Kendrick Lamar is an artist everyone should see perform live - here's why
Kendrick's music is grounded in West Coast hip-hop, in the tradition of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, but mixes in heavy doses of soul, funk, and jazz.
The song "These Walls," another single from "To Pimp a Butterfly," is a great example of Kendrick Lamar's distinct mix of hip-hop with spoken word, soul, funk, and more:
His performances often mix live bands with rapping and projected imagery:
Throughout the performance this past weekend, images of various public figures and cartoons (and other stuff) were projected behind the band and on the stage:
Anyone watching the show from the balcony was treated to far more striking imagery:
Kendrick is active with the crowd — directly.
Repeatedly throughout the performance this past weekend, Kendrick was directly interacting with fans who were singing along.
He passed out water bottles mid-way through the show:
Far more interestingly, he straight up asked the crowd if anyone wanted to get up on stage and rhyme:
And several people did just that:
While Kendrick's band (The Wesley Theory) provided a beat, Kendrick and this guy from the crowd freestyled for a few minutes:
But that wasn't all — Kendrick once again asked the crowd if anyone was willing to come up. And when Kendrick looked to the right side of the audience, one young man's friends loudly made a case:
That young man is named Kemba, and he's a Bronx, NY-based artist. When he got on stage, he asked Kendrick to kill the beat so he could do an acapella:
Despite the impressive performance, Kemba wasn't a plant.
He told Pigeons and Planes after the show: "I found out about the show an hour before it happened. I would've never guessed I'd end up on stage. I didn't even want to at first! But that was like a dream. I haven't been to sleep since."
Kendrick's performances sometimes involved elaborate performance art:
His recent performance at Art Basel in Miami was done in collaboration with a visual artist, Shantell Martin:
The two created artwork together, which was then projected overhead during part of his live set — there's a video of that process here:
Best of all, Kendrick fans tend to be dedicated fans.
And dedicated fans means energy! Despite being an inconceivably small show, the crowd was going wild for the full two-ish hours of performance:
Though Kendrick Lamar easily sells out stadiums, the concert this past weekend was in a small Brooklyn venue. That's because it was sponsored by American Express!
You had to be an American Express cardholder to get in, and even then you had to get tickets quickly — they sold out within the first 30 minutes of going on sale, even though the sale was only available to cardholders. The show was announced one day before it happened, on December 15, and tickets were wildly inexpensive for such a major artist in such a small venue: $67 apiece, before taxes.
But when I saw Kendrick perform this past summer at the Panorama Festival, playing in front of thousands of people, the show was just as incredible.
That said: As a result of American Express being involved, the concert from December 16 is available — at least in part — on Kendrick's Facebook page! Enjoy!
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