Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar’s ascension to the echelons of hip-hop isn’t exactly a puzzle. Raw talent, lyricism, charisma, and an authentic presence have cut clearly through the smokescreen of artists on hip-hop’s cluttered radar. The Compton-born talent broke through with good kid, m.A.A.d city, which was a milestone in modern avenues of the genre for many, thereby placing an increased focus on Kendrick’s TDE affiliates and pointing the spotlight toward the West Coast in an increased way. The year 2013 signaled the arrival of three or four stanzas with particular punch that verbosely leveled the playing field, most notably when Kendrick made the decision to call out several key players by name on the well-known “Control” verse. Intended as a backhanded homage to his competition at worst, the topic was divisive. Additional controversy followed when Lamar was dubbed GQ's Man of the Year, which in itself is a high honor to bestow. However the suggested dogmatic “racial overtones” of the article published did not go over well with Lamar and his label TDE who subsequently pulled out of GQ Men of the Year Awards 2013