Kendrick Lamar

Overview

Direct from Compton comes the West Coast's latest hip-hop star, Kendrick Lamar, performing at The Powerstation on Tuesday, December 18 2012.

The roots of his hometown California are immediately obvious throughout his material, with stalwart Dr Dre and fellow rapper The Game influential as labelmates. Kendrick recently sealed the deal earlier this year to join Interscope Records and Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label.

This led to the recent release of his first studio album featuring tracks including The Recipe, Cartoons & Cereal and Swimming Pools (Note: Videos NSFW). Other standouts include Backseat Freestyle, Money Trees and m.A.A.d city - and since I've now listed almost the entire album, I will note that after several listens, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City consolidated itself as one of the albums of the year. Lamar notes his main influence as the late Tupac Shakur, with his storytelling style of rap somewhat similar to Shakur's.

With Auckland being treated to Kendrick visiting relatively soon after the release of this album, expect to witness a thumping live show featuring a lot of this album material, as well as other tracks off his past numerous mixtapes.