Mapping Out Kendrick Lamar's Compton

Explore a custom map filled with Kendrick Lamar's references to places in Compton.

1. Mapping Kendrick Lamar's Compton

“Two bullets in my Uncle Tony head,” goes one of the most casually gut-wrenching lines in Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 album, good kid M.a.a.D. city. “That Louis Burger never be the same,” he raps later. “A Louis belt will never ease that pain.” These three lines bear the hallmark of a masterful storyteller—that perfect a combination of the specific and the universal—and show why Kendrick has been able to connect with so many people around the world.

In one way Kendrick’s pain is universal, relatable to anyone who has ever had a traumatic event poison a seemingly “normal” place, like a fast food restaurant. A place we never thought twice about suddenly becomes haunted by the ghost of our dead loved one, perhaps because they died there, or even because that was just somewhere we used to go with them, used to sit and laugh with them at. The food will never taste the same. But Kendrick’s pain is also so specific: the two bullets, the burger from Louis Burgers. These details throw you into the Compton Kendrick grew up in, even if you have never been close to it. You are in his world.

Kendrick’s entire catalogue is filled with these types of moments, with references to different corners and parks in Compton, places we feel somehow connected to through Kendrick’s emotions. He transports us. We hear about the odor of Gonzales Park, the walk home from Centennial High School, and the women hanging out on Long Beach Boulevard. But sometimes it’s helpful to see all those references laid out visually, like the map folded in the back of a book, showing exactly where each skirmish in a battle took place. It allows us to better understand the spacing of Kendrick’s world, how all the pieces we hear in his stories fit together.

To this end, we have created a custom map of the most specific geographical references we could find in good kid M.a.a.D. city, Section.80, and Overly Dedicated. Scroll down for a peek into Kendrick Lamar’s Compton tagged with lyrics and locations. You can use the side menu to change the base map and the selector in the top right corner to link out to a full screen version.

Go to the next page to see Kendrick moving through some of these locations in the "Compton State of Mind" video.


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Watch Kendrick move through some of these locations in his video for "Compton State of Mind":

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