good kid, m.A.A.d city Deluxe

Released October 22, 2012 via Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath and Interscope, good kid, m.A.A.d city is Kendrick Lamar's major-label debut, subtitled "a short film by Kendrick Lamar." It covers one day in Compton: a teenage Kendrick borrows his mother's van to see a girl named Sherane, and his friends, a robbery, a jumping and a shooting fill the rest, with his parents' voicemails stitching the scenes together. Dr. Dre executive produced, with Pharrell Williams and Hit-Boy among a long list of producers.

"Swimming Pools (Drank)" sells as a party anthem and plays as a warning about the drinking he grew up around. "Backseat Freestyle," "Poetic Justice" with Drake and "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" followed as singles. "Money Trees" floats on a Beach House sample with Jay Rock in the passenger seat, and "m.A.A.d city" snaps its beat in half to bring in MC Eiht. At twelve minutes, "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" hands its verses to the brother of a murdered friend and the sister of a girl Kendrick once rapped about, each of them asking him to tell their story right.

It opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 242,000 copies, the biggest week for a male rapper in 2012, and drew seven Grammy nominations, Album of the Year among them. By January 2026 it had passed ten million US units, enough for Diamond.

This Deluxe Edition puts the twelve-track album on the first disc and five bonus tracks on the second: "The Recipe" with Dr. Dre, "Black Boy Fly," "Now or Never" with Mary J. Blige, "County Building Blues" and the Black Hippy remix of "Swimming Pools."