How Kendrick Lamar Became the New Face of the Rap Game

The rap game has a new top artist: Kendrick Lamar. The best word to describe Lamar’s career resurgence is “dominant” after he captivated fans’ attention last year.

The rapper’s success came from his hit single “Not Like US” and album GNX, released in 2024, which helped him win five new Grammys at this year’s award show in Los Angeles.

To fully understand where this success comes from, we have to go back a couple of years. 

The year is 2015 and Lamar came out with his To Pimp A Butterfly album which debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 chart. In 2018, Lamar was back at it with the D.A.MN. album that featured Rihanna on “LOYALTY.” On that same album, the 2017 hit “Humble” catapulted to No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.

Lamar’s success continued when he created the soundtrack for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther film. After this, the rapper slowed down on the tracks until February 2022 when he performed alongside multiple legendary rappers during the Super Bowl LVI halftime show. 

Following the performance, Lamar released the Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers album that same year. Finally, Lamar would return to the spotlight in 2024 after a famous rap feud between himself and Drake was ignited and the rest is history. After the success of “Not Like Us,” many fans believe Lamar easily won the feud. 

Even fellow legendary artists began to recognize Lamar’s dominance like Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, claiming in a podcast interview that “if you rap against Kendrick you will lose.” 

With all of this considered, one question fans can continue to ask themselves: when will the “Not Like Us” rapper fall off from his spot at the top? Lamar’s fall from grace most likely won’t be happening anytime soon with his GNX North American stadium tour continuing throughout this year which should generate a fair amount of fans.

If you want to purchase tickets to watch Lamar perform live, click here.