Dre, with whom he would later collaborate several times. At Centennial High School, which Lamar attended, years earlier was also André Romell Young – a.k.a. Dre and Tupac Shakur, which led him to become more involved in rap. He himself never became a member of a gang.Īt the age of nine, Lamar watched the video recording of California Love, a track by Dr. Thus, some of his friends belonged to both the Bloods and the rival Crips. The neighborhood in which he grew up, like all of Compton, was characterized by gang violence. Lamar spent his childhood in precarious circumstances as a young boy, he witnessed his father continue to work “on the street” to provide for the small family, and some of his maternal uncles were part of the Compton Crips. Although his mother found a job at McDonald’s and his father worked at KFC, the couple still found it difficult to settle into their new surroundings. Kendrick Lamar’s parents moved to Compton before he was born, as his father Kenny Duckworth wanted to escape his past with the notorious street gang Gangster Disciples in Chicago. Kendrick Lamar (born Jin Compton, California real name Kendrick Lamar Duckworth), also known by his pseudonyms “K.Dot”, “Cornrow Kenny” and “Kung Fu Kenny”, is an American rapper and songwriter.