Maps of Music

Section.80 (2011)

Where the lyrics of Section.80 take you, and where it was really made.

The debut sold modestly, debuting at number 113 on the US Billboard 200, yet the album was certified platinum by the RIAA in January 2026.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (2011)

Recording site Top Dawg Studios — The album was recorded at Top Dawg Studios in Carson, California. The pin is set at city-center level, so the exact building location is not confirmed here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Section.80: debut studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar
• Released July 2, 2011 by Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE)
• Lamar released several mixtapes under the K.Dot name before this album
• A concept album whose lyrical themes include the 1980s crack epidemic, racism and the medication tolerance of millennials
• Guest appearances from GLC, Colin Munroe, Ashtrobot, BJ the Chicago Kid, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, with vocals from Alori Joh

Background

• Preceded by Overly Dedicated, his fourth solo mixtape, released in 2010
• Shortly after Overly Dedicated came out, Lamar began working on Section.80
• His first K.Dot mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga in Charge, earned him a recording contract with Top Dawg Entertainment
• Lamar felt compelled to make the album after seeing a friend go to jail for twenty-five years
• Work on the album began sometime in January 2011

Recording

• Production was mainly handled by TDE in-house producers from the production group Digi+Phonics
• Additional producers include THC, Tommy Black, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin and J. Cole
• Recorded at Top Dawg Studios in Carson, California
• Most of the album was written in Lamar's mother's kitchen and on his tour bus
• Lamar wanted the record to be as organic as possible, sometimes leaving songs unfinished for long periods

Cover

• Album art released June 29, 2011
• Photographed by Dave Free and designed by Hassana Lynne

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, born June 17, 1987, in Compton, California.
• Began releasing music as K.Dot in high school; signed with Top Dawg Entertainment in 2005 and co-founded Black Hippy.
• Debut album Section.80 (2011) led to a joint contract with Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.

Career

• Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012), To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), and Damn (2017) were ranked among Rolling Stone's greatest albums.
• Damn won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first award of this kind for a non-classical or non-jazz work.
• Curated the Black Panther soundtrack (2018); "All the Stars" earned an Academy Award nomination.
• Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022) and GNX (2024) each debuted atop the US Billboard 200.
• Holds six US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, including "Humble", "Not Like Us", and "Luther".
• Headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in 2025, the most-watched Super Bowl performance of all time.
• The Grand National Tour with SZA became the highest-grossing co-headlining tour of all time.
• Holds 27 Grammy Awards, the most won by a rapper.
• Co-founded the creative company PGLang with Dave Free in 2020.

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: average score of 80 out of 100, based on 11 reviews from professional publications
• Critics gave the album generally positive reviews upon release
• HipHopDX (Andres Tardio): praised the album, writing that Lamar may have been searching for answers but that the journey let him find one of the year's most outstanding albums
• Pitchfork (Tom Breihan): wrote that, self-serious flaws and all, the album still stands as a powerful document of a promising young artist finding his voice
• XXL (Adam Fleischer): wrote that nothing on the 16 tracks is disposable or without purpose
• PopMatters (David Amidon): compared Lamar to an early-career Ice Cube, saying he paints a vivid picture of what he sees
• Tom Hull: noted the album recalls the evils of the Reagan Era, which he found pretty good for a young rapper

Reappraisal

• Pitchfork: placed the album at number 45 on its list of the Top 50 albums of 2011
• Complex: named the album the 7th best album of 2011
• Forbes (Ogden Payne): wrote on the album's fifth anniversary that it propelled Lamar into hip-hop royalty and laid the foundation for his label
• NME: placed the album at number three on its 101 Albums To Hear Before You Die list in 2014

Records

• US Billboard 200 debut: number 113
• First week sales in the United States: 5,000 copies
• Two-week US sales: 9,000 copies
• Domestic sales as of February 2014: 130,000 copies
• January 20, 2026: RIAA platinum certification for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 1,000,000 units

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The song Ronald Reagan Era features uncredited vocal recordings by RZA, which were orchestrated by DJ Fricktion from London while he was working with RZA on various records
• The Spiteful Chant was removed from streaming services in August 2019 without comment from Lamar or TDE; speculation points to sample clearance issues because it contains an unlicensed sample of Woodkid's 2011 song Iron
• A.D.H.D includes additional vocals from Ab-Soul
• The lead single and final track HiiiPoWeR came from Lamar's interactions with J. Cole and TDE president Punch
• Lamar mentioned the RZA vocals in a 2011 interview with Complex
• The album has 16 tracks in total

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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