Kendrick Lamar
19th July 2018
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Feature Photograph by Doug Peters.
“There’s no perfect life. There’s always something going on behind the curtain that people don’t know about”
Kendrick Lamar has long been a curtain puller, through both his lyrics and his symbolism. From the moment he first emerged on the scene as K-Dot to tonight in his alter-ego manifestation of ‘Kung-Fu Kenny’ Lamar has never been afraid to confront the issues (both his and the world’s) at hand. In what feels in many ways the final piece of the triptych – Good Kid, M.A.A.D City [2012] and To Pimp a Butterfly [2015] coming before it – Damn [2017] has been universally heralded by all; sure it may have missed out on the Grammy for Album of The Year, but it took out the Pulitzer Prize for Music instead, an accolade of such prestige that none can argue with it.
Before thousands of fans the stage lay bare, a single figure in black in its centre. Behind him the screen came to life as the tale of Kung-Fu Kenny began the evening, the crowd’s continuous thundering rumble of applause threatening to overpower the soundtrack. The theatrics of Lamar in battle with a sword wielding ninja played out before the fans; a nod perhaps to how his very own lyrics have been described as “Katana-Blade sharp”; or maybe just a visual representation of the internal battle that Lamar very clearly has fought for most of his life.
Unsurprisingly as the first notes of ‘DNA.’ rang out across the arena the powder-keg that was an audience high on anticipation detonated; the tightly packed masses on the floor seemingly swelling in size as they surged forward and broke against the front barrier. In this one song Lamar conveys so much; not only his struggle but the struggle of African Americans in general; how his people and he as a rapper are seen by American society; just another criminal or gang member because of their own DNA. When looking at his history it could have been easy for Lamar to have become exactly what the song talks about. Born and raised in Compton – hip hops West Coast mecca – he was the son of a gang member; a child of both welfare and Section 8 housing. Yet at high school, Lamar was a straight A student.
It would seem that Lamar has been on a mission from the very beginning.
Moving through ‘Element’ Lamar takes a step back into the past with ‘King Kunta’ before hammering out a couple of covers much to the crowd’s delight; ‘Goosebumps’ by Travis Scott and Schoolboy Q’s ‘Collard Greens’ guaranteed bangers to set the crowd on fire. While Lamar commands the large expanse of the stage by himself, on either side a live band pump out music from the shadows; the audience occasionally treated to a glimpse of their handiwork on the big screen. It is not often that shows of this genre are accompanied by live music; Lamar demonstrating proficiently how well it can work; each drum fill and guitar run adding a component to the song that strangely makes it feel somewhat unique to the night.
As the evening progresses, there are pregnant pauses, Lamar often crouching at the every edge of the stage and examining the audience intently before once again tearing up the space around him with a persona far larger than that of his physical stature. There is a mid-way lull as Lamar throws out ‘Loyalty’ one of the more pop affiliated tracks (featuring Rihanna) off his latest album; many in the crowd welcoming the chance to catch their breath. But no sooner then they had, Lamar was once again throwing them into the face of the hurricane as he dropped the iconic intro for ‘m.A.A.d city’; the fans belting out the words as if their very survival depended on it. ‘Pride’ and ‘Love’ took the audience back under again as Lamar self-examines both himself and the environment around him through his lyrics; this being his chosen form of communication with his fans.
Thankfully most of the usual clichés of hip-hop shows were avoided until the very end; the obligatory ‘which side is noisier’ game and compulsory ‘this is the loudest city on the tour so far!’ speech being dealt with swiftly.
And then we had arrived at that track. The track that has been debated by many; is it Lamar’s message to himself? To those around him? Or a little bit of both? Either way Auckland was determined to show Lamar just how well they could deliver it word for word, the very arena vibrating as the words to ‘Humble’ rose into the air and pushed against its rafters. Lamar watched the fans intently as they did an almost pensive look (that was undeniably tinged with tiredness) on his face. Periodically he would spit a line as if to support and encourage the fans to keep going before delivering the track in full himself.
An encore was of course demanded and delivered in the form of ‘All the Stars’ (featuring SZA) from The The Black Panther soundtrack that Lamar himself curated. Damn has often been seen as Lamar bridging the present to the past; a nod to the great era of 90’s hip-hop upon which Lamar himself fed, supping from the cornucopia that was filled with the works of many of the greats such as Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Easy E, Tha Dogg Pound and of course one of his biggest influences Tupac Shakur. Because of this it would be easy to simply place Lamar’s music in the hip-hop category and be done with it. And yet moving across the impressive triptych it quickly becomes obvious that he is so much bigger than a genre. Maybe Lamar himself said it best;
“You really can’t categorize my music – its human music”
Editors note: The feature image above was taken the previous time Kendrick Lamar played in Auckland and is not from last night’s show. There is a strict no photography policy on this tour, and we choose to abide by these rules in solidarity of the artists right to protect their image.
Were you there at Spark Arena to witness this amazing hip-hop show? Or have you seen Kendrick Lamar perform somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- DNA
- Element
- King Kunta
- Big Shot
- Goosebumps [Travis Scott cover]
- Collard Greens [Schoolboy Q cover]
- Swimming Pools (Drank)
- Backseat Freestyle
- Loyalty
- Lust
- Money Trees
- XXX
- M.a.a.d City
- Pride
- Love
- Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe
- Alright
- Humble
- All The Stars
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