SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The official release date for the highly anticipated debut major label album from rising rapper Kendrick Lamar--crowned the "new King of the West Coast" by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg at an L.A. concert last year--was announced today. good kid, m.A.A.d city (Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records) will be released October 22, 2012.  Featured will be the single "Swimming Pool (Drank)," which was released July 31^st and is produced by T-Minus. Lamar will introduce the album by headlining a nationwide tour that also includes the BET Music Matters Tour beginning September 7.

Lamar's indie-issued Section.80 ranked as one of the top digital hip-hop albums of 2011. Despite not having a physical release, Section.80 cracked Billboard's R&B/Hip-hop Top 25, Rap Top 15 and Top 200 Albums charts. The Compton, California native has since been racking up the praise. After his Bonnaroo performance this year, esteemed critic Jon Pareles wrote in the New York Times (June 8): "Instead I prefer Kendrick Lamar… (who) instead of directing his anger at the police, women or outsiders, he criticizes himself and his environment, and he projects far more ambition than victimization (with) tales of striving, self-improvement and overcoming a rough past, delivered with a cutting rasp and fast, complicated meter shifts."

Lamar first drew the attention of Dre with his 2010 mixtape O(verly) D(edicated). This year, he performed alongside Dre and Snoop as they co-headlined the Coachella Music & Arts Festival. good kid, m.A.A.d city also features "The Recipe" with Dr. Dre and was released in the spring and reached the Rap Top 25.

Tour Dates:

For the latest Kendrick Lamar news, please visit http://www.topdawgmusic.com and twitter @KendrickLamar

SOURCE Interscope Records