KENDRICK LAMAR

A thorough and approachable tour through the life, impact, and artistry of a rap luminary.

Teen hip-hop heads and novices alike will relish this biography of Kendrick Lamar, a revered Black artist whose work has been in dialogue with America’s racial and political landscape for over a decade. The introductory chapters describe Lamar’s multifaceted youth. Even his supportive parents, who explained to an artistic and conscientious young Lamar how their Section 8 housing worked, couldn’t spare him from the harrowing realities of 1990s Compton. The narrative follows him as he refines his craft from early mixtapes to a Pulitzer-winning album, peppering in funny anecdotes and A-lister cameos, such as when hip-hop titan Dr. Dre called and Lamar, thinking it was a prank, hung up. The biography successfully highlights how Lamar not only lived through the shifting American discourse on race but helped shape it, from sharing the personal pain of poverty and racism to providing a soundtrack and rallying cry for Black Lives Matter protests with his hit “Alright.” Throughout, text boxes and single-page segments introduce related people and concepts, including Tupac Shakur and freestyle rap. Mooney acknowledges and contextualizes themes from Lamar’s work, such as police brutality, substance abuse, and sex addiction, without sensationalizing them, highlighting his skills as a storyteller.

An accessible introduction to a hip-hop virtuoso that trusts teens’ ability to tackle complex social issues.