Kendrick Lamar (born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth June 17, 1987) is a rapper from Compton, California. He is also a member of the hip-hop supergroup Black Hippy collective along with members Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and Schoolboy Q. His music is largely influenced by the works of 2Pac, Jay-Z, Nas, DMX, The Notorious B.I.G., Mos Def, Eazy-E and Eminem.
He began to gain major recognition in 2010 after his first retail release, Overly Dedicated. The following year, Lamar independently released his first studio album Section.
"Money Trees" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, taken from his major label debut studio album good kid, m.A.A.d city. The song, which appears as the fifth track on the album, features a guest appearance from his Black Hippy cohort, fellow American rapper Jay Rock. The song, produced by DJ Dahi, entered the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart at number 19 due to high downloads, following the album's release. The song, mixed by Top Dawg engineer Derek "MixedByAli" Ali, features background vocals from American singer Anna Wise of Sonnymoon. Money Trees samples the Beach House song "Silver Soul," from their 2010 album Teen Dream, as well as vocals from Kendrick’s "Cartoon and Cereal" and interpolates lyrics from E-40’s "Big Ballin’ With My Homies".
On June 2, 2015, Jay Rock released the sequel "Money Trees Deuce" as a solo record with no feature from Kendrick Lamar.
"Money Trees" follows the storyline of "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City", as Kendrick Lamar reassesses what happened so far in the story. He talks about having sex with his love interest Sherane and going to tell his friends about it. He also assesses his current situation in his hometown Compton, California and reflects on the immortalization of his uncle after he was shot. At the end of the track, Lamar's mom calls him again and asks him to bring her car back, a recurring theme of the story. His dad has forgotten about the dominos he wanted by now, suggesting that Lamar "has been out of the house for a while, driving around and trying to figure his life out, having just been attacked outside Sherane’s house."
On August 28, 2013, Taj Stansberry revealed that he had begun to shoot a music video with Lamar and Jay Rock for "Money Trees". Stansberry, who called the song his favorite song on the album, said upon getting the job to come up with a treatment for the video that was due in a day, he dropped everything right then and created a website for the idea to present to Lamar. He added: "I started literally at 9 in the morning and finished at 9 at night." As of June 2018, no further information has been announced regarding the video.
Even without being released as a single, the song spent seven weeks on the US charts and peaked at number 19 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
