Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American hip hop recording artist from Compton, California.[1] Lamar embarked on his musical career as a teenager, under the moniker K-Dot, releasing a mixtape which garnered him local attention and led to him signing with Carson-based independent record label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). Lamar began to gain major recognition in 2010, after his first retail release, Overly Dedicated. The following year, he released Section.80, his first independent album, exclusively through iTunes. The album spawned Lamar's debut single, "HiiiPoWeR" and was instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year.[2] By that time, Lamar had amassed a large Internet following and had already worked with several prominent artists in the hip hop industry, including The Game, Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, and Busta Rhymes.

Lamar would later secure a recording contract with a major label in 2012, when he signed with Aftermath and Interscope Records. His major-label debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, was released in October 2012 to widespread acceptance. The record contained the top 40 singles "Swimming Pools (Drank)", "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Poetic Justice". Upon its release, the album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In early 2013, MTV named Lamar the No. 1 "Hottest MC in the Game", on their annual list.[3] He also received a total of seven nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards (2014), including Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Rap Song. A year later, at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards (2015), Lamar won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for his single "i". In March 2015, Lamar released his third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly, which incorporates elements of funk, spoken word poetry and jazz. It topped the charts in various countries, including the U.S. and the UK. Apart from his solo career, Lamar is also known as a member of the West Coast hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside his TDE labelmates and fellow South Los Angeles-based rappers Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q.[4]

Raised in Secunda, Mpumalanga (RSA) Oz Zeros is a highly diverse African Rapper

In 1993, years before anyone told ya’ to “get up off them goddamn diamonds”, South Jamaica, Queens, craziest Bal-Hed sons, ONYX, were already busy takin’ some of the Golden Era’s loot and running with it to new heights, stamping the term “hardcore” in its darkest terms upside hip hop’s head with their seminal, trailblazing platinum debut, Bacdafucup.

 

The iconic cover image of four bald, angry-lookin’ niggas, their legendary “MadFace” logo, a shoulder-strapped automatic and a menacing boot-tread took rap to a world that could “Slam” in an era where even looking at someone wrong at a rap show could get you gone. Fredro Starr, Sticky Fingaz, SonSee and the late brother Big DS didn’t break the rules: they scared them the fuck away.

 

Twenty years and several full-length underground classics later, there is still nothing so raw in live rap as getting tossed into the barrier by the smiling, sweating, maniacal fans swarming the pit, to find yourself face-to-face with the ever-Mad Faced, ever Bal-Heded ‘Dro and Sticky (and this summer, on the Rock the Bells tour, Sonsee).

 

Face to face with loud, abrasive greatness, you might just find yourself lucky enough to embrace a boot to the temple when Sticky stage-dives, or swimming with the sharks to make waves for the crowd surfers while you “Throw Ya Gunz”.

 

ONYX made boom bap gangsta, gave metal street cred, and exposed the kinship of hip hop and punk rock cultures to a wider global audience on the strength of their delivery and the look in their eye that said this was no gimmick, motherfucker – all under the guidance of their mentor and producer, the departed architect Jam Master Jay.

 

With the Snowgoons-produced Cuzo LP hot on the way and the custom-built hybrid project Black Rock in the aisles and their newly-minted international “100Mad” click growing stronger, 2013 sees ONYX bring it back-da-fuck up in your mad face. Watch out, ‘cuz they’re coming for head-blood. 


Bio by Darcy MacDonald

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