Kendrick Lamar and Drake have been fighting for rap supremacy going on a decade. For the most part, the majority of rap fans would contend that Drizzy is at the top of the mountain. But, Kendrick has always nipped at his heels and his latest accomplishment is something the Toronto rapper can never take away from him.
After being the first rapper to have an album reach a billion streams on Spotify in 2022, Kendrick has surpassed his Canadian rival for having the highest-grossing tour by a rapper in history, earning more than $110 million and selling 929,000 tickets during 73 shows worldwide for his “The Big Steppers Tour.”
The tour was unveiled the same day the Compton rapper released his fifth studio album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, and began shortly after in July 2022 and ended two months later in September.
According to Touring Data, the tour surpassed Drake’s “Aubrey & the Three Migos” tour which occurred during the fall of 2018.
Along with passing up Champagnepapi, the “We Cry Together” rapper also eclipsed the tours of Kanye West & Jay-Z, Travis Scott, and his own DAMN tour which occurred in late 2017 and ended in early 2018.
The Grammy award-winning rapper also eclipsed Tyler, the Creator’s “Call Me If You Get Lost Tour” as the highest-grossing rap tour post the coronavirus pandemic.
While Kendrick was the biggest act during every show on the tour, he had his fair share of guests, including pgLang signees Baby Keem and Tanna Leone.
The creative directors for the tour were Mike Carson and his pgLang collaborator Dave Free. While Kendrick mostly performed songs from Mr. Morale, he didn’t disappoint his longtime fans and rapped songs from classic albums such as good kid, m.A.A.d city, To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN.