Back when he first came straight outta Compton, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth originally wanted to be known as K-Dot, a teen rapper whose self-released mixtape got him signed with Top Dawg records, a big-deal indie label in the early aughts. Though he could have called himself Duckworth (and how cool would that be?!), it was as Kendrick Lamar that he entered the U.S. Top 40 in 2012 with hit records such as “Swimming Pools (Drank),” “Poetic Justice,” and “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe.” He’ll be leaning heavily on his fourth studio album from last April, Damn, when he arrives at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre on May 13, which is welcome news, given that record’s wide array of sound explorations delving into funk, jazz, and soul, evincing even more confidence and clarity than on his somewhat more acclaimed previous release, To Pimp a Butterfly.

The Damn album has been somewhat eclipsed over the past few weeks by a soundtrack record he just curated for Marvel’s Black Panther movie, and so it was probably as much an artistic instant replay as it was a blatant cash-grab a few weeks ago when, hoping to keep the record on people’s tongues and minds, he released a “Collector’s Edition” of Damn featuring the tracks in reverse order, though he needn't have worried, since Damn cleaned up at this year's Grammys. The Chula Vista bill includes SZA (currently featured on a single from the Black Panther soundtrack, “All the Stars”), ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SiR, and Lance Skiiiwalker