Kendrick Lamar chats ahead of gig at Birmingham’s Genting Arena

The rapper has a clear head after reaching new heights in a glittering career – while avoiding the temptations of superstardom.

He’s still on a high following the success of his fourth album, Damn, which was released in spring and was a number one hit around the globe, selling more than three million copies in the USA alone. That followed the imperious 2015 record, To Pimp A Butterfly, which set Kendrick apart from his peers and gave notice of his illustrious talent.

Damn was an impressive fusion of rap, pop, R‘n’B and trap – the hip hop subgenre that emerged in the southern USA.

It featured a starry roll call of guest producers, including executive production from Top Dawg Entertainment label-head Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith, Sounwave, DJ Dahi, Mike Will Made It and Ricci Riera; as well as production contributions from James Blake, Steve Lacy, BadBadNotGood, Greg Kurstin, The Alchemist and 9th Wonder, among others.

And it was supported by three hit singles: Humble, Loyalty and Love, with Humble giving Lamar his first number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The album earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album and Album of the Year at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, making it Kendrick’s third consecutive album to be nominated for the award. It was also the Billboard Year-End number one album of 2017.

Kendrick has taken his success in his stride. And though he once rapped about living the life of a gangsta rapper, his is well-ordered and devoid of chaos. He told Rolling Stone: “My biggest vice is being addicted to the chase of what I’m doing. It turns into a vice when I shut off people that actually care for me because I’m so indulged spreading this word. Being on that stage, knowing that you’re changing people’s lives, that’s a high. Sometimes, when you’re pressing so much to get something across to a stranger, you forget people that are closer to you. That’s a vice.

“Everybody’s fun is different. Mine is not drinking. I drink casually, from time to time. I like to get people from my neighbourhood, someone that’s fresh out of prison for five years, and see their faces when they go to New York, when they go out of the country. That’s fun for me. You see it through their eyes and you see ‘em light up.”

Kendrick was raised in Compton, California, and believed as a child that he would become a huge star. His father, Kenny Duckworth, was a member of a street gang called Gangster Disciples, and ’s family had ties to the Bloods. Music played a big part in his upbringing and his first name was given to him by his mother in honour of American singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations.

At the age of eight, he witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre, film the music video for their hit single California Love. It changed his life and set him on the road to performance. Kendrick worked hard at school, becoming a straight-A student, and soon he was making mix tapes. He secured a deal with Top Dawg Entertainment and his debut, Section.80, earned a gold disc. Throughout it all, he kept a cool head.

While his contemporaries at school and during his post-school years found themselves in trouble with the cops, Kendrick remained cool.

“From what my family tells me, I carried myself as a man – that’s why they called me ‘Man Man’. It put a stigma on the idea of me reacting as a kid sometimes – I would hurt myself and they would expect me not to cry. That put a lot of responsibility on me, got me ready for the responsibility my fans put upon me. I ended up getting tough skin, too, even with criticism.

“It just came from being around older guys, man. I was seven years old playing tackle football with 14 year olds. Anybody my older cousins was hanging with, that’s who I wanted to hang with. Everybody was always bigger and older than me. It gave me insight on people.”

Kendrick says it’s important to keep a sense of perspective. While many of his contemporaries surround themselves with yes men or blow their money on girls, cars and drugs, he avoids going off the rails.

“Things could be worse. That’s how I look at it. I always go back to that – food stamps and welfare and being evicted out of house rentals. I still got family that go through hard times, and I have to look out for them. Think of it like this: This lifestyle I live now has only been, what, five years. Since 2012. Before that, it was a whole two decades of not knowing what’s next to come. I still have that embedded in me. So I can’t let my career get the best of me.”

On Damn, Kendrick has taken things to another level.

“As I’ve grown as an artist, I’ve learnt that my mission statement is really self-expression. I don’t want anybody to classify my music. “I want them to say, ‘This is somebody who’s recognising his true feelings, his true emotions, ideas, thoughts, opinions, and views.”