Kendrick Lamar's Juneteenth hometown show at Los Angeles' Kia Forum was a star-studded ode to West Coast rap that culminated with dozens of artists and entertainers joining Lamar for an unprecedented moment of unity on stage. The concert was announced less than two weeks ago on the back of Lamar's victorious nine-song rap battle with Drake.
Curating The Pop Out: Ken & Friends in three sections, the first compilation of West Coast artists under DJ Hed, the second with the legendary “Not Like Us” producer Mustard, and the third titled Lamar. Before Kendrick even took the stage, DJ Hed put on a slew of up-and-coming and established LA stars, including new Top Dawg Entertainment signee Ray Vaughn, rap group Cuzzos, boy group Blue Bucks Clan and Westside Boogie. Legendary crab dancer Tommy the Clown and a large crew also broke it down and battled it out on stage.
Mustard played a number of his own hits over the years, including Tyga's “Rack City” and 2 Chainz's “I'm Different,” before Dom Kennedy, Ty Dolla $ign, Steve Lacy, Tyler the Creator, Roddy Ricch and YG. joined him on stage to separately perform some of their biggest hits. Tyler's 'Earthquake', Lacy's 'Bad Habit' and YG's 'Toot It and Boot It' and Roddy Ricch's 'The Box' made a special splash. There was a segment dedicated to Nipsey Hussle in which Mustard also played their collaboration “Perfect 10”.
When Kendrick took the stage to perform 'Euphoria', 'DNA' and 'Alright', he was joined by his former TDE bandmates and fellow Black Hippie Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and ScHoolboy Q. Jay Rock and Kendrick interpreted them Good boy, MAAD city collaboration with “Money Trees”, as well as Jay Rock's “Win” and “King's Dead”. Ab-Soul and Kendrick performed his verse on Kendrick's Drake diss “6:16 in LA,” and the four remained on stage for ScHoolboy Q's “Collard Greens” and “That Part.”
Promising to wear the legacy of Los Angeles, Dr. Dre showed up to perform “Still DRE” with Kendrick filling in for Snoop Dogg and featured Lamar's renditions of the explosive Drake diss “Not Like Us” — of which there were five.
At the end of the show, Lamar made sure to emphasize that the purpose of the concert wasn't just a victory lap, but an effort to unify. “We've lost a lot of salutes to that music shit, a lot of fatalities to that street shit,” he said, noting that the show featured artists from various gang factions. He promised that this was the first of many collaborations between the cities.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/kendrick-lamar-dr-dre-tyler-the-creator-yg-juneteenth-concert-1235042864/