Kendrick Lamar

Compton, California's Kendrick Lamar initially rapped as K. Dot and released a series of mixtapes under that name. Youngest Head N***a in Charge (2003), Training Day (2005), and C4 (2009) preceded his decision to go by his birth name. Overly Dedicated, released in 2010, was the first Kendrick Lamar mixtape and fared well enough to enter Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart that October. Lamar's first official album was released the following year; Section.80, issued on Top Dawg Entertainment, entered the Billboard 200 at number 113. From 2009 through 2011, he appeared on tracks by Big Pooh, Jay Rock, Tech N9ne, and Game.

On February 15, 2012 a song titled "Cartoons & Cereal" featuring Gunplay was leaked. Lamar revealed later that the track was for his upcoming album and he was planning to shoot a video for it. In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent record label Lamar is signed to, have closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, marking the end of his career as an independent artist. Under the new deal, Kendrick Lamar's projects, including his upcoming debut studio album Good Kid in a Mad City will be jointly released via Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope, while releases from the rest of Black Hippy will be distributed via Top Dawg and Interscope.

A new single "The Recipe" premiered on Power 106 on April 2, 2012. The track is produced by Scoop DeVille and featuring Dr. Dre

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