Taylor Swift, seen onstage in Amsterdam earlier this month during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour, has broken another record with her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images hide caption
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar performs during "The Pop Out — Ken & Friends," his June 19 concert event at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Timothy Norris/Getty Images for pgLang, Amazon/Getty Images North America hide caption
Kendrick Lamar performs at a Spotify event in Cannes, France, during the Cannes Lions media festival in June 2022. Getty Images for Spotify/Getty Images Europe hide caption
Rapper Tupac Shakur performs at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois in March 1994. Raymond Boyd/Getty Images hide caption
Drake onstage during Drake's Till Death Do Us Part rap battle in 2021. Amy Sussman/Getty Images hide caption
Kendrick Lamar performs during the Rolling Loud hip-hop festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2023 and Drake performs during Day 2 of Lollapalooza Chile 2023. Last week, the two rappers' long-running feud exploded in a flurry of diss tracks. Jesse Wensing/ANP/AFP and Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images hide caption
Kendrick Lamar cannot stand Drake; "Euphoria" lists the ways. Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images hide caption
Metro Boomin and Future perform during 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The producer and rapper have linked for two sprawling new albums this year, released weeks apart. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV hide caption
J. Cole and Drake perform during the 2023 edition of Cole's Dreamville festival in Raleigh, N.C., last April. Their collaborative track "First Person Shooter" recently touched off a war of words with fellow MC Kendrick Lamar. Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage/Getty Images hide caption
For his "Rich Spirit" / "N95" medley on SNL, Kendrick Lamar performed with minimal visual accompaniment, perfectly geared for the raw intimacy of his newest material. Will Heath/NBC hide caption
Pusha T's It's Almost Dry is one of NPR Music's top 20 hip-hop albums of 2022. Photo Illustration: Jackie Lay/NPR/Derek White/Getty Images for The Recording Academy hide caption
"New Beyoncé is literally good for everybody in the world," Maggie Rogers says of Renaissance, which shares a release date with her own Surrender. "I'm so excited for this record." Olivia Bee/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
NPR Music's best music of May includes (from top left, clockwise) Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Julia Reidy, Ravyn Lenae and Ethel Cain. Courtesy of the artists hide caption
Kendrick Lamar performs in March 2019 during the third day of Lollapalooza Buenos Airesat Hipodromo de San Isidro. Santiago Bluguermann/Getty Images hide caption
Kendrick Lamar's new song 'Auntie Diaries' divides the LGBTQ+ community
Kendrick Lamar returns with his latest album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is the first album from Kendrick Lamar since DAMN., the 2017 release that made him the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize. Renell Medrano/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Kendrick Lamar Renell Medrano/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers tops this week's shortlist for the best albums out on May 13. Renell Medrano/Courtesy of the artist hide caption