The rest of Kendrick Lamar’s career has already begun
Self-promotion and Kendrick Lamar go together like oil and water. In the past year — a stretch that not only changed Kendrick’s career, Drake’s overall public image, and pop culture as a whole — he hasn’t done much to make sure his music is heard.
There’s the occasional tweet and music video here, the Super Bowl announcement there and, for good measure, a surprise album sprinkled in. The Pop Out concert was the most he participated in, which just so happened to take place on Juneteenth. Outside of that, the music has promoted itself.
Despite marketing “deficiencies,” Kendrick dominated the 2025 Grammys. He captured five trophies on Sunday night, including two of the most prestigious awards in Song and Record of the Year. All were for the year’s most dominant, inescapable, and, thanks to Drake, legal hit in the Mustard-produced heat rock”‘ Not Like Us.” In a failed attempt at subtleness, Kendrick Lamar attended music’s biggest night wearing denim-on-denim — also known as a “Canadian tuxedo,” a not-so-veiled gesture towards his maple leaf nemesis. The Grammys and hip-hop have long had a fraught history, but Lamar’s big night brings him to 22 total for his career. He now sits behind only Jay-Z and Kanye West (24) for the most all-time among rappers.
As Kendrick prepares for arguably the most anticipated Super Bowl halftime show since Prince in 2007 or Beyoncé in 2013, where the Compton native finds himself is an interesting case study. There is merit in Kendrick’s biggest year being because of his venomous spat with Drake. But that’s only half true. It’s also disingenuous to Kendrick’s journey as a twenty-first-century artist with few peers of equal stature. Long before 2024, Kendrick was one of the two most prominent rappers of his generation (along with Drake). To go along with unparalleled critical success and a prolific body of work, Kendrick’s commercial success was gaudy, highlighted by multi-platinum albums, international tours and creating the score for one of the biggest movies of all time in Black Panther. Drake held permanent residency on the Billboard charts, but Kendrick was no stranger to the accolades either. If the argument is that Kendrick’s biggest year was because of Drake — then Drake’s worst year was because of Kendrick.
Their public war of words was the result of a decade of subliminal shots delivered by both. They were the genre’s two biggest supernovas, who once collaborated and toured together, that didn’t respect either’s standing as king of the hill. When Kendrick Lamar’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” crash landed last March, no one could have predicted the course that was to come. His succession of records in “Euphoria,” “6:16 In L.A.,” “Meet The Grahams,” and the aforementioned “Not Like Us” marks the most extraordinary barrage of battle records in a genre no stranger to competition or animosity. Now, though, Kendrick Lamar embarks on his greatest journey yet.
“Kendrick’s unlimited potential lies in the fact — now that he’s tapped into the legacy sound with the GNX album, ‘Not Like Us’ and working with the biggest producer of this generation from this area [in Mustard],” said L.A.-based talent manager Bryan Sallis, “he’s showcasing the cultural significance of [Los Angeles] to the world.”
No matter what he performs on Sunday at the Super Bowl in New Orleans, Kendrick now sits atop the throne as rap’s, pun intended, undeniable top dog. It’s rare to see an artist this far along in their career breaking new boundaries. On the horizon sits a nationwide stadium tour alongside fellow superstar SZA. And while the beef with Drake moves further and further into the cultural rearview, two tour dates in Toronto in June stand as a reminder of just how much Kendrick’s enigmatic nature has changed the culture he, in many ways, removed Drake from.
In a world where moments are fleeting, and music is more flavor of the minute, what Kendrick Lamar did in 2024 and is set to do in 2025 is nothing short of undeniable. Think NWA in 1988, DMX in 1998, Lil Wayne’s 2007 or Future’s 2015. These are all years that dictated the course of rap’s sound. With Kendrick, a significant difference exists. He was already considered a genre-specific legend but never his class’ undeniable valedictorian.
Drake’s success, which resonated from an audacious run spanning parts of three different decades, was predicated on a dizzying amount of smash hit records. Drake’s presence was impossible to avoid because he, himself, was ubiquitous. He remains the greatest hitmaker in rap history, but the scars from his fallout with Kendrick Lamar are now eternal. His career will move on, but it will never be the same again. To the victor goes the spoils, but to the defeated goes the defamation. Every move of Drake’s, fairly or unfairly, will be inextricably linked to Kendrick Lamar for the rest of their careers. No amount of hit records — or smoke filled, bullet hole-styled hoodies or veiled shots at LeBron James — can erase the stain.
Calling 2025 a “victory lap” is unfair because Kendrick Lamar appears far from done. Perhaps the only title to obsess over is “greatest of all time,” which he dubbed himself on “man at the garden”— a song the aforementioned James has gravitated towards and rapped at his 40th birthday party and following his massive triple-double at Madison Square Garden. That’s the conversation Kendrick finds himself in.
“The last nine months have been the most significant time of his career. Obviously, the Drake interaction has catapulted that as well, but sonically and musically, we’re seeing unforeseen things,” noted Sallis. “Now that he’s showcasing being the face of L.A., he can now tap into much more from a cultural standpoint while displaying his incredible artistic expression.”
Nearly two decades into his career, Kendrick Lamar has managed to do something almost impossible in hip-hop. He’s reinvented himself with an artistic evolution that is very much being televised. In the heat of battle, rap’s most enigmatic superstar certified himself as the culture’s boogeyman and its most sadistic war general. What happens on Sunday in New Orleans is but the next feather in a Dodgers-fitted cap running out of room with them. Outside of SZA joining him on stage, which will essentially serve as the opening night for their forthcoming tour, very little is known about the performance.
Such is Kendrick’s motive. He announces nothing until he has an announcement. But given his track record when it comes to live performances, it is fair to expect the unexpected. It is fair to expect Kendrick to shock the world. And it is fair to expect him to put on a show that puts itself in the conversation as the best the Super Bowl has seen because he’s meticulous as a performer.
His week began with a domination that has already etched itself into Grammy lore. His next one starts on the biggest stage that pop culture has left. He’s watched parties die while being the life of his own. The world is Kendrick Lamar’s oyster. Somehow, that’s both terrifying and euphoric, just like the man himself.