When Kendrick Lamar announced on day one of the NFL season that he’d be the headlining performer at Super Bowl LIX, music fans knew that they’d be in for a treat. Even if some people thought that the New Orleans location of the game merited a performance slot for fellow rap legend Lil Wayne instead, there’s no doubt that Kendrick would deliver a great show. While a victory in his summer feud with Drake and his chart-topping “Not Like Us” are his latest accomplishments, there’s no way to mistake him as a Johnny-come-lately. Since releasing his debut major label album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” in 2012, he’s arguably become the most critically-acclaimed rapper of all time. And his live shows measure up to that praise: his performances at award shows, late-night TV, and major music festivals showcase striking imagery and layered instrumentation, proving an undeniable ability to deliver on the world’s biggest stages. Ahead of gracing the Super Bowl stage this February, we decided to take a look at some of his most memorable live performances.
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2014 Grammys with Imagine Dragons
The Grammys’ historically fumbled by failing to properly recognize Kendrick for his accomplishments with his debut studio album “good kid m.A.A.d city,” making him go winless at the ceremony while Macklemore won the awards of Best Rap Album and Best New Artist. But K. Dot didn’t need to take home any hardware to make an impression: he joined the band Imagine Dragons for a memorable mashup of his raucous album cut “m.A.A.d city” and the band’s song “Radioactive” before delivering an extra verse near the end. The performance lacks the polish that he’d display in years to come, but Kendrick’s star power was still evident.
TDE Cypher at 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards
The TDE Cypher at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards wasn’t a solo Kendrick Lamar performance, and it was technically pre-recorded, not a live performance. But we’re breaking the rules for this one just because it was that powerful of a moment, both lyrically and historically. After great verses by his TDE crewmates Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Isaiah Rashad, K. Dot closed the performance with a blistering, clever set of bars that kept up the momentum of his showstopping verse on Big Sean’s “Control.” If that verse wasn’t enough proof that he was ready for smoke, this freestyle was further evidence. He predated he and Drake’s Shakespearan summer 2024 with a variety of subliminal shots, but the verse was full of other memorable lines as well.
2016 Grammys Performance
While Kendrick was an unfortunate underdog in the 2014 Grammys, he returned to the awards years later as a made man after the release of his masterpiece “To Pimp A Butterfly.” After somberly walking onstage binded as part of a chain gang, he launched into a performance of “Blacker The Berry,” with a blacklight shining on he and his onstage inmates’ prison uniforms to reveal African-inspired tribal paint. He followed that with a fiery performance of his anthem “Alright,” and ended the performance with a then-unreleased verse that would appear on his “untitled unmastered” compilation of outtakes.
Unreleased Music On “The Colbert Report”
Kendrick Lamar was the final musical guest on Stephen Colbert’s show “The Colbert Report” in late 2014 before he left Comedy Central to host a late-night program on CBS, and he made sure the show went out with a bang. Instead of opting from his budding catalog of recognizable fan favorites, he opted to perform an unreleased song that collaborating musician Terrace Martin said that Kendrick had just written the day before he appeared on the show. The song would later be released as “Untitled 03” on Kendrick’s outtakes compilation “untitled unmastered.”
“The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon”
Kendrick Lamar had already begun to build a catalog of recognizable jams by the time he appeared on “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” in 2016, but fans were surprised to see him perform an unreleased track recorded during the sessions of “To Pimp A Butterfly.” The song was one of several cuts that made fans ask Kendrick to release the outtakes that didn’t appear on his studio albums. He delivered on their request with the aforementioned “untitled unmastered.,” which featured this song from “Fallon” as its closing cut.
“To Pimp A Butterfly” medley on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”
Kendrick blessed Colbert with an unreleased song at the end of his show “The Colbert Report,” and when the late-night host went to CBS, he delivered a full medley of songs from his album “To Pimp A Butterfly.” In a set just shy of seven minutes, Kendrick was joined by Thundercat, Bilal, and Anna Wise while running through through album highlights “Wesley’s Theory,” “Momma,” “King Kunta,” and “u” — covering the wide range of emotions that the album so masterfully navigated.
Coachella 2017
The weekend after Kendrick Lamar dropped his record-breaking album DAMN., he went to Coachella for a performance that showcased the new songs that fans were familiarizing themselves with and allowed them to revisit songs that had already become favorites. His Kung Fu Kenny persona was in full effect with video skits of the character between songs, and he also brought out a variety of superstars onstage to join him: ScHoolboy Q, Travis Scott, and Future all popped up to perform their collaborations. The Damn Tour followed, which saw Kendrick performing around the United States and continuing into a European set of shows.
BET Awards 2015
Kendrick Lamar had already proven himself as an incredible artist with his debut album “good kid m.A.A.d city,” but his hopeful anthem “Alright” went a long way in making him appear to be a voice of the people. The song became the literal soundtrack of protests after the 2014 police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. And when he performed at the BET Awards in 2015, his performance captured the nation’s tumult, with images of the American flag contrasted against him rapping atop a police car sprayed with graffiti.
“These Walls” with Thundercat on “Ellen”
“These Walls” was a lush, two-stepping number from “To Pimp A Butterfly,” and that vibe was perfectly captured when Kendrick joined Bilal, Anna Wise, and Thundercat on “Ellen” to perform the song. While many of his other performances stand out because of how elaborate they are, this one was toned down to virtually mirror a date: Kendrick performed with the band backing him, with a ballroom-dancing couple on one side of the stage and a live painter on the other.
“i” on Saturday Night Live in 2014
Kendrick Lamar had already begun to build a reputation as a unique performer, but his first appearance on Saturday Night Live began to show fans just how out-of-the-box he really was. He had already turned heads with the studio release of “To Pimp A Butterfly’s” Isley Brothers-sampling first single “i,” and he performed the song on “Saturday Night Live” with half-done braids and blacked out contact lenses. Astute rap fans peeped game: he was paying homage to Method Man, whose debut album “Tical” celebrated its 20-year anniversary that weekend. With a Wu-Tang visual reference, vocals reminiscent of James Brown, and a funky band behind him, Kendrick’s wide musical palette was on full display.
Opening the 2018 Grammys with U2 and Dave Chappelle
The ten month-period between spring 2017 and winter 2018 saw Kendrick Lamar reaching new commercial heights: he landed co-billing for the soundtrack of the blockbuster Marvel superhero film “Black Panther,” and he released “DAMN,” his album that had his first number one solo single in “HUMBLE.” His opening performance at the 2018 Grammys showed both his powerful messaging and his versatility: backed by an image of the American flag and surrounded by masked men in army fatigues, he was joined by U2’s Bono and The Edge for their collaboration “XXX” and album banger “DNA.” He concluded the performance with his guest verse on Rich The Kid’s “New Freezer” and the Black Panther soundtrack cut “King’s Dead,” the latter finding him surrounded by a sea of dancers in bright red jumpsuits. During an intermission between songs, Dave Chappelle said it best. “I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a Black man be honest in America, is being an honest Black man in America.
Kendrick Lamar Live From Paris
Kendrick Lamar went on tour for nearly two years to promote the release of his 2022 album “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.” While the album was the most artistically challenging and critically uneven record of his career, his fans were still on board to see the journey that he’d take them on: the Big Steppers Tour would eventually break Drake’s record for the highest-grossing tour ever with a rapper as the headlining act. And if you missed the show live, you got a chance to watch at home with “Kendrick Lamar Live From Paris,” a concert film released on Amazon’s Prime Video.
“The Pop Out: Ken and Friends”
When Kendrick Lamar defeated Drake in their battle this summer, he framed it not only as a victory for himself, but for the West Coast rap scene as a whole. Drake had disrespected the region by imitating 2Pac’s voice on a song, flaunting the late rapper’s ring in the video for “Family Matters,” and claiming that he got more love there than his opponent. So after destroying him on wax, Kendrick took a victory lap by throwing a blowout concert at Staples Center that hosted over a dozen of LA’s most respected rappers. When Kendrick himself blessed the stage, he further established his crown: he opened the performance with the diss track “euphoria,” went on to perform a medley of other hits while welcoming his TDE compatriots to the stage. But the most telling moment was the end of the performance: after an cameo appearance and introduction by Dr. Dre, he performed “Not Like Us” a resounding four times, welcoming what felt like all of LA onstage to dance along.
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