INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Not content with just taking a victory lap after winning his battle against fellow rap superstar Drake, Kendrick Lamar turned his eleventh “Pop Out” show at the Forum into a cathartic celebration streamed live from the Los Angeles location.
Lamar curated a three-hour show featuring a mix of Los Angeles rappers and emerging stars, including Tyler, The Creator, Steve Lacy and YG. When it was his turn to take the stage, the 37-year-old rapper performed a set with Black Hippy collaborators Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock, performing his Drake diss songs “Euphoria” and “6:16 in LA ”, then he was accompanied on stage by Dr.
The two West Coast titans performed “Still DRE” and “California Love” before Dre calmed the crowd by asking for a moment of silence. It was a misdirection. He then delivered the quote from “Sixth Sense” that opens Lamar’s “Not Like Us”: “I see dead people.”
A crowd of 17,000 that included The Weeknd, LeBron James, Ayo Edebiri and Rick Ross sang every word of DJ Mustard’s scathing but exultant production, which Lamar restarted twice after the first verse and performed four times in full.
Shuffling, joking, dancing and twirling around him as Lamar took the stage in a red hoodie: NBA stars Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan, Mustard, rapper Roddy Ricch and even a teenage dance troupe led by the groundbreaking Tommy the Clown.
Lamar reveled in the moment: “You’re not going to let anyone disrespect the West Coast. Y’all ain’t gonna let no one imitate our legends, huh,” he said, referencing Drake’s use of an AI tool to imitate 2Pac’s voice on one of his diss records.
But Lamar had more in mind, calling on specific men and women to join him on stage for a group photo.
“Let the world see this,” he said. “For all of us to be on this stage together, unity, from the East Side… LA, Crips, Bloods, Piru – that… is special, man. We put this together… together just for you.
“This… has nothing to do with any music right now, it has nothing to do with any back and forth album, it has everything to do with this moment here. That’s what it was about, to bring us all together.”
After the final song, Lamar left, saying “I promise this won’t be the last of us.” The piercing horns of the instrumental “Not Like Us” kicked in once again and the crowd sang the lyrics without Lamar as they walked through the hallways to the parking lot.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
