22 Things You Didn't Know About Kendrick Lamar

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Kendrick has had a lot of nicknames throughout his life, but one name that stuck with family is “Man Man.” He says his family used the name in order to toughen him up. “From what my family tells me, I carried myself as a man – that’s why they called me ‘Man Man,’” he told Rolling Stone. “It put a stigma on the idea of me reacting as a kid sometimes – I would hurt myself and they would expect me not to cry. That put a lot of responsibility on me, got me ready for the responsibility my fans put upon me.” As a result, Kendrick said he “ended up getting tough skin, too, even with criticism.” 

Kendrick can now add his name to the list of celebrities who make unusual requests on their tour riders. In addition to asking for his favorite Fruity Pebbles cereal and Hennessy while he is on tour, Kendrick also likes to keep his feet warm with a very specific brand of socks. “When people ask for my rider, they think I’m crazy: Fruity Pebbles, baked chicken, bottle of Hennessy, and some Polo socks,” he told Interview magazine. “As an artist, you can have some crazy stuff on there. But when I go backstage, I like to put some fresh socks on. My grandma always told me, ‘You ain’t got to take a shower for four days, but put some fresh socks on and you’ll feel better about yourself.’”

Compton’s Centennial High School boasts Kendrick and Dr. Dre as some of its notable alumni, alongside NBA player Aaron Afflalo, rapper Big Fase 100 (the Game’s older brother), and NFL Hall of Famer Larry Allen.

Kendrick’s interest in vocabulary and its use in poetry and literature dates back to his early years in elementary school. According to the rapper, he used to pick up new words by listening to conversations between his adult family members. “My first-grade teacher flipped out because I wrote the word ‘audacity’ in a story,” he told Complex in a 2014 cover story. “I knew the word only because I heard my auntie and uncles arguing, saying, ‘You got the audacity to take my motherfucking drink and pour it out?!’ I learned all my words like that, so when I went to school it was in my head.”

C4's “Bitch I’m In The Club” sorely sticks out as a young artist’s attempt at a Lil Wayne impersonation. Kendrick agrees, and slammed the track during a 2017 interview with Big Boy. “I just know the level of reach that I was doing when I wrote the record,” he said. “From what was playing on the radio to what was on TV.”

Kendrick credits his Christian faith for helping him change his life around. After witnessing a lot of death and violence as a child, he began to feel hopeless and jaded. “I’ve seen my own blood shed, and I’ve been the cause of other people shedding their blood as well,” he told Vanity Fair in 2018. It was until he reached a low point in his teens that he realized something needed to change. “There was a split second when I felt what my homeboys were feeling—like I don’t give a fuck anymore—and that’s when I knew something else had to happen.” He eventually turned to his faith, receiving two baptisms, one at the age of 16, and the other in his 20s.

Kendrick Lamar was signed to the legendary label in 2006, when it was run by Jay-Z. “I don’t think even Jay remember that. This was when I was like first turned 17,” he explained to MTV’s Hip Hop POV. “And I remember coming out here for a meeting and I was too excited man. And all I remember was Jay walking in the room, ‘Yo, what’s up?’ And walked back to the elevator and we was like ‘Damn, that’s Jay.’ So he doubles back, goes back to his office next door and he’s playing my music. Put me in the studio and that was just one of those situations where I wasn’t ready.”

Though the deal didn’t work out, there weren’t any hard feelings between Jay and Kendrick. The two would link up on the “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” remix in 2013.

Kendrick Lamar went by K-Dot from 2003 to 2009, but reverted back to his birth name for the sake of artistic intimacy. “The name change was just me basically developing myself,” he said to Hard Knock TV. “When people heard the name K-Dot, they were like, ‘The kid is dope, he can rap; but who is he?’ That went on for years—just another kid in the streets that can rap good, right? So I was like, ‘Y’know what? I want people to know who I am as a person and what I represent.’”

Kendrick’s parents had soul music playing around the house during his formative years, so naturally he became familiar with The Temptations. But his ties with the legendary Motown group go back to before he could even talk: Kendrick told Arsenio Hall in 2013 that his first name is an ode to late Temptations co-founder Eddie Kendricks.

Kendrick has broken down his love of Fruity Pebbles and how exactly they ought to be prepared (60 percent soggy/40 percent crunchy) before. He isn’t particularly fond of Raisin Bran or Wheaties, though. “Don’t talk to me about no fucking Raisin Bran,” he told Complex in a 2012 interview. “Wheaties? Stop it. You pick that up in the aisle walking with me and I might be liable to punch you in the face if you were my cousin.” In Raisin Bran’s defense, the high-fiber, low-fat flakes are good for sustained weight loss.

Before Cornrow Kenny came into being, Kendrick Lamar was just an eager twenty-something popping up on his labelmate’s video. The 2008 “All My Life (In the Ghetto)” video features appearances from Lamar, fellow TDE member Ab-Soul, and song feature Lil Wayne.

Yes, Swaggy P and Kendrick Lamar are related. Young was surprised about this, too. “Actually, I just found out through my dad,” he told Complex in 2012. “I knew him when he was little, but I hadn’t seen him in a while and now it’s like ‘Damn, I didn’t know that’s my cousin and I ain't seen him in forever.’ That’s big time.”

Lamar is one of the many who were blown away by DMX’s classic debut. “That’s the first album that got me writing,” he told Complex. “I wrote my first lyrics to that album actually, about 13-14. I was going into eighth grade, seventh grade going into eighth grade maybe. I just got inspired and I started writing, so that will always be one of my favorite albums…. That album inspired me to be a rapper.”

Like a lot of us, Kendrick Lamar was a huge Lil Wayne fan during the rapper’s mid-to-late-’00s prime. C4, released six months after Weezy’s commercial peak Tha Carter III, featured Lamar rhyming over the album’s beats. Even the mixtape’s cover pays homage. C4 would be his last release under the alias K-Dot; Overly Dedicated, his breakthrough, came the next year.

Though To Pimp a Butterfly has a wider musical and historical scope, Kendrick Lamar revealed to Big Boy that he thinks Damn, his most recent, is his best work. He ranked good kid, m.A.A.d. City in second place, followed by To Pimp a Butterfly and Section.80. Lamar also told i-D that he thinks “Fear” has his best verses.

Kendrick describes himself as an introvert when he’s not in “artist mode.” “I like to be alone a lot. I need that” he told Vanity Fair. While he said he likes his alone time to collect his thoughts, he understands how to step outside of his comfort zone when he needs to. “It’s that duality,” he explained. “I can go in front of a crowd of 100,000 people and express myself, then go back, be alone, and collect my thoughts all over again.”

Most fans know that Kendrick used to perform under the stage name K-Dot when he was first breaking into the industry. He released several mixtapes under the moniker, including Konkrete Jungle Muzik, before switching to his birth name in 2009. Kendrick credits his name-change to helping him find his voice and style as an artist. “When I stopped going by K-Dot, I think that was the moment where I really found my voice,” he explained to Variety in 2017.  “Early, early on, I really wanted to be signed. And that was a mistake, because it pushes you two steps backwards when you have this concept of ‘OK, I’ve got to make these three [commercial] songs in order to get out into the world and be heard.’ So there were two or three years where I wanted to be signed so badly that I’m making these same two or three repetitive demo kinds of records, and I’m hindering my growth. The world could have got Kendrick Lamar two or three years earlier if I’d stuck to the script and continued to develop.”

Kendrick later decided against it due to its length. Instead, DJ Kid Capri pops up multiple times on Damn to shout the phrase, which expresses one of the album’s core themes—the impermanence of inner turmoil.

Although “Humble” is his first No. 1 as the lead artist, Lamar previously made his first overall visit in 2015 for being featured on Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” remix. The idea of hip-hop’s Chosen One joining forces with the pop queen rubbed many rap heads the wrong way, but Kendrick explained himself to Howard Stern in 2017: “With this particular record, it was me just vibing and catching her lyrics,” Lamar said. “I didn’t want to get into her head too crazy. I just wanted to have my own inspiration and see where it took it.”

Kendrick Lamar comes from a huge extended family. In an early interview, the rapper revealed that he has over 15 aunts and uncles on both his mother and father’s side, who also have children of their own. He also noted that they come from all over the country. “My mom’s got 14 brothers and sisters, my pop’s got 10. They started in Chicago and came to L.A.,” he said.