His family called him Man Man. Growing up, Kendrick was given this nickname because he carried himself with an unusual maturity. He credits the tough love and responsibility that came with the name for giving him the thick skin he needed in the music industry.
He made history with a Pulitzer Prize. In 2018, his stunning album DAMN. became the very first non-classical or jazz musical work to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Music, cementing his lyrics as profound literature.
He witnessed rap history as an eight-year-old. Young Kendrick happened to be hanging around the neighborhood when Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre were filming their legendary California Love music video in Compton, a moment that heavily inspired his own path.
He started out under a different name. Long before the world knew his real name, he released his very first mixtape at the age of sixteen under the stage moniker K-Dot.
He is a genuine sneakerhead for a cause. Kendrick famously partnered with Reebok to design a special pair of sneakers featuring one red shoe and one blue shoe, meant to symbolize and promote peace between rival street gangs in his hometown.
- He has a weirdly specific tour rider. Instead of asking for crazy diva requests backstage, his must-have item is a fresh pair of Polo socks. His grandmother always told him that putting on clean socks is the best way to feel fresh, and he took it to heart.
- He went to the same high school as Dr. Dre. Both hip-hop icons attended Centennial High School in Compton, though obviously years apart. They shared a deep connection to their hometown long before linking up in the recording studio.
- He almost named an album after Tupac. His critically acclaimed masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly was originally going to be titled Tu Pimp a Caterpillar. If you look closely at the acronym, it spells out Tu.P.A.C.
He is a straight-A student at heart. While growing up surrounded by the rougher elements of his city, Kendrick excelled academically. His first-grade teacher actually recognized his writing talent early on after he perfectly used the word audacity in a class story.
He is named after a legendary singer. His mother named him Kendrick in honor of Eddie Kendricks, the famous singer and songwriter from the iconic Motown group The Temptations.
He shares DNA with an NBA star. Talent definitely runs in the family. Former professional basketball player Nick Young, famously known as Swaggy P, is actually Kendrick’s cousin.
He literally broke Spotify records with a diss track. When his highly publicized beef with Drake peaked in 2024, his catchy knockout punch Not Like Us became the first diss track in history to reach over one billion streams on Spotify.
He headlined the Super Bowl all by himself. In 2025, Kendrick made massive halftime history by becoming the very first solo rapper to ever headline the Super Bowl halftime show, bringing his west coast energy to New Orleans.
He loves his sugary cereal. Despite his serious and intense public persona, the rapper is a self-proclaimed serial cereal lover, frequently requesting huge bowls of Fruity Pebbles when he is working late nights in the studio.
He cringes at his own early music. Looking back at his mixtape days, Kendrick considers his early track Bitch I am In The Club to be his absolute worst song, admitting he was just trying way too hard to imitate whatever was popular on the radio at the time.
Sources & References
Complex: https://www.complex.com/music/a/brian-josephs/things-you-didnt-know-about-kendrick-lamar
Rolling Stone: https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/kendrick-lamar-wraps-australia-tour-live-review-88622/
