Kendrick Lamar’s sold-out homecoming concert at the Kia Forum, an arena outside Los Angeles, promised fireworks just from the name: “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends.”
“Pop Out” promises to be dramatic, lifted from a lyric in Lamar’s recent No. 1 song, “Not Like Us,” and a scathing blow in his war of words with Drake.
& Friends promised surprise appearances from celebrities including Dr Dre, YG, Tyler, the Creator, Roddy Ricch, Schoolboy Q and Steve Lacy. The event was held on Juneteenth, the annual US Day of Black Liberation, following a controversy in which Lamar questioned Drake’s standing within the black community.
Lamar, the most acclaimed rapper of his generation, had unofficially won the most high-profile hip-hop diss war in two decades, and fans in attendance (the event was also streamed on Amazon Music) arrived hoping for a victory lap.
While Lamar’s official merch booth sold T-shirts themed around his feud with Drake, many fans opted to bring along more edgy, homemade versions. Nicole Flemate of Reedley, California, used an app to paste Drake’s face onto a box of the weight-loss pills that Lamar had accused Drake of using. “I took this little, sweet-looking woman and stuck Drake on it. I found the worst pictures of Drake,” she said, laughing.
The symbolism of the show taking place on Juneteenth was apparent in the audience, many of whom wore colorful shirts celebrating the holiday. Aisha Garrett and her husband, Jamal, from Chicago, both wore Juneteenth costumes. “Everything Kendrick does has meaning,” she said. “He wants us to think deeply beyond the art. He’s trying to educate us.” She added, “We have to go out and let Kendrick know that we know about this.”
Eileen Kirkland, from Pasadena, California, found significance in how this battle line ties into the holiday: “I remember Drake being like, ‘Oh my God, your rap sounds like you’re trying to free the slaves,’ and then Kendrick comes back on Juneteenth, the day we were freed, and all of a sudden he has a Juneteenth concert. How epic.”
DJ Mustard’s opening set featured an all-star lineup of performers, with the crowd screaming for Tyler, jumping up and down for Roddy Ricch and screaming for YG. Before Lamar took to the stage, the crowd began yelling vulgar taunts aimed at Drake, a play on the name of his record label, OVO.
“Kendrick has really been down to business the whole time. Nothing he said was a lie,” said Adrian Vargas, an engineering student from San Diego. “And Drake was just in denial, saying he doesn’t want to do it anymore, he doesn’t want to argue anymore. Kendrick was just cementing his status as the best.”
During a hit-packed setlist, Lamar performed three of five songs dissing Drake, adding a lyric to the opener “Euphoria” referencing Drake’s purchase of a ring that had belonged to Tupac Shakur. Later in the set, he underscored the disdain with a cover of Shakur’s 1995 No. 1 “California Love” with producer Dr. Dre. The crowd rapped along to his highly verbose tracks aimed at his foes, sometimes pairing up to shout the song in their friends’ faces.
Lamar closed the show with multiple renditions of “Not Like Us.” The first four of five rehearsals had the crowd buzzing like a powder keg. By the fifth and final version, a small, informal choir of fans had emerged. Johnny Williams, who flew in from Dover, Delaware, rapped for the sixth time as instrumentals played and the crowd filed out. “He could keep playing this song,” he said. “Honestly.”
But the altercation was only half the story. As he gathered many of his guests onstage for a group photo, Lamar reminded the crowd that the event was also about something bigger: unity.
“This has nothing to do with records going back and forth, this has everything to do with this moment,” he declared, emphasizing the coming together of various factions of the Los Angeles rap world. The ultimate goal of the afternoon, he said, was “to bring us all together.”