Lamar didn’t let the street life get in his way, though. He did well in school and fell in love with writing. He started with short stories, then moved to poems, and then eventually lyrics. Even though his family was associated with violence on the streets, Lamar stayed calm and soft-spoken. He went by the name K-Dot early on in his rap career and at the age of 16, he made a mixtape called Youngest Head Nigga in Charge. The mixtape got the attention of the right people and he ended up landing a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment. He released two other mixtapes, which were well received by critics. In 2010, he dropped “K-Dot” and started going by his actual name. He released a fourth mixtape, and then put out his first independent album titled Section.80. It was exclusively released on iTunes and debuted at number 113 on the Billboard 200. In 2010 and 2011, he worked with and toured with artists like Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne. And then Dr. Dre took interest in him and acted as his mentor. Dre signed him to an independent record label, Aftermath Entertainment, and the following year in 2012, Lamar released his major-label debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, a tremendous jump from his first album. It sold over 240,000 copies in its first week, making it the best-selling debut from a male artist in 2012. It went on to become triple platinum and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 56th Grammy Awards. He followed that incredibly successful album up with To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015. No surprise, the album debuted at number one and received widespread acclaim from critics. Most critics called it the best album of 2015. It won Best Rap Album at the Grammys, but lost Album of the Year to Taylor Swift’s 1989. By 2017, the album had already sold over one million copies. He released his fourth studio album, Damn, in 2017 and it also topped the charts and won multiple awards, most notably the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Safe to say, Lamar is one of the most respected rap artists in the world, and his net worth is estimated to be $45 million. That’s up from $33 million in 2018.
