Good Kid, Mad City
Born in the summer of 87’ in Compton, California, one of the most dangerous cities in the United States, Kendrick Lamar’s rough yet too common upbringing allowed him to turn the story of a kid growing up in gangland into several albums, opening up his perspective to the world.
Kendrick’s parents, Kenny Duckworth and Paula Oliver, moved to Compton from Chicago in 1984. His dad had been running with a gang until his mom gave Kenny an ultimatum; end his relationship with the gang or end his relationship with her. At that point they relocated to Compton with $500 to their name. Two years of sleeping in cars, motels and the occasional park passed before the pair had saved up enough for an apartment. At this point in time, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born. Kendrick was raised on welfare, food stamps and Section 8 housing, a low income housing program in the United States. His mom raised Kendrick and eventually his siblings while bringing in some income through cutting hair for $20. His dad maintained a job at a KFC while making some less than legal cash on the side.
Kendrick bore witness to much of what Compton is known for, even though his parents attempted to keep him innocent. One example was the widespread looting, arson, assaults and murders that came with the 1992 Los Angeles riots. After four officers who were caught on video beating an African American man during an arrest were acquitted of all charges, thousands took to the streets in and around South Central Los Angeles, looting businesses, burning buildings and attacking people at random. The riots didn’t end until thousands of National Guardsmen, Infantry and Marines were called in to lock down the streets of LA. Over the course of the six-day long riots, 55 people were killed, 10 of them by police or Guardsmen, over two thousand people were injured, over 11,000 people were arrested and an estimated billion dollars of property damage was done. Kendrick experienced the riots at the age of four.
By high school, the riots were only one of the many memories Kendrick had. Though a straight A student, he had begun running with the wrong crowd. This only served to increase his exposure to crime, violence and police brutality. Twice Kendrick had a police officer pull a gun on him, and he was shot at by gang members at least once. He had friends succumb to both handguns pulled from holsters by someone wearing a badge and weapons pulled from waistbands by someone wearing a chain. His friends introduced him to drugs and home invasions, as he would later rap about in his album good kid, m.A.A.d city. Fortunately, Kendrick had something else to serve as a use of time and expression of inner feelings beyond committing crimes.
Rap served as an outlet for the anger, sadness and frustration that came with growing up surrounded by poverty and violence as Kendrick had. At age eight he watched Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre film a music video for California Love on the main streets of Compton. This planted the seed for his love of hip hop, and a seventh grade English teacher introducing Kendrick to poetry watered it. At this point, the flower bloomed in a dark room, and Kendrick began writing, filling entire journals with lyrics and rhymes. He shared his thoughts and feelings as well as what he had seen and done growing up by writing them down in raps. By age 16, Kendrick released his first mixtape under the stage name K Dot. Through it he gained local recognition, which in turn lead to a recording contract with Top Dawg Entertainment. Two years later he dropped a second mixtape, gaining him more attention. He began performing and recording with other upcoming hip hop artists on the west coast, and released a third mixtape in 2009 after being co-signed by Lil Wayne. By 2010 his first retail release, Overly Dedicated, went up for sale, gaining him much broader recognition than he had so far achieved. This set him up for the 2011 release of Section .80