Every year, Compton College administrators make a wish list of potential commencement speakers. This spring, when President Keith Curry saw Kendrick Lamar’s name on the list, a light bulb went off.
Curry remembered that a former student was working for Lamar’s team. The president reached out in early May.
“Within five minutes he called me back to say Kendrick was interested,” Curry said. While it wasn’t a hard sell, he said landing a star like Lamar for commencement was a hard secret to keep.
Lamar, a Compton native whose rap lyrics frequently allude to the city’s impact on his life, is known for his complex and “vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism,” drawing on the Black experience. His résumé boasts Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, though not a college degree.
The moment Lamar entered the commencement venue on June 7, Krystal Berenice Markovich, the student commencement speaker, was filled with a rush of glee.
“Having somebody come back who’s from the community, who understands, who’s still grounded and humble, I think even if I had my head in the sand and didn’t know who he was, I still think it would be equally as special to have somebody so successful who is coming back to remind everybody that our dreams are real and possible,” said Markovich, who earned three associate degrees, in English, arts and humanities, and social and behavioral sciences.
“Community colleges often don’t get the same attention as four-year institutions,” she said, “so to hear that pride from [Kendrick] is just really special.”
Lamar started off his speech by pulling out his phone and taking a video of the crowd.
“I wanted to come here to tell y’all how proud I am of all the graduates out here. I know what it takes, y’all had a lot of hardships not only in your house and communities, but most importantly within yourself, and that’s the toughest thing to overcome,” he told the graduates.
Lamar was making his first public appearance since his latest feud with pop-star rival Aubrey Drake Graham, known as Drake, took the entertainment sphere by storm. The dispute escalated in April, and the pair have continued to produce and publish diss tracks for weeks.
In his speech, Lamar said society continues to have low expectations of Generation Z and its potential. But what many people don’t know is the personal sacrifice many community-college students go through in order to earn their degrees, he said.
“They try to pull us down and say we don’t know what we’re doing. [They’re] wrong though … not only do you have what it takes, you have something bigger, the heart and the courage to be independent thinkers — there is nothing more valuable than that. You can go out there and express your thoughts and say it with conviction and passion and stand on it and be unapologetic,” Lamar told the graduates.
Markovich, a 34-year-old mom to an autistic son, said Lamar’s speech touched the hearts of her parents in the audience, who had no idea who the celebrity was but could recognize his significance from the crowd’s reaction.
“When he started talking a little bit spiritually about how God kind of presents opportunities to us … my mom was just moved to tears because she has always believed that I had this opportunity in me to finish my education — so to have somebody of his kind of stature say that was very personal,” she said.
Markovich had given up on any hope of completing her degree. But the Covid-19 pandemic introduced a new world of online learning that allowed her to take one class at a time while maintaining her dedication to raising her son.
A customer-service representative, Markovich said she was passionate about writing and poetry in high school but remembers being encouraged to take a more conventional, practical, and realistic career path. Today she is working on applications to complete her bachelor’s in English at a California State University institution and has goals of publishing a romance novel, something she never imagined for herself a decade ago.
Lamar has often said that his commitment to music saved him from pursuing a dangerous, destructive path.
“This degree y’all have right here is just as big as any degree, I don’t care what school or what institution, Compton College [and] this Compton degree is just as big,” Lamar said. “Now it’s all about taking these resources and taking what you learned and applying them. It’s as simple as that.”
Curry, the president, isn’t sure how he’ll ever top this surprise. “I know the impact it had on our students,” he said. “They feel seen, they feel the sense of belonging, like they have pride, and to have someone that’s a universal star who’s validating them and [their] degree, you can’t beat that.”
