I fuck with TDE and maybe it's the east coast in me but all these dudes got rap on lock from an old school, substance, lyrical point of view, ahead of Kendrick and them.
I'll post up a bunch of songs afterwards I'm on break right now.
I agree the names you mentioned are dope but to me they don't sound that unique as Kendrick does. It's like I heard that style before
I have said it before but Co$$ is the only Westcoast rapper who I can think of that really is ahead of Kendrick. He might be unknown to most but his album + other released material is just way better. Most of his music is on some really deep shit so you must like that style and it can also take a while to get used to his style. I also think that his production is one of the best. Easily one of my top 3 favourites.
In the rap game there are enough people with talent. But since Kendrick got a lot of eyes on him and due the fact he really is talented I don't really care about comparing or saying who's better as long both artist make dope music.
I have to say that one of my favourite eastcoast rappers is Reks.