Kendrick Lamar marked his debut stay efficiency of his viral Drake diss tracks with a star-studded one-off live performance titled “The Pop Out — Ken and Friends.” The Juneteenth live performance, offered by pgLang and Free Lunch, featured a long lineup of iconic artists, largely from Los Angeles and California, who carried out in Lamar’s hometown on the Kia Discussion board.
Whereas the live performance — which featured performances from Dr. Dre, Tyler, the Creator, Schoolboy Q, Ty Dolla $ign, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, dancer Tommy the Clown and others — was a love letter to West Coast hip-hop tradition, the extremely anticipated present went viral for Lamar performing “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us,” two of the 4 diss tracks the 37-year-old launched amid his heated lyrical war with the Canadian-born rapper.
The occasion was star-studded, with NBA gamers LeBron James (who’s talked about in Lamar’s “Meet the Grahams’ monitor), James Harden, DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook in attendance. A number of celebs with their very own Drake beefs have been additionally on the present. Rick Ross, who dropped a Drake diss tune of his personal referred to as “Champagne Moments,” and The Weeknd, who was referred to as out on Drake’s “Push Ups” rap, have been reportedly there.
Moreover, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s 11-year-old daughter, North West, was at the concert.
Whereas Lamar carried out a number of of his basic hits — together with “Loyalty,” “ELEMENT,” “Alright,” and “Swimming Swimming pools” — it was his first stay performances of “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us” that captured the web’s consideration.
The Pulitzer-winning rapper opened up his set with “Euphoria,” throughout which he shocked the viewers with a brand new verse for it.
Lamar used “Euphoria” to poke enjoyable at Drake’s legacy as a hip-hop artist and numerous feuds over the years — together with his unforgettable beef with rapper Pusha T that led to the reveal that Drake had a son with adult film star Sophie Brussaux, Adonis, now six years previous.
“Give me Tupac’s ring again and I’d provide you with just a little respect,” Lamar rapped on Wednesday, referencing the ring beforehand owned by the late Tupac Shakur that was bought by an undisclosed purchaser at an public sale and revealed to be Drake final 12 months.
Lamar closed out the live performance with a efficiency of “Not Like Us,” rapping the monitor an extra 4 instances. “Y’all ain’t gonna let anybody disrespect the West Coast, huh? Oh y’all ain’t gonna let no person mock or imitate our legends, huh?” the rapper reportedly told the cheering crowd in between the encore efficiency.
The efficiency additionally featured a tribute to the late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who died on March 31, 2019.
“The Pop Out — Ken and Pals” comes simply as the beef between Lamar and Drake was dying down.
It seemingly all started with Drake and J. Cole’s October 2023 launch of “First Individual Shooter” — by which Cole referred to as him, Drake and Lamar the “Large 3” of rap — and Lamar’s response in “Like That” is what seemingly ignited the lyrical warfare in opposition to Drake.
Drake started catching warmth from Future, Metro Boomin, A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd and Rick Ross over a number of months, however essentially the most contentious barbs were traded between the “Back to Back” rapper and Lamar.
At one level, even actress Uma Thurman acquired in on the motion, offering support to the GRAMMY winner while he was facing off in opposition to a number of of his hip-hop friends.
Final month, Snoop Dogg weighed in on the beef that is captivated the world (yes, even Tom Hanks), telling ET that he’s got nothing but love and respect for the Compton and Toronto natives, particularly for elevating the bar within the rap sport.
“Effectively, the one factor I wish to say about that entire situation is that I wish to give each of them a shout-out for elevating the bar so far as lyrics, so far as song-making and writing as a result of the writing has been upped because the confrontation or no matter you name it, no matter they went by means of,” Snoop tells ET. “These are my nephews. I am not in the midst of it. I assist each of them and that is private enterprise, not my enterprise.”
If and when the dust settles (there is a consensus that Kendrick got here out the victor), Snoop will look again on this rap beef with fondness for Kendrick and Drake’s contributions to the rap sport.
“So far as what they did for the trade and the rap sport, they made you rap once more,” Snoop mentioned. “You possibly can’t mumble your manner and gimmick your technique to a tune no extra, buddy. So, thank y’all.”
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