Kendrick Lamar, London O2, review: Kung Fu Kenny proves he is hip-hop's sensei
The rapper is peerless in his genre, and the lack of surprise guests shows that he knows it
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He may have joked about dreaming of "f***ing the world for 72 hours" as a kid on Good Kid Maad City, but Kendrick Lamar has already ridden it 96 hours straight this week.
While his freshly-released Black Panther soundtrack blasts out of cinemas and passing traffic worldwide, Kendrick has picked The DAMN. Tour back up and begun thumping arenas around Europe with it. It was London's turn for a lesson from Kung Fu Kenny tonight, his DAMN. era persona having already become iconic in spite of its humble beginnings as a Don Cheadle Rush Hour reference/parody.
The show opens with K-Dot's very own kung-fu movie and is an important mood-setter in that it's funny and juvenile. With the social and political weight of his lyrics perhaps leading an audience to expect a sermon or a lecture from a live show, this is his way of saying "nawww, we're here to have fun." The set gets off to a blistering start, Kendrick springing from his trademark "waiting to pounce" squat position on a stage lit like a dojo and tearing through the vocally dextrous "DNA.", sparring with a kendo stick-wielding dancer as flames bloom behind him. Getting his shots in early, there is no letting up as he beasts "ELEMENT." and the intro to "YAH." all before saying a single word to the audience.
Kendrick has never been one for speaking much outside of his songs, preferring to let his lyrics do the talking, and this continues with his live shows in which he is pretty laconic, though, in the few words he does lay on the crowd, he manages to come across earnest and sincerely thankful for what is serious devotion on their part.
Good Kid Maad City's "Swimming Pools (Drank)" is the first "test" of the crowd's stan credentials of the night, he claims, but this is a softball and if anything it's the three tracks that come before it, a rapid-fire blast of untitled. unmastered.'s "untitled 07" ("Levitate" to most), Rich the Kid feature "New Freezer" and TDE labelmate Schoolboy Q's track "Collard Greens".
From here on out, Kendrick is on one-long, karate-chopping victory lap, hitting the highlights from the three albums that have come since he fully broke through. "Money Trees" is special, Kendrick performing from a platform that rises in the middle of the audience, "Alright" explodes out of nowhere and in "Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe" we get a new second verse. Kendrick has performed a lot of dates on this tour and he's f***ing around with the tracks for his own enjoyment by this point, shifting melodies and adding them to lines he would normally rap, something that suggests a growing confidence in his singing which we may hear more of on future records.
Video from "HUMBLE." at a previous Phoenix, Arizona date went viral last year thanks to the audience knowing the words so well they could just sing a verse back to Kendrick a cappella, but the London crowd outdoes this and then some, rapping the first verse, chorus and second verse of the closer with little help from their idol. Note the total lack of surprise guests and how it doesn't feel like they're missing. Even K-Dot's band are all but impossible to make out. This is a one-man show. A resumé real enough for two millenniums.
The encore, "GOD.", is perhaps the only misstep that throws off Kung Fu Kenny's footwork, an ecstatic track, yes, but not one that shakes the venue to the ground as in needs to, and is emblematic of the one real gripe of the set: it would have been nice to have just one track from Section.80 (or maybe the roof-shaking off-cut 'Cartoon & Cereal'). This is a masterful tour, though. Kendrick exudes confidence, a messianic figure come to Earth to try and solve its maladies, yes, but also show it a hell of a good time.
Setlist:
"DNA."
"ELEMENT."
"YAH." (intro)
"King Kunta"
"untitled 07"
"New Feeezer"
"Collared Greens" (ScHoolboy Q collab)
"Swimming Pool (Drank)"
"Backstreet Freestyle"
"LOYALTY."
"LUST."
"Money Trees"
"XXX."
"m.A.A.d City"
"PRIDE."
"LOVE."
"Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe"
"Alright"
"HUMBLE."
"GOD."
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