The Independent — Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar obsessive, has managed to land the rapper to star in her next music video, in which he will play a character name Welvin Da Great. more info

Stereogum — Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 breakout album Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City sold 241,000 copies in its first week, but it never made it to #1, since it had the misfortune to come out the same week as Taylor Swift’s Red. But Kendrick holds no grudges. Since then... more info

L.A. Times - Entertainment — When jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington was contributing string arrangements to rapper Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly," few could have predicted that both L.A. artists would end up dominating the conversation about hip-hop and jazz in 2015. more info

Stereogum — Kendrick Lamar recently covered the latest issue of Mass Appeal, and the magazine has slowly been revealing gems from the time they spent with the Compton rapper. Earlier this week, Lamar revealed that the title of his new album To Pimp A Butterfly h... more info

Stereogum — In a recent interview with Mass Appeal, Kendrick Lamar revealed that his already fraught-with-meaning album title To Pimp A Butterfly has yet another layer. In the physical booklet for the CD there is some braille that includes an additional part of ... more info

The Independent — Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly is Spotify's most streamed album in 24 hours and perhaps the finest album of this decade, but everyone missed a secret hidden in it. more info

Stereogum — Since 2013, sustainable health food chain sweetgreen has been selling T-shirts bearing the phrase “beets don’t kale my vibe,” a doubly punny reference to one of the best songs on Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city. Now that Kendrick is ... more info

Stereogum — Like Kendrick Lamar, Glasses Malone grew up in and around the gang life of Compton, California. And like Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly, Malone’s new single “Thuggin'” is visited by the ghost of Tupac Shakur. It’s also visited by Kendrick h... more info

Stereogum — Kendrick Lamar took to his rarely used Twitter account for an impromptu short Q&A earlier this evening. He didn’t answer that many questions, but he did promise that he’s arranging a tour, named his favorite artist, paid his respects to Lil Wayne... more info

Stereogum — A maddeningly short six-second snippet of Kendrick Lamar rapping over Kanye West’s “All Day” emerged last week, and now the full song is here. It’s basically the original “All Day” with Kendrick swapped in for Theophilus London (hooray!) ... more info