The music industry was yet again taken by surprise this week, when Kendrick Lamar quietly released his most recent full-length album last week. To Pimp a Butterfly was announced to drop this week, but actually appeared online a week earlier and started raking in profits from the very beginning.

Thanks to Billboard’s new way of charting, we now know that the album sold a whopping 363,000 units, equivalent in collective streams and sales. Obviously, the album made it to the #1 place on the chart in just one week from dropping, making this K-Dot’s first album to achieve such results. His previous album good kid, m.A.A.d city was very close behind, selling around 500,000 copies.

Lamar launched his album first on Spotify and succeeded in beating any record on the streaming website, with 9.600.000 streams in one single day. To Pimp a Butterfly being a collective work of Aftermath, Interscope and Top Dawg, quite a few representatives from the labels were surprised with the early launch of the album.

Regarding album reviews, K-Dot has proved once again that his work is among favorites for critics. Lamar has already been rewarded 2 Grammys for the leading single of the album, “i”. Even though his other works helped him receive nominations for Album of the Year and Best New Artist, the Grammys for “i” are the first wins the California-based rapper has been awarded.

Kendrick Lamar was born in 1987 in Compton, California. At just 17-years-old the rapper was signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and hit an industry jackpot in 2012 when Top Dawg signed a collaborative deal with two of the most notorious labels in the hip hop music industry, Interscope Records and Aftermath. His success in the hip hop industry began developing in 2010 after he launched his first release for retail, Overly Dedicated. Throughout his artistic career, he has collaborated with some of the most renowned names in the game, such as Dr. Dre, Drake, Talib Kweli, Young Jeezy, E-40, Busta Rhymes, Warren G, Lil Wayne or Game. His major album good kid, m.A.A.d city had three singles that his the Top 40 charts: Swimming Pools (Drank), Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe and Poetic Justice. His most recent album, To Pimp A Butterfly can be digitally bought on iTunes here.

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