“You might catch me in Atlanta looking like a boss
New Orleans and then Miami, party in New York
Texas, I be screwed up, Chi-town, I be really pimping
But nothing like my hometown, I’m forever living
Women, weed and weather, (they come for) women, weed and weather
For the women, weed and weather, (from all around the world for the) women, weed and weather
Got that women, weed and weather, don’t it sound clever? Come and play
Wh-what more can I say? W-welcome to L.A.”(Kendrick Lemar ft Dr.Dre, The Recipe)
Look, it doesn’t take an expert to realize that Kendrick Lemar has got that success “Recipe” well made,b ut we all know that every race has a start and it’d be great to know where Mr Lemar started and how he managed to get that hip hop “Recipe” tasting so good.
It was 1995 when young Kendrick Lemar first witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre, film the music video for their hit single “California Love,” and from that moment a deep hunger for hip hop was born within the young Lemar. In 2003, at the age of sixteen, Lamar released his very first mixtape Youngest Head Nigga In Charge under his previous moniker K-Dot, which landed the rising star a record deal with LA-based record label Top Dawg Entertainment (good start so far). And from that deal made came a 26 track mixtape called Training Day which really raised the bars for the rising star.
More rep came up for Lemar when Hamilton, from the Charles Hamilton show, battled rappers that had attended the show – one of them being Lemar himself. After proving himself worthy by rapping a verse over Milkbone’s “Keep it Real” joint, Lemar began making appearances in music videos such as Jay Rock’s “All My Life” video and later touring with the Game and just consider that “Cali Niggaz” joint by the Game ft K Dot (Kendrick Lemar) as proof ni**a!.
His third mixtape C4 came straight after he was co-signed by Lil Wayne (just adding that sugar, spice and everything nice there) and soon after he decided to drop K-Dot as his stage name. This resulted in him releasing a self-titled EP in 2009 and after touring with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on The Independent Grind tour he later released Overly Dedicated, a highly acclaimed mixtape that made legendary hip hop producer Dr. Dre want to work with Lamar . This later led to Lamar working the Detox album and Dre considering signing Lemar to Aftermath .
And just like that Lemar cooked up a storm It really doesn’t matter how you start, all that matters is how you finish and a perfect example would be Kendrick Lemar, who has been running on the road to success for a while (persistence, persistence).
Rudzani Netshiheni