Kendrick Lamar’s “Pop Out” delivered another knockout

Sometimes, as I wrote on Twitter last night, you actually need to get on the market and show people. That’s exactly what Kendrick did last night in an epic performance. Someone on TikTok said, “Kendrick is June 16th and Drake is July 4th,” and after Kendrick’s The Pop Out concert last night, that rings true. Kendrick is black culture, while Drake is a giant crossover celebration. But before we go any further, we must come together to decide on a reputation for this historic program that the culture has seen as one, talking on Black Twitter and texting about how this program has given us life.

@shanellegenai on Twitter suggested we could call it that “Gangchella” or “Gangteenth” due to the way in which Kendrick combined the Los Angeles Bloods, Crips and Pirus at the tip of the show. (She also offered “Goonteenth,” “The Gangerie,” “The Blood Bonvention” and “Niggapalooza.”) The gang unity aspect was each uplifting and wild. The sight of red and blue dancing together on stage and their group photo demonstrated Kendrick’s cultural power – his ability to unite discordant people is unmatched in modern hip-hop. @michaelharriot wrote on Twitter: “Gangsta lounges weren’t on my Juneteen bingo card.” @actatumonline wrote on Twitter: “It’s guys with 14 bodies on stage dancing carelessly.” At the tip, they were together on stage in peace. @righttimeBomani said Kendrick deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this. I wrote on Twitter “Not Like Us” became so popular that it united the Crips and Bloods.

But no, it won’t be written as “Gangchella.” Many suggested we call it “Hatechella.” @mikebeauvais wrote on Twitter: “It’s like, ‘We are the whole world, but because we hate a guy.’ Kendrick went through all of his battle records, starting with “Euphoria,” moving through “6:16 In LA” and “Like That,” and ending with “Not Like Us,” which he performed five or six times in a row. I lost count in all this euphoria. You know you have a cult hit when you can sing the song five or six times and everyone wants to hear it again. @kevonstage wrote on Twitter: “Kendrick plays this song over and once again, identical to I do within the automotive.” @basseyworld wrote on Twitter: “Are you still a serial killer if you kill just one person repeatedly?”

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@porterhouseLA wrote on Twitter: “This is literally the culture that Drake doesn’t have,” and that is what Kendrick said multiple times during this battle. When Kendrick called Drake a colonizer and told him “we don’t want to hear you say (that word) anymore,” he wasn’t talking about biology. Not because he was mixed. This is because he lacks a deep cultural connection to African American culture because he isn’t African American. Everything Kendrick did on this battle demonstrated Kendrick’s cultural competency and cultural strength, and last night only added to that. He brought the celebs of Compton, from Dr. Dre to YG to Roddy Rich, and Los Angeles-born NBA stars Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan danced with him on stage. I heard LeBron was homese. Is there anyone who won’t take part on Kendrick’s sonic stomping? (OK, J. Cole. Touché.) And he stepped out in a blood-red outfit that spoke to his Blood homies and to the legacy of Tupac, who in 1994 wore a blood-red sweatshirt and a blood-red hat. (That was a visible digraph. The man is a genius.) Drake is definitely within the culture, but Kendrick is the culture. It’s in his blood.

Many were hopping last night when Drake ended…@stagbechillin wrote on Twitter: “Damn, that was a nice funeral. They did the body nicely.” Of course Drake is not dead. He lost badly, and public embarrassment is devastating for somebody who cares about image and being liked. He may have to debate his PTSD together with his therapist, but make no mistake, his profession will go on. But he’ll eternally carry the stain of that loss, and maybe also the pain of watching an arena filled with people rhyming to songs calling him a pedophile. Because you realize Drake was at home watching his blood pressure go up and up. @drewscoty said“If I were Drake, I would cancel my Amazon Prime membership immediately.” Surely.

At the tip of the terrifying “The Heart Part 6,” Drake said it felt good to get out and take his pen to work, but what did he have left from the battle apart from scars? Kendrick could do an entire show on Amazon releasing his latest songs against Drake. It was an entire diss show. Like Versuz, which did not have a second MC. As I wrote on Twitter“Do you think that Drake will make battle videos each time he goes on tour? NO.”