There are rappers. There are writers.
And then there’s Kendrick Lamar.
Over the years, I’ve dug through interviews, documentaries, books, lyrics, behind-the-scenes footage…not just to admire Kendrick's work, but to decode it.
This post is a breakdown of my discoveries.
Each section begins with Kendrick’s quotes and sources, followed by a 🔑 key insight I distilled from them. These insights break down the creative principles behind his process so that you can understand not just what he does, but why it works.
This is Kendrick Lamar’s creative blueprint.
Let’s dive in!
🔗 Kendrick Lamar - Storyteller of Compton
Lamar began to keep a diary. He said, “I didn’t want to forget how I was feeling when my album dropped, or when I went back to Compton.” He filled several notebooks with his writings and drawings. He said these ideas made writing lyrics easy. His notebooks helped him with his next album.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar - Wikipedia
Lamar, who self-identifies as a musician and writer, begins his songwriting process with an assortment of premeditated thoughts that he jotted down over the course of one year. His personal experiences are a common source of inspiration, but he also pulls ideas from meeting new people, traveling, and experiencing different cultures. A devout Christian, he additionally shares his spiritual triumphs and struggles on his songs. He is an avid note-taker, and has developed keywords, phrases, and sounds to help him "trigger the exact emotions" he felt when writing the initial demo.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar: 'DAMN' Interview | Apple Music
Talks about how “80% of his creative process involves premeditation”
🔑 Kendrick Lamar doesn’t just write lyrics. He archives emotion. His notebooks, voice notes, even the scattered scribbles on his phone aren’t just placeholders for inspiration. They’re time machines. Capsules of thought. He fills them with poetic fragments, sharp sketches, and raw reflections, creating a trail of breadcrumbs back to the exact feeling that first sparked the idea. He doesn't wait for the beat to dictate the story. Often, the lyrics come first. They’re crafted like standalone poems, marinated for months before they ever touch a studio mic. He builds his songs like monuments, brick by lyrical brick, then invites producers to decorate the walls around the foundation he’s already laid. That way, the sound wraps itself around his message…not the other way around. His secret sauce: nearly 80% of Kendrick’s creative process happens before a single track is recorded. He front-loads the emotion. Because when the time comes to perform, he wants to summon the exact frequency he felt when the idea first punched him in the gut. Months later, that energy is still intact…preserved by the keywords, phrases, and sonic bookmarks he planted.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar & Rick Rubin Have an Epic Conversation | GQ
🔗 Influential Hip-Hop Artists: Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Others
🔗 Kendrick Lamar interviewed by Annie Mac (Part 1)
🔑 These 3 sources all point to Kendrick Lamar viewing his artistic journey as an ongoing challenge, constantly pushing himself to avoid stagnation and comfort. He doesn't believe in relying solely on natural gifts, instead focusing on mastering his craft by stepping outside his comfort zone
🔗 Kendrick Lamar | Not Like Us, The West Coast Winning, The Beefs, Freestyles | 2024 NEW Documentary
🔑 In this interview he explicitly states that he is always searching for his "best verse yet". This continuous pursuit of improvement fuels his hunger.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar & Rick Rubin Have an Epic Conversation | GQ
🔑 In this interview Lamar states clearly that he believes music should come from a "real place," and he is ”unapologetic and uncompromising” in his self-expression.
🔑 Also he said, “I never retract my statements.” Kendrick refuses to retract statements on record, as they reflect his genuine feelings.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar: Biography, Rapper, 2025 Super Bowl Performer
Lamar grew popular for his sharp observations of street culture, often examining the psychology of the victims of crimes. “That’s the most interesting story to me,” he told The Guardian in December 2012. “At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out.”
🔑 He dares himself to show vulnerability in his music, realizing it creates the strongest connection with his audience.
🔗 Kendrick & Kobe Talk About Their Evolution to Greatness at ComplexCon 2017
🔗 Influential Hip-Hop Artists: Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Others
🔑 In these sources it shows that Kendrick draws from his personal experiences, including challenging emotions like fear and anxiety, as fuel for his art.
🔗 Influential Hip-Hop Artists: Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Others
His 2012 major label debut album, “good kid, m.A.A.d. city,” a long read about growing up in Compton, Calif., sold more than a million copies, a rare platinum hip-hop album in parched times, an exceptional exception.
🔗 The INSANE Story of KENDRICK LAMAR..
For example, in the "Father Time" track, Whitney Alford—Kendrick's wife—says that it's time for him to see a therapist. He responds, saying that "a real man don't do such bulls**t," as this is "for the weak."
This is why, here, Kendrick is discussing toxic masculinity—masculinity that is passed down from generation to generation. Sometimes actively, by a father who is present. Other times, through the absence of a father figure…
…Or, for example, in the "Mother I Sober" track. In it, Lamar opens up with heartfelt and personal lyrics, confronting his trauma head-on by describing his upbringing and the traumatic experiences that came with it. He details his mother's experience with sexual abuse—and her fear that Lamar might experience assault as well.
Later on, Lamar asserts that he was never subject to drug addiction—but rather, lust. Lamar then feels a sense of despair and hopelessness, as he opens up about cheating on Whitney.
And in the end, when Kendrick has done the necessary work to address these issues, Whitney says that he has broken a generational curse. In the Bible, generational curses happen when someone's sins cause negative consequences for future generations.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar - Wikipedia
Lamar tries to carry a conceptual idea inside of his music, "whether it's a big concept or it's so subtle you can't even tell until you get to 20 listens." Fans and publications have theorized that his albums are related to different forms of mass media. Section.80 is regarded as a short story collection inspired and themed around events that impacted the millennial generation, such as Ronald Reagan's presidency. The nonlinear narrative structure of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City is billed as a coming-of-age short film that chronicles Lamar's harsh teenage experiences in his native Compton. Its cinematic scope has been compared to the screenplays written by filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. To Pimp a Butterfly unfolds as both a poem and blank letter that explores the responsibilities of being a role model and documents life as an African American during Barack Obama's presidency. Damn is labeled as an introspective satire that explores the dualities of human nature and morality. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers takes on the form of a theatrical play, with confessional lyrics based on Lamar's experiences in therapy.
🔑 His albums often serve as deeply personal narratives, exploring his experiences growing up in Compton, dealing with fame, grappling with internal struggles, and even his mental health.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar & Rick Rubin Have an Epic Conversation | GQ
🔑 Lamar is heavily involved in every aspect of his music's production, including mixing and mastering, often working long hours with his team.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar - Wikipedia
Lamar did not care for music production during the beginning of his career. However, as he placed an emphasis on songwriting and "making material that's universal", he grew more exacting and adventurous with his compositions. He is heavily involved with every aspect of his production process, including the mixing and mastering stages, and is known for working long hours in the recording studio. "You gotta be hands on and know the different sounds and frequencies," Lamar explained to Variety.
🔑 Here Kendrick emphasizes the need to be "hands on" with sounds and frequencies to understand how to manipulate them effectively.
🔗 Kendrick says Macklemore went too far + who "i" is for & the state of HipHop
Everything’s really in-house. Everything’s really in-house. Of course, Dre. But I really stick with four producers that I’ve been working with since day one. I don’t really go outside the box of that. Soundwave. Thundercat. Rocky. Tae Beast. You know, these two cats that I’ve been developing with since I was a teen, you feel me? So I just keep it like that. Keep myself as organic as possible.
🔑 He surrounds himself with a close-knit team of producers he has developed relationships with since his teenage years, rather than constantly seeking high-profile talent. This fosters an organic creative environment.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar interviewed by Annie Mac (Part 1)
🔑 He engages in "vibe sessions" with his musicians, listening to diverse music and discussing ideas before moving into recording, allowing for a more fluid and inspired creative process.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar & Rick Rubin Have an Epic Conversation | GQ
Man, it’s mainly kids, man. I always say this: kids bug me out. Because they have no fear. Nothing. Like, nothing.
I sit there and I talk to kids…like my little niece, you know? She’s two years old. But she fears nothing. And she has no concept of reality as we know it.
That always inspires me to write, for some reason. It doesn’t necessarily have to be whatever the actual child is pertaining to, but it—it—it gives me a moment.
Talking to them gives me a moment to step back and look at the world, for what I know it to be... and for what this kid sees.
You know, they say kids are much closer to God in that way. Like…they’re not yet indoctrinated into society.
So they’re closer to just pure essence...
🔗 Kendrick Lamar - Wikipedia
His personal experiences are a common source of inspiration, but he also pulls ideas from meeting new people, traveling, and experiencing different cultures.
🔑 Lamar's inspiration comes from a wide array of sources, including his upbringing, conversations with diverse people (especially children, who represent a lack of fear), and observations of the world around him, both positive and negative.
🔗 Kendrick Lamar - Storyteller of Compton
Young Kendrick listened to rappers such as Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z. He also saw Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur shoot a music video. “It sparked something,” he said. “I always kept thinking about that moment.”
🔗 Kendrick Lamar - Wikipedia
Tupac Shakur is Lamar's biggest influence, having impacted both his professional and personal lives. One of his earliest childhood memories is watching him and Dr. Dre film the second music video for their single "California Love" with his father at the Compton Swap Meet. Lamar has described himself as an "offspring" of Shakur's artistry and sociopolitical views. Although some publications have regarded him as the Shakur of his generation, he has strived to maintain his individuality...
...Prodigy of Mobb Deep was a key influence on Lamar's earlier mixtapes, while his rapping technique was stemmed from Lil Wayne and his longevity. Eminem and his album The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) introduced him to songwriting elements, such as ad-libs, and impacted his aggressive approach to records such as "Backseat Freestyle". He took inspiration from N.W.A's tenacity of representing his hometown with "courage, honesty and artistic brilliance". Various R&B and soul artists, including Marvin Gaye, the Isley Brothers, Michael Jackson, Teddy Pendergrass, Sade, and Anita Baker, have influenced Lamar. He performed with Prince, who impacted his vocal register, at Paisley Park to celebrate the release of the latter's 2014 albums Plectrumelectrum and Art Official Age, which GQ described as "five minutes of brilliant insanity". To Pimp a Butterfly was influenced by the works of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and funk collective Parliament-Funkadelic.
🔑 He is a student of the game, deeply influenced by hip-hop legends like Tupac Shakur, DMX, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Jay-Z, and N.W.A, as well as R&B and soul artists like Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers. He also draws from genres like jazz and funk, consciously integrating their sounds and structures into his hip-hop.
Stay creative,
