Swimming Pools (Drank)
Kendrick Lamar | Artist Essentials
First released: 2012 (year verified)
Original 2012 single recording; shorter version
MusicAtlas editorial note: The contrast between the inviting hook and the anxious shifts in the voice rewards a second listen.
YouTube opens a title-and-artist search. The selected recording and date are identified below.
Release evidence and recording details
First released: 2012 (year verified)
The label documented the single in 2012 before the album. This selection is the shorter single recording, not the separately cataloged Extended Version. Only the supported year is asserted.
Recording: Original 2012 single recording; shorter version
Credit: Kendrick Lamar
Role in this collection: Primary artist
Original single: Swimming Pools (Drank)
Interscope Records: 2012 good kid, m.A.A.d city release announcement
The August 2012 label announcement states that Swimming Pools was already released as a single in July, ahead of the October album. It also identifies Section.80 as a 2011 digital release. Year precision avoids asserting a first broadcast day. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Apple Music: Swimming Pools (Drank), shorter bonus track
The distributor lists the shorter Swimming Pools recording separately as a bonus track, with July 2012 single metadata. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Apple Music: Swimming Pools (Drank), Extended Version
The album catalog separately labels an Extended Version. Its inherited single-date metadata is not used to date the extended recording or to identify the unspecified annual entry. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Annual version match under review
The selected recording has release evidence, but its version has not been matched to the retained annual entry. It is omitted from Beyond the yearly lists until this match is resolved.
The retained 2013 annual entry supplies no version or duration. The label confirms the earlier 2012 single, while the distributor separately catalogs the shorter and Extended Version recordings. The selected shorter single cannot yet be assigned to that annual entry with confidence.
Interscope Records: 2012 good kid, m.A.A.d city release announcement
The August 2012 label announcement states that Swimming Pools was already released as a single in July, ahead of the October album. It also identifies Section.80 as a 2011 digital release. Year precision avoids asserting a first broadcast day. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Apple Music: Swimming Pools (Drank), shorter bonus track
The distributor lists the shorter Swimming Pools recording separately as a bonus track, with July 2012 single metadata. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Apple Music: Swimming Pools (Drank), Extended Version
The album catalog separately labels an Extended Version. Its inherited single-date metadata is not used to date the extended recording or to identify the unspecified annual entry. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
About Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar is a rapper from Compton whose 2012 album good kid, m.A.A.d city brought his work to a broad audience. His recordings place detailed vocal storytelling within changing musical settings. To Pimp a Butterfly drew on jazz, funk, soul and spoken-word traditions as well as hip-hop, with collaborators including Terrace Martin and Thundercat contributing to its sound. His solo album identity remains distinct from jointly credited recordings and from the individual work of the musicians around him.
Artist background sources
Kendrick Lamar - Recording Academy artist biography
Compton origin and 2012 good kid, m.A.A.d city breakthrough. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
To Pimp a Butterfly - Recording Academy oral history
Firsthand artist and collaborator accounts of jazz, funk, soul, spoken word and hip-hop in the album's production; Terrace Martin and Thundercat contributions. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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