Kendrick Lamar

USA, 2003–now

American rapper (b. 1987) from Compton. good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) and To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) built album-length narratives out of jazz, funk and spoken word; DAMN. (2017) won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first ever given outside classical or jazz.

MusicRoots documents 5 artists who influenced Kendrick Lamar and 0 artists Kendrick Lamar influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Kendrick Lamar?

• 2Pac — Kendrick names 2Pac as his largest inspiration - the model for tying personal storytelling to social argument, and the voice he wrote a whole conversation with at the end of To Pimp a Butterfly.
• Nas — The cerebral, image-dense writing Kendrick works in descends from Nas.
• Eminem — Eminem's intricate internal rhyming is one of the techniques Kendrick's writing draws on.
• Lil Wayne — Lil Wayne's punchline writing is among the styles Kendrick absorbed growing up in the 2000s.
• J Dilla — The loose, behind-the-beat feel Dilla established runs through the production Kendrick built To Pimp a Butterfly on.