Ten years from now, people will be bragging as much about being in the venue for Kendrick Lamar’s “The Pop Out: Ken and Friends” concert as they do now about Live Aid. We really can’t say it any better than Twitter user/X, Mike Beauvaiswho was one of a lot people are reveling in the unprecedented celebration of unity, art and good old fashion hatred that Lamar put on at his Juneteenth show last night: “It’s like ‘We are the world’ but for hate a guy.”
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Lamar performed his #1 hit “Not Like Us” not once, not twice, but six times in a row during the Los Angeles show, which was simulcast live on Twitch and Prime Video. For this premiere, which was prompted by Dr. Dre delivering his intro “I See Dead People” in the flesh, Lamar left the crowd of 17,000, including The Weeknd, LeBron James, Ayo Edebiri, Rick Ross , and more (via P.A.)—revel in shouting his instantly iconic line “probably in A minor.” Then he started again and did it again. And even.
With each new round, the crowd got louder and the stage became more crowded. Lamar brought a group of truly illustrious artists on stage to celebrate his victory with him, many of whom had performed their own songs earlier in the evening. These names included Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and ScHoolboy Q (the non-Kendrick members of Black Hippy), YG, Steve Lacy, Big Boy, G Perico, DJ Mustard (of rhythm), krumper Tommy the Clown, LA Clippers. player Russell Westbrook and Chicago Bull DeMar DeRozan.
But that wasn’t all. Lamar also invited members of all the major gangs in Los Angeles to come together on stage to dance and take a huge group photo in a West Coast pride show. “You will not let anyone disrespect the West Coast. You won’t let anyone imitate our legends, huh,” he said, referring to Drake’s use of an AI-generated 2Pac vocal on one of his songs (via P.A.). “Let the world see this… That we’re all together on this stage, that’s unity… That… has nothing to do with not having a song at this point, has nothing to do with doing without back and forth recordings, it has everything to do with this moment here. That’s what it was all about, bringing us all together.
With Drake preparing to leave North America entirely (what else can he really do at this point), “Pop Out” also proved that the scene certainly doesn’t need him to thrive. Before taking the stage to perform his run “Not Like Us”, as well as other hits linked or not linked to the feud like “Euphoria” (with a new line!), “Very good”, “mAAd city”, “HUMBLE. “, “Money Trees” and “King’s Dead” with Jay RockLamar gave the venue away to other artists like Tyler, the Creator, YG, Roddy Ricch, Ty Dolla $ign, Dom Kennedy and Steve Lacy.
Unfortunately, there was a blemish on the event. Several people Express their frustration with Lamar for including Dre in the proceedings, given allegations that he physically abused the TV host Dee Barnes and other women throughout her career. Overall, though, the display of unity was the dominant story of the evening. “Everybody’s got fallen sons, but we’re here, right now, to celebrate them all, that shit is special,” Lamar said from the stage. “We set this up peacefully…I promise it won’t be the last of us.” »
