Episode #246 | 8.26.25 | sources

Kendrick Lamar: The Streets, the Studio, and the Struggle for Mercy

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In this episode

Before Kendrick Lamar became one of the greatest lyricists of his generation, he was K.Dot—a kid from Compton with a front-row seat to trauma, loyalty, violence, and survival. This is the story of good kid, m.A.A.d city and the real-life events that fueled it. It’s about a drive-by shooting that changed Kendrick forever. About a murder. About a robbery. About friends who vanished and others who couldn’t be saved. It’s about escaping the cycle without forgetting where you came from. And above all, it’s about mercy—in a world that rarely offers any.

*art by Avi Spivak

DISGRACELAND is for the music fan who craves the rest of the story–the stuff they buried or cleaned up for streaming and theaters..

DISGRACELAND is the award-winning show that reveals the deeply human, highly dramatic, true crime–fueled chaos behind legendary musicians like Amy Winehouse, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sean “Diddy” Combs, the Grateful Dead, Blondie, and more. And it’s music history like you’ve never heard it—edge-of-your-seat stories exploding with drama and the kind of information that’ll make you dangerous at dinner parties.