Here's Who Joined Kendrick Lamar On Stage During Drake Diss: Dr ...

20 Jun 2024

Forbes

Topline

Kendrick Lamar invited a star-studded list of guests to perform at his “Pop Out” show Wednesday night, marking the live debut of his various Drake diss tracks as dozens of Los Angeles celebrities joined him on stage, including rappers YG and Dr. Dre, and NBA players DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook.

Kendrick Lamar performed his Drake diss tracks for the first time. (Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty ... [+] Images)

Getty Images Key Facts

Lamar performed for a crowd of thousands at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California Wednesday night to celebrate Juneteenth, marking his first performance of the various diss tracks aimed at Drake he released earlier this year.

Lamar performed his chart-topping Drake diss “Not Like Us” five times in a row while various Los Angeles-native celebrities joined him onstage, including rappers YG, Dr. Dre and Schoolboy Q, producer Mustard, NBA players DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook, dancer Tommy the Clown and members of several Los Angeles gangs.

Other performers on the star-studded guest list included Steve Lacy, Tyler, the Creator, Ty Dolla $ign, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul.

NBA players LeBron James and James Harden also attended the show, and videos of James appearing to rap to “Not Like Us” went viral online.

News Peg

Lamar’s concert was streamed live on Amazon Prime Video, and videos of his performance instantly went viral on social media, with clips of “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us” garnering millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes. He shocked the crowd by performing the chart-topping diss “Not Like Us” five times in a row, often letting the crowd take over, inviting an arena of thousands to shout lyrics that accuse Drake of being a “certified pedophile” and “colonizer.” Lamar had been considered by media outlets and social media users to be the “winner” of the Drake beef because of his sharp lyrics, quickly released diss tracks and dominance on the charts compared to Drake’s diss tracks, making the “Pop Out” performance look like a victory lap.

Tangent

Lamar centered Los Angeles and West Coast unity in his performance, which some perceived as a diss at Drake, who was criticized for using the AI-generated voices of West Coast rappers Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur in his diss track, “Taylor Made Freestyle.” “"Y’all ain’t gonna let nobody disrespect the West Coast, huh? Y’all ain’t gonna let nobody mock or imitate our legends, huh?” Lamar said onstage while performing “Not Like Us.” “We done lost a lot of homies to this music s***. A lot of homies to some street s***and for all of us to be on this stage together…this s*** is special man,” Lamar said onstage.

Surprising Fact

Lamar added new lyrics to “Euphoria” in his performance, including the line: “Give me Tupac’s ring back and I might give you a little respect,” a reference to Drake purchasing the rapper’s crown ring at an auction for more than $1 million.

Key Background

Lamar and Drake traded eight diss tracks in quick succession between April and May in a highly dramatic feud that dominated the charts, social media and grew to involve a long list of other rappers and artists. Lamar took shots at Drake and rapper J. Cole in his feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s song “Like That,” slamming them for previously suggesting on their song “First Person Shooter” that the trio makes up the “big three” of rap. J. Cole released (and quickly retracted) his own Lamar diss, “7 Minute Drill,” but after he recused himself, the feud became a clear Drake versus Lamar battle. Lamar and Drake traded wild accusations at one another across various diss tracks, with Lamar alleging Drake had pursued minors and had a secret daughter, both of which he denied in rap “The Heart Part 6.” On that track, Drake accused Lamar of abusing his wife and claimed he planted false information in hopes that Lamar would use it in diss tracks. Lamar shocked fans by dropping three diss tracks within a span of less than 48 hours: ”Meet the Grahams,” “6:16 in LA” and “Not Like Us.” The dust on the feud had largely settled by mid-May, though Drake appeared to address the feud on his featured verse on Sexyy Red’s song “U My Everything,” in which he rapped over a beat Metro Boomin dropped as a diss at Drake called “BBL Drizzy.”