This was Lamar’s first live set in Southern California since he and Drake scorched the earth with reams of diss-tracks that topped charts and changed their legacies forever.
For Kendrick Lamar, “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” show on Juneteenth was less about Drake, less about putting the final nail in the coffin of a simmering rap feud and more about celebrating Los Angeles and its influence on rap culture as a whole — namely because “they not like us.”
As the Pulitzer Prize winner rapped those lyrics from his undeniable hit “Not Like Us,” a total of five times (his first time doing so), several of his peers hopped on the Kia Forum stage to rap along with him enthusiastically, c-walk to the beat and conclude the night with an epic group photo of L.A. legends. Some of the people on stage included DJ Mustard (who produced the record), Black Hippy (Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q), Compton rapper YG, L.A. Clipper Russell Westbrook, singer Steve Lacy, radio host Big Boy, Tommy the Clown (along his talented crew of child krumpers), choreographer Charm La’Donna and allegedly members of every gang in L.A.
“This s—t gets me emotional,” Lamar said. “We done lost a lot a lot of homies to this music s—t. A lot of homies to some street s—t and for all of us to be on this stage together; unity from each side of motherf—king L.A., crips, bloods, pirus — this s—t is special man.”
He added, “We put this s—t together just for y’all.”
Lamar announced his “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” show, which was produced with his label/creative agency pgLang and Free Lunch on June 5, just days after organizers of the annual Leimert Park Juneteenth Festival in South L.
