Kendrick Lamar is known for being extremely tactical about his music releases, but the same could be said for how he chooses to divulge information about his family. The rapper has two children with his fiancée, Whitney Alford (he revealed in a 2015 interview on Power 105.1 that he’d proposed to her), but he’s shared very little about them over the years.
On July 26, 2019, Alford gave birth to her and Lamar’s first child, Us Weekly confirmed, a baby girl whose name is still not known. The couple didn’t previously announce Alford’s pregnancy and still have not publicly spoken about their daughter.
It wasn’t until days leading up to the release of Lamar’s fifth studio album, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” that he seemingly confirmed he and Alford had welcomed a second child. On the album’s cover, Lamar wears a crown of thorns on his head while he holds his now-3-year-old daughter, and Alford is seen in the background cradling an infant. The child in the photo is said to be the couple’s son, Enoch, whose name Lamar shared in his song “Worldwide Steppers.”
“My children allowed me, in their development as human beings beginning to walk and talk, to remove my ego.”
Although Lamar is a very private person, he gets extremely candid about his childhood trauma, strained family relationships, therapy, and fatherhood on “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.” In an October profile with W Magazine, the father of two spoke in depth about his kids and how they helped him grow. “My children allowed me, in their development as human beings beginning to walk and talk, to remove my ego, to know that my children, too, will have their own independence,” he explained. “That allows me to understand the unconditional love on my end – will I allow them to be themselves? Will I allow them to journey off in the world and experience life for what they know of? That’s love, to me. And when I look at that, I try to apply it with how I express myself, how I look at my career, and how I meet other individuals. Am I allowing them to be themselves without any judgment? My children have taught me that.”
Not only did Lamar credit his children for making him a better person, he also shared that they’re the reason he ultimately decided to release “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” when he did. “When I got to completion and I said, ‘I may or may not put this out; I’m not going to put this out; it’s way too much,’ I thought about my children,” he added. “I thought about when they turn 21, or they’re older in life, and when I got grandchildren, or if I’m long gone – this can be a prerequisite of how to cope. That’s the beauty of it for me.”
Lamar rarely uses his social media accounts to post photos of his kids, but back in June, Alford shared a rare glimpse of the family of four via Instagram in a touching Father’s Day tribute to all dads, including her partner.
“Happy Father’s Day fellas! Today I am more than happy to celebrate the men in my life . . .” she wrote in a caption. “I choose to celebrate them for stepping up instead of stepping out, for providing, for assisting us women, for healing, for showing up physically and most importantly for showing up emotionally. . . . I am grateful for the men that are showing me a different picture, my lens was very narrow before but not anymore. Love you guys, keep showing up 🤍 Happy Father’s Day @kendricklamar 🤍.”
