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The Kendrick Lamar-Drake beef has officially landed in new and uncharted territory.
The hip-hop feud reached a fever pitch Wednesday in Los Angeles when Lamar, the hometown hero of South Central, hosted a celebratory Juneteenth concert titled The Pop Out: Ken & Friends at the Kia Forum. At the concert, he performed his Billboard-charting Drake diss “Not Like Us” five times in a row.
Thousands rapped along as Lamar spit his fiery verses onstage at the star-studded affair, which was live-streamed on Amazon. The concert event also included guests Tyler, the Creator and YG. NBA stars Russell Westbrook and LeBron James, as well as singer The Weeknd, were in the crowd as Lamar brought dozens of rival gang members onstage.
“This shit gets me emotional, dog,” he told the crowd. “We done lost a lot of homies to this music shit, lot of homies to some street shit, and for all of us to be on this stage together; unity from each side of motherfucking L.A., crips, bloods, pirus — this shit is special, man.
The beef between the two hip-hip titans kicked off in March when the rappers directly engaged each other on wax after years of subtle shots. Lamar fans would note that his “Not Like Us” is already hip-hop’s unofficial summer anthem.
The concert attracted about 17,000 attendees. One social media user wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “This Kendrick show is the blueprint for a hometown event.”
Christopher Polk via Getty Images
Lamar apparently named the show after his espoused ethos on “Not Like Us” that “you gotta pop out” to squash the competition sometimes. He gave 15 relatively unknown local acts the stage to open for him.
Lamar held the concert on Juneteenth in commemoration of the last enslaved people in the U.S. being liberated in 1865 — after Drake accused him in a diss of “always rapping like you bout to get the slaves freed.” Lamar took a moment onstage to address Drake, saying, “Give me Tupac’s ring back.”
The Canadian rapper purchased one of Shakur’s rings last year for over $1 million.
While some fans are adamant the beef isn’t over, others see The Pop Out as the final nail in the coffin that is Drake’s rap career.