Image via Complex Original
The MC walks you through the Compton of his youth, and beyond.
This feature is a part of Complex's "good kid, m.A.A.d city" Week.
As Kendrick Lamar said in our cover story, "Iʼm not interested in rapping about what I’m experiencing now because I havenʼt soaked it all in yet. Maybe my next album, when I see more of the world, when I can sit back and think, ‘OK, Iʼve done it’—maybe then I can talk about these things. Now, Iʼm still in Compton.”
Born in 1987, Kendrick was raised in the CPT, the city synonymous with gangsta rap. But his experience of Compton (and the greater Los Angeles area) can't be defined by easy stereotypes.
Walk with the MC through the haunts of his youth, and the places he ventures to now that he's the artist speaking loudest for the West.
As told to Ross Scarano (@RossScarano)
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Compton
Address: Map
Website: comptoncity.org
Kendrick Says: "I'm from the West Side of the city. People make a big thing about Compton, and growing up I heard all kind of things about the place I was raised, but when you live in it, it becomes normal. People are intimidated by the neighborhood, but it was the norm for me. You ain't gotta be afraid of the place. But you should know the mentality. It's a gang culture. If you grow up only watching people in gangs, you won't see anything different unless someone shows you something to break that cycle. Music can show someone something positive."
Compton Swap Meet
Address: 2100 North Long Beach Blvd., Compton, CA
Website: n/a
Kendrick Says: "I've been going to the swap meet my whole life. As a kid, that's where I used to get all my cassettes, all my CDs. My pops, too—he'd buy music. I'd get my Nikes there. You might see Suge Knight, other folks from Compton."
Lueders Park
Address: 1500 East Rosecrans Ave., Compton, CA
Website: n/a
Kendrick Says: "This place had one of the biggest pools. Every day of the summer, I'd go swim there. When I was younger, the Mayor paid for a free year of swimming for all the kids, so I stayed close."
Watts Towers
Address: 1765 East 107th St., Los Angeles, CA
Website: n/a
Kendrick Says: "A real monumental site—these big, tall, cold towers made out of broken cans, glass. You have to see it. When I first went out there, as a kid, I didn't know about the history of Watts, the riots. I had to grow into that, had to learn that."
Tam's Burger
Address: 1201 West Rosecrans Ave., Compton, CA
Website: n/a
Kendrick Says: "Everybody loves In-N-Out, but it's a very clean-cut burger. Tam's is street-sloppy, burgers and shakes. It's a chain, but it's still hood."
Skate Depot and World on Wheels
Address: 11113 183rd St., Cerritos, CA; and 4645 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles
Website: cerritosskatedepot.com and amfworldonwheels.com
Kendrick Says: "They were both really popular spots to hang out when I was younger, until a whole bunch of crazy violence got the energy turned down. This is in the late '90s, early 2000s. They were never shut down, but they weren't the same after."
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Address: 26101 Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia, CA
Website: sixflags.com/magicMountain
Kendrick Says: "We did that all the time as kids. No school picnic shit, just me and the homies trying to sneak in. Kids were always fighting, people from different neighborhoods getting into brawls—territorial shit. But it was all fun, harmless. Fighting, then getting kicked out."
Centennial High School
Address: 2606 North Central Ave.
Website: compton.k12.ca.us
Kendrick Says: "I went to high school here, over in the West Side of Compton. Wasn't that big of a school, and had an even smaller graduating class. Not too many graduated, maybe 200. I liked English. You were able to express yourself. It was easy for me. But mostly I was just trying to get through that motherfucker."
Leimert Park
Address: Map
Website: n/a
Kendrick Says: "This is the L.A. neighborhood where Dom Kennedy is from. There's a lot of cool culture here, lots of jazz. I didn't listen to that growing up—I just got put on to the music, and the area. I like the rhythms of jazz, the soul and the textures. The genre definitely informed Section.80 and good kid, m.A.A.d city."
Hollywood
Address: Map
Website: n/a
Kendrick Says: "Hollywood and the Valley, out where the labels are—I never went there as a kid. A lot of people think that, since you're from L.A., you're always in Hollywood. Before I started doing music, I was probably in Hollywood three times. I don't really think the area's all it's cracked up to be. I'm sure New Yorkers must feel the same way about Manhattan. People think they know so much about Hollywood because they've watched TV and movies."