Rapper Kendrick Lamar poses in Toronto on Monday, July 30, 2012. Lamar is out with a new album "good kid, m.A.A.d city." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO - Kendrick Lamar has been heralded as the rebirth of West Coast hip hop, an acclaimed young lyricist who's trying to learn from his rough upbringing in Compton, Calif., and maintain his artistic integrity and life balance as his fame soars.

Such qualities are what compelled one of his idols, Dr. Dre of N.W.A. and Death Row Records fame, to sign Lamar to his Aftermath Entertainment and back his newly released major label debut, "good kid, m.A.A.d city."

Dre executive produced the disc in Los Angeles and appears on several tracks, including the first single, "The Recipe." Other artists on the album include Jay Rock, MC Eiht, and Toronto's Drake, who recruited Lamar for his Club Paradise Tour earlier this year.

Lamar says Dre wanted to work with him after hearing his track "Ignorance Is Bliss" from his 2010 mixtape "Overly Dedicated," "because it came from a different approach that he'd never seen in gangsta rap."

"(The song) gave him both sides of the story in Compton, the victim and the aggressor, and that's something he'd never seen," a soft-spoken Lamar said during a recent stop in Toronto.

"Every time you hear gangsta rap, everybody's the aggressor, there's really no vulnerability, and I bring that other side of the story because I've been on both ends.

"And he said, 'That's it, that's what was missing."

Through heady bass beats and savvy, crisp rhymes, the much raved about "good kid, m.A.A.d city" reflects on those dualities of Lamar's life and career. Listeners learn of Lamar's risky relationships, his exposure to drugs and gangs in Compton, the changes happening in L.A. County, and how he and others in his life are coming to terms with his fame.

Lamar, 25, grew up in a low-income household surrounded by the violence of L.A.'s gangs and gangsta rap culture. At times he was exposed to alcoholism, which he writes about on the album's "Swimming Pools (Drank)."

"(It's) a personal song at the same time good memories of house parties that I'd been to when I was a kid and some things I'd seen in my household, period: a lot of drinking, a lot of smoking," he said.

"I just wanted to reflect on that, not in a bad way but just as a person ... remembering what household I come from and how it had an impact on my life when I became an adult."

Lamar said his dad "was a street cat but at the same time he was a proud father. I was lucky to have one of them in my life."

"What separated me from my homeboys, it was two things: the fact that I had a father, of course, to always let me know when I bump my head this is going to happen, and the fact that I was a dreamer," noted Lamar.

"Nobody could believe that it was possible to get out of the area that we lived in, because they'd seen so many older generations still be there and be stuck and doing the same thing they doing.

"I always had that imagination like it was something bigger than just Compton and just where we were at, and that separated me."

Lamar also developed a love for language at an early age, inspired by a teacher who told him, "You're a good student but you just don't read enough."

"He said, 'But one thing that you have the ability to do more than all these students is you're not scared to communicate, you're not scared to talk to people,'" added Lamar.

"And that's one of the biggest things, probably one of my biggest niches since I've been a kid, I've always talked to adults, I've always asked questions of everybody."

As Lamar started to communicate through hip hop — writing rhymes at age 13, releasing his first mixtape at age 16, and signing with L.A. indie label Top Dawg Entertainment — he paid homage to his predecessors.

"I respected my forefathers, Dre, Snoop, (Tu)pac, MC Ren, DJ Quik, E-40," he said.

"And for them to know that I recognize that through my music and through the development of my sound is a great honour."

So, will there ever be a collaboration between the old Death Row Records members and the new generation of West Coast rappers that Lamar is helping to lead?

"God willing," he said. "It wouldn't be up to the younger generation, it would be up to the older, though, because they're in a space where they don't want to jeopardize their legacy, they all want to do what will work for them. So the kids would be more than likely to do it because we respect them, but it'll be more so up to the originators of the gang."

For all his self-reflection, Lamar admitted he still has vices and is trying to figure himself out.

"I'm surrounded by these evils and at the same time I'm trying to change that, but at the same time I'm still human, you know."

But he figures that's why listeners relate to his albums, which also includes the 2009 "Kendrick Lamar" EP, 2010's "Overly Dedicated" and last year's widely praised "Section.80."

"They can relate more to a person that comes from nothing and then see them successful because they feel like they can do it, too," said Lamar.

"My whole story is a motivational story but at the same time it's real and it's real to the people that's living in the world today. It's not only Compton but all around the world."

News from © The Canadian Press, 2012