses leavin' me false accused

I'll prolly die from thinkin' that me and your hood was cool

Or maybe die from pressin' the line, actin' too extra

Or maybe die because these smokers are more than desperate

I'll prolly die from one of these bats and blue badges

Body slammed on black and white paint, my bones snappin'

Or maybe die from panic or die from bein' too lax"

In this section of the song Kendrick Lamar talks about how he's scared of dying while being unknown and from dying for reasons that are all around him, The human brain has a natural fear of death and it has for years. This philosophy was further studied in "The Denial of Death" Book by Ernest Becker. Where all of our fears stem from the underlying fear of death and seeing Kendrick Lamar expand on this because we could truly pass at any time but he also talks about how some of our fears could stem from how we were raised or those raised with abusive parents.

"You know my patience runnin' thin

I got beaucoup payments to make

County building's on my ass, tryna take my food stamps away

I beat yo' ass if you tell them social workers he live here

I beat yo' ass if I beat yo' ass twice and you still here

Seven years old, think you run this house by yourself?

N-, you gon' fear me if you don't fear no one else"

Here Kendrick Lamar talks about kids who have grown up while having abusive parents or very strict parents and the kinds of mental harm that could inflict on kids at such a young age. Hearing all of these lines could put stress on children and make them fear the world more than they should. The way he talks about such serious topics such as abuse and the fear of death could give us a broader scope on how some of our fears could have stemmed from past traumatic events and how much fear really restricts our mental being.

Every time I'm not in a great mood I love listening to this song. Just to have it uplift my spirits and hear that even when we as a people down and our prides are lowered if we keep pushing toward our goals it's all going to be alright in the end.

"Wouldn't you know
We been hurt, been down before
N****, when our pride was low
Lookin' at the world like: Where do we go?
N****, and we hate po-po
Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho'
N****, I'm at the preacher's door
My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow
But we gon' be alright"

The song gives millions of people strength especially during dark times and was later adopted into the BLM movement. With the right understanding some of these lyrics you come to realize that some of these lines do indicate racial injustice over the years.

Through out the song he's telling us these experiences that he's been through and tells us in the end its all going to be "Alright".

Geographically Kendrick was heavily influenced by where he was raised, being born in Compton he had many other popular artists from his city such as Ice Cube, Dr.Dre, Eazy-E and a few others. Being on the west coast Kendrick isn't afraid to represent his home place with his positive, stern attitude and style of rap.

This can be seen most prevalent within the album discussing how racist American institutions upheld by white supremacy exploit black creators for profit. This album is titled "To Pimp A Butterfly" which is reowned to be one of Kendrick Lamar's best albums for not just sounding phenomenal but for speaking on such big topics and bringing it up but also bringing them into main stream HipHop.

In which he brings out these powerful lyrics with forms of Experimental hip-hop, progressive rap, conscious hip-hop, jazz rap, G-funk and neo soul in just this one album alone. There are many other examples of him using different genres and flows to get his words across and they always seem to fit the vibe of the song which is why he will always be the greatest rapper.

King Kunta

ELEMENT.

BDKMV

N95

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Untitled 03 | 5.28.2013

P&P

Alien Girl

Count Me Out

The Heart pt.4

The Heart pt.6

Swimming Pools

Alright

Reincarnated

FEAR.

DNA.

The Blacker The Berry

i

A.D.H.D

He's grown a lot over these years and so I did I with his music, throughout high school I would feel as though my back was put against the wall with too many assignments or needing to study a topic I knew nothing about over night, but all it would takes is just pressing play on one of my playlists to get me in a zone where I could just focus on my work. If it wasn't for him I don't know where I would be today without the lessons I've learned from him.

Kendrick being my first genuine favorite artist tailored my view on the world and life. He constantly talks about flaws of life and the benefits and how we need to band together and work against the common enemies. Or about how the sin that infects us isn't single out to one person and how all of us suffer from our own demons but we can help each other move on passed that.

His views on the world trying to silence each other and how most people have only one view who aren't willing to change it become and more true, he strips the lies from the world and speaks on it while every other artist is afraid to and that resonates with me in a way most artists cant. Kendrick isn't afraid to speak his mind but he has courtesy about it not pushing his views but sharing them from his point of view. Even just emotionally he has plenty of songs for each mood, "DAMN." alone can make you relate to him with he way he tells these stories and describes these complex emotions everybody feels.

I'm not saying Kendrick Lamar is a perfect person who never does anything wrong like he's a perfect prophet, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions but sometimes instead of listening to a song just to dance or to fit in you should listen to the lyrics and see what the artist really stand for instead of popularizing rap with only violence and no meaning. A catchy tune doesn't make a song good but lyrics do, Kendrick understands that and acts on it.