Kendrick Lamar's top 15 songs, ranked
Ahead of his performance at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, we rank the Compton rapper's most significant contributions to music, from 'euphoria' to 'm.A.A.d city' and more
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ON MONDAY FEBRUARY 10, Kendrick Lamar will become the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the Super Bowl halftime show. For the performance, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper will condense 15 years of music in a 13-minute set, which feels like an impossible task, given the the utter significance of his contribution to music and culture.
“This is a true art form. So to represent [hip-hop] on this type of stage is, like, everything that I’ve worked for and everything that I believe in as far as the culture,” said Lamar at the official Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Press Conference in New Orleans overnight. “It puts the culture on the forefront, where it needs to be, and not minimised to just a catchy song or verse . . . I live and die by it. This shit done changed my whole family life. I don’t take it for granted, at all, far as the art form, you know?”
We know. Lamar’s performance at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show will also take place a week after he took home no less than five Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year for ‘Not Like Us’, Song of the Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video. Who needs to drop another diss track when you can just sweep the floor at the music industry’s biggest night?
Ahead of his performance, which is guaranteed to be one for the ages and an important in the hip-hop canon, we count down the artist’s best songs. Which will he drop on the grass at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana? Tune in on Monday at 10:30 am AEST to see.
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Kendrick Lamar’s best songs, ranked
15. ‘euphoria’ (2015)
Here’s an etymological reading, sort of. But it is one of Lamar’s early reads of Drake. The diss tracks go deep between these two, as Lamar says so astutely, “I’m the biggest hater”.
14. ‘untitled 05 | 09.21.2014’ (2016)
Thundercat is a master on bass, setting up the unease and allure of Lamar’s lyricism as he assembles an iconic cast.
13. ‘Rigamortis’ (2011)
One of his most lyrically impressive and performed, Lamar doesn’t take a single breath in any of the verses.
12. ‘DNA.’ (2017)
Lamar has multitudes within him, and he confronts that with this track when a clip from a Fox News segment criticising his music plays. As his repetition and and alliteration asserts “I got power, poison, pain, and joy inside my DNA / I got hustle, though, ambition flow inside my DNA”, it builds great intrigue.
11. ‘King Kunta’ (2015)
An exemplar of Lamar’s roots in the West Coast rap tradition. When that bass drops, that’s when the funk really begins.
10. ‘HUMBLE.’ (2017)
Kendrick Lamar trap at it’s finest. For a surprisingly simplistic beat, the repetition will put a swagger and bob in your step.
9. ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’ (2012)
One of his well-known mainstream tracks; it’s perfect to listen to in the mellow moments.
8. ‘Fear.’ (2017)
It’s a whole coming of age movie in seven minutes, exploring the fear he felt as the ages of seven, seventeen, and twenty-seven. It’s in 2017 when Lamar’s narrative songwriting reaches a new peak in his expression.
7. ‘tv off (feat, left gunplay’ (2024)
Teaming up DJ Mustard, who also worked with Lamar on the acclaimed track ‘Not Like Us’ (the track), ‘tv off’ is a catchy as all hell song about doing exactly that: “turn the TV off”, get outside, stand for what you believe in and speak your mind. Also thrown in: critiques of oppressive structures, passive consumption and society’s desire to conform. Also, that vocal: “MUSTAAAAARD!”
6. ‘XXX.’ featuring U2 (2017)
Criminally underrated, we bumped it up for our round-up. Lamar accompanies his well-honed narrative lyricism with striking sonic shifts that will take you from Compton to San Fransisco bay in the video. And with the U2 feature, it sets the track apart from any other rap releases at the time.
5. ‘Alright’ (2015)
An anthem about survival, it became a defining song during the Black Live Matter protests in 2015. Inspired by a trip Lamar took to South Africa and visiting Nelson Mandela’s cell, the song would naturally go on to be monumental for racial justice movements in the twenty-first century.
4. ‘DUCKWORTH.’ (2017)
A great display of Lamar as a melodious storyteller: a vivid account of an alleged incident between his record label’s manager and Lamar’s father. It’s a high-note to end his 2017 DAMN.
3. ‘Money Trees’ featuring Jay Rock (2012)
You might’ve heard this one on TikTok, but for good reason. It’s an essential introduction to Lamar’s discography. It’s an easy one too: a whoozey anthem about the rigged system put in place by Reagan-era politics.
2. ‘Wesley’s Theory’ featuring George Clinton and Thundercat (2015)
It’s a glorious album intro for To Pimp A Butterfly that brings together legendary George Clinton and Thundercat, and Lamar. With jazz and funk roots, liquid bass lines and synthy sirens make up the catchy lyricism that talks about the US government encouraging Black communities to spend beyond their means.
1. ‘m.A.A.d city’ featuring MC Eiht (2012)
The eighth track on GKMC, the song is Lamar’s most layered track about his “neck of the woods that held me down since a young pup,” as he dedicated his 2025 Record of the Year Grammy to the city. In the first half, Lamar is dodging bullets to the tune of a frenetic violin. In the middle, the beat switches, and the drums and string switch to the hypnotic G-fuck he would’ve grown up with in ’90s Los Angeles, when MC Eiht takes over. GKMC overall showcases the dark underside to Compton, but this one feels especially melodious to Lamar’s feelings of rebellion and retribution.
What is Kendrick Lamar’s biggest song?
Kendrick Lamar has had five No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, yet his biggest song to date – in terms of mainstream popularity and reach – would be ‘HUMBLE’, which peaked in May 2017, spending 37 weeks on the chart. Lyrics aggregator Genius also noted that ‘HUMBLE’ is Lamar’s most viewed song, with 11.9M page views.
What did Kendrick say to Drake?
What didn’t Kendrick say to Drake? The ongoing beef between Drake and Kendrick is easily the biggest feud in recent rap history, stretching back to 2013 when, in a feature on Big Sean track ‘Control,’ Lamar called out a slew of contemporary rappers including J. Cole, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Big Sean himself and, yes, Drake.
Since then, Kendrick has waged the following arrows at Drake, just to name a few: “Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you”; “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one”; “The big three . . . It’s just big me.”
See our full explainer of the Drake and Kendrick beef, here.
Who is the big three in rap?
Rivalries are to hip-hop what wholesome friendships are to pop music (common, and age-old). It’s widely considered that Drake, Kendrick and J. Cole are the three greatest rappers of their generation, though this was first professed by J. Cole himself, and many debate whether he sits in the same tier. Yet the ‘No Role Modelz’ rapper has a devoted fanbase who would wholeheartedly agree.
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