Who’s Kendrick Lamar: 17-time Grammy Awards Winner’s Life, Net Worth, Age, Career and Profession
If you happened to catch the 2025 Grammy Awards on February 2nd, you know rapper Kendrick Lamar stole the show. He scooped not one, two, or even three but five Grammy wins for his Drake diss record Not Like Us. But how much do you know about the 17-time Grammy winner?
Who is Kendrick Lamar: Early Life and Background
Born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth on June 17, 1987, in Compton, California, Kendrick grew up in the same streets that gave us rap bigwigs like Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. He’s now 37, stands at 5’6″, and weighs about 148 pounds, but don’t let his small frame fool you as he is the biggest (and might we say toughest) rapper.
Growing up was not exactly an easy walk in the park for young Kendrick. Compton in the late ’80s and ’90s was rough around the edges, but those tough streets shaped him into the storyteller he is today. One fun fact off the back of that is when he was just 8 years old, Lamar was among those who watched Tupac and Dr Dre shoot the music video for California Love. The signs were all over the wall from the get-go.
What is Kendrick Lamar’s net worth?
The numbers are all over the place, but conservatives like Forbes say Kendrick sits pretty with a tidy net worth a little shy of $90 million. That’s not too shabby, especially for a kid from Compton. The most interesting thing is that he did not make a big chunk of his wealth from dropping hits. We cannot deny that his albums raked in pretty well (just look at GNX which bagged over 300k album equivalent sales in its first week on the stores), but Lamar has got his fingers in lots of money-making pies.
Kendrick Lamar tours are a beehive of fans and money keeps streaming in. The Big Steppers Tour back in 2023 alone brought in well over $100 million. It helps that his creative firm pgLang is cutting deals with big names like Calvin Klein and Paramount Pictures.
What’s more; Kendrick has got quite the eye for real estate. He owns a bunch of fancy properties, including a $42 million mansion in Brentwood he picked up last year. Add to that his spots in Manhattan Beach ($9.7 million), Bel Air ($15.85 million), and a sweet penthouse in Manhattan ($8.6 million).
Kendrick Lamar’s Career
Like most rappers and hip-hop artists who grew up in Compton, Kendrick Lamar was swept into the music scene while in high school. In early 2005, Top Dawg Ent signed him as K.dot, a stage name he used to co-found the band Black Hippy. He stayed with the supergroup for a little shy of one and half decades before breaking away as a solo artist in 2022.
He recorded his first mixtape in his bedroom. But it was not long before he started dropping huge albums. Good Kid, m.A.A.d city in 2012 had everyone’s ears perked up, and then To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015 pretty much changed the rap game we know it today. By the time DAMN dropped in 2017, Kendrick wasn’t just winning Grammys. He was picking up Pulitzer Prizes.
Of all of Lamar’s Grammy-nominated and chart-topping tracks, none comes close to Not Like Us. The single not only clinched five 2025 Grammy wins but is the first song by the Compton-born rapper to hit 1 billion streams on Spotify this January. Of course, the most interesting part is that this is the last and most-listened-to of Lamar’s diss tracks leveled at fellow rapper Drake.
To get why Not Like Us has been such a huge hit, we might have to go a little back to 2013 when Lamar apparently dissed Drake at BET Awards. This started a feud that saw Kendrick put out multiple fan-favorite Drake diss tracks like 6:16 in LA and Euphoria, but things boiled over in mid-2024 when he accused Drake (in a diss song) of being addicted to sex, alcohol, and gambling. Not that we condone his accusation—in fact we urge anyone who’s going through gambling addiction to click here for helpful resources — but we must admit that the diss made for good listening in Not Like Us.
Kendrick Lamar’s Personal Life
For all the drama in his music, Kendrick keeps his personal life pretty low-key. He has been with his high school sweetheart, Whitney Alford, since way back. These two got engaged and welcomed their first kid in 2019. Whitney is not just arm candy for Lamar; she is Kendrick’s ‘best friend’ and a licensed esthetician.
Unlike some rappers who can’t stay off social media, Lamar is pretty much a ghost online. He would rather let his music do the talking, which honestly makes his rare appearances hit even harder.
Off the big stage, Kendrick is big on giving back to Compton. He has set up after-school programs, helped fund music education, and even got the Key to the City in 2016. The cool thing about Kendrick’s charity work is how quiet he keeps it.
FAQs
What is Kendrick’s real name?
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (yep, Duckworth’s actually his last name!)
How many Grammys has Kendric Lamar won?
17 and counting after his latest wins in 2025
What was Kendrick Lamar’s first big hit?
While Swimming Pools (Drank) got him on the radio, good kid, m.A.A.d city really put him on the map
Is Kendrick married and does he have any kids?
Not yet married, but he’s engaged to his high school sweetheart Whitney Alford, whom they have one child with Whitney, born in 2019
