Kendrick Lamar just made history — again.

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When Kendrick Lamar drops an album, he makes a splash. According to Pitchfork, the Compton native dropped “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” without too much fanfare or pre-album publicity, but the “thorny” double album — which features everyone from rappers like Kodak Black to rock legends like Beth Gibbons of Portishead — quickly became a trending topic on Twitter and gained both accolades and fanfare in equal measure. And that, really, has been the basis of Kendrick Lamar’s brand of Hip-Hop since he first exploded onto the scene in 2012. Though it would take until his third studio album — 2015’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” — for him to fully break into the mainstream, he quickly became the go-to artist for fans — and professionals — who were looking for a bit of funk, soul, and spoken word with their Hip-Hop. The RIAA reveals that he has several gold and platinum records, and this success in the music industry alone has helped him achieve a $75 million net worth, per Celebrity Net...

Several months after appearing on his cousin Baby Keem’s debut album, Kendrick Lamar has announced his official comeback in one of the most unpredictable ways. K-dot chose to pop out of hiding by quoting and responding to a tweet from a little over two months ago. Seemingly exhausted from the wait for Kendrick’s next album, Twitter user @raptalksk suggested the rapper’s absence meant his retirement, tweeting “Kendrick Lamar is officially retired.” Emerging from what seems to be the shadows of his successful music career, the GRAMMY award-winning artist and Pulitzer prize winner used the tweet from February to let the world know he is still here. Attaching a link to the mysterious oklama.com, Kendrick brought back the cryptic website he initially tweeted out on August 21, 2022. It holds a file folder that reads “nu thoughts.” The folder contains a letter to fans describing his process and his upcoming return to music. Since then, an official statement has been added to a black folder...

Rap tours — like many other tours — all but came to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by the Chicago Tribune revealed that the concert industry — long considered a prime income stream for musicians both independent and mainstream — took a $30 billion hit thanks to the coronavirus. “Pollstar on Friday said the live events industry should have hit a record-setting $12.2 billion this year, but instead it incurred $9.7 billion in losses,” reports the outlet. “Pollstar said the projected $30 billion figure in losses includes ‘unreported events, ancillary revenues, including sponsorships, ticketing, concessions, merch, transportation, restaurants, hotels, and other economic activity tied to the live events.'” Yet, despite this obvious financial hit, the business of Hip-Hop is still big business. In its early days, rap tours were renegade in their nature — take what you can, hope for the best, and get the money any way you knew how (And it’s to be commended for thriving...

The Top Dog Entertainment Championship Tour is bringing artists from the beloved West-coast label to fans across the country, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Kendrick Lamar. And beyond great live performances, fans can also snag exclusive shoes through the Nike SNKRS app, which is allowing fans to buy the limited-edition collaboration using an augmented reality camera. Photo: Digital Trends At select shows on the tour, fans with Nike’s SNKRS app will have exclusive access to buy and reserve a pair of Kendrick’s limited edition Cortez Kenny IIIs while attending the concert. This marks something new for the cross-section of fashion and technology — combining apps with a live concert experience in order to snag limited edition capsule collection items. Typically the SNKRS app uses augmented reality cameras in order to steer customers in the right direction to shoes that are digitally buried in secret locations. But this time around the camera will allow people to buy the shoes anywhere...