Kendrick Lamar and Tupac

As a child, he stood on a street curb in Compton; twenty years later, he brought Tupac onto his album for a dialogue. To many, Kendrick Lamar is seen as the rapper who comes closest today to filling Tupac’s role as the chronicler and conscience of the West Coast. He does not claim this comparison for himself. Yet he cites Tupac so persistently that it forms a chronicle of its own-from a street scene in Compton to a track built on an original Tupac sample.

Compton 1995: A Child Looks Over the Crowd

In July 2012, Kendrick spoke on the Chicago station WGCI about an early key moment: as a child in Compton, he watched Dr. Dre and Tupac shoot the first version of the music video for California Love. His father put him on his shoulders back then so he could see over the crowd. The magazine Vibe recounted the story on July 19, 2012.

The incident is a personal memory, documented solely by Kendrick’s own account. Yet it explains why he describes Tupac not as a distant idol, but as a fixture of his own neighborhood.

“Mortal Man”: The Dialogue Across Two Decades

The most consequential moment is the finale of To Pimp a Butterfly, released on March 15, 2015. The closing track, “Mortal Man,” runs roughly twelve minutes and culminates in a staged conversation: Kendrick asks questions, and Tupac answers with audio recordings from a real interview. It touches on metaphors, social inequality, class issues, and staying sane when you are famous.

The source material came from Swedish radio journalist Mats Nileskär, who had conducted the interview in the fall of 1994 for his show P3 Soul—according to him, in an Atlantic Records office in New York. In late November 2014, someone from Top Dawg Entertainment called him, as Nileskär recounted to XXL magazine in March 2015: Kendrick had been living with the interview for several months, and it was “the last piece of the puzzle.” Kendrick adapted several of Nileskär’s questions for his version. Vice published the complete original recording in March 2015.

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and won Best Rap Album at the 2016 Grammys.

Beat on the Radio, Homage at the Super Bowl

On April 14, 2018, radio host Big Boy posted a clip of Kendrick freestyling over the beat of “Hit ’Em Up.” The prompts were supplied by Big Boy. Billboard suspected the recording stemmed from Kendrick’s visit to the show in June 2017. It was an exercise, not a grand statement, but it showed how naturally the beat belongs to Kendrick’s repertoire.

At the Super Bowl halftime show on February 13, 2022, Kendrick took the stage alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and 50 Cent. Tupac did not appear as a hologram, as had been speculated beforehand. But Dre and Snoop played California Love, and Dre quoted I Ain’t Mad at Cha on the piano (see the news report of February 13, 2022).

Feud with Drake: AI Voice and Tupac’s Ring

In April 2024, Tupac landed right in the middle of Kendrick’s feud with Drake. Drake had used an AI-generated Tupac voice on his track “Taylor Made Freestyle.” The estate demanded its removal on April 24; estate attorney Howard King called Kendrick “a good friend of the estate” in the letter (Billboard). See Rights to Tupac’s voice and the news report of April 24, 2024.

Kendrick responded on April 30 with “Euphoria.” In it, according to Complex, he alluded to Drake having bought Tupac’s crown ring at Sotheby’s in 2023 for around $1.01 million, saying he did not want a Canadian making Pac turn in his grave. On June 19, 2024, he varied the line at the concert “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends” at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles: Drake should give the ring back, and then maybe there would be “a little respect” (AllHipHop). More in the news report of June 19, 2024.

“reincarnated”: Tupac’s Rhythm on “GNX”

On November 22, 2024, Kendrick’s album GNX was released. The sixth track, “reincarnated,” builds on a sample of Made Niggaz, a song by Tupac and the Outlawz from the soundtrack to Gang Related (1997). Kendrick raps from the perspective of several figures about rebirth and responsibility for his talent, echoing Tupac’s cadence in his delivery. The track reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.

What to make of this remains a matter of interpretation: Kendrick has nowhere said he is Tupac’s successor. What is documented is only how consistently he draws on him: in 2012 as a childhood memory, in 2015 as a conversation partner, in 2018 as a beat, in 2022 as a neighbor on stage, and in 2024 as a sample. More on the topic on the page Influence on other artists.