Kendrick Lamar managed to bring unity to Los Angeles as he brought members of the Crips and Bloods on stage together at his “Pop Out” concert.
Alongside a host of West Coast luminaries such as Dr. Dre, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Tyler, the Creator, YG and Roddy Ricch, at the end of his show on Wednesday (June 19), K.Dot welcomed members from both sides of L.A.’s gang divide to show a city united.
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Kendrick Lamar also addressed the audience as the gig came to a close, saying: “This shit making me emotional. We been fucked up since Nipsey [Hussle] died. We been fucked up since Kobe [Bryant] died. This is unity at its finest.
“We done lost a lot of homies to this music shit, to this street shit. For all of us to be together on stage, that shit is special. Everybody on this stage got fallen soldiers.”
Kendrick Lamar closes out with:
“this sht making me emotional. we been fcked up since nipsey died. we been f*cked up since kobe died.”
“this is unity at it’s finest. we done lost a lot of homies to this music sht. to this street sht. for all of us to be together on stage, that… pic.twitter.com/E9yziDekcg
— Modern Notoriety (@ModernNotoriety) June 20, 2024
Fans celebrated the historic moment on X, with one person commenting: “Kendrick really uniting Compton pirus and Cali crips on one stage. Memorable Juneteenth already.”
Another said: “Kendrick a legend. He got crips and bloods on stage. It’s peaceful. This unity.”
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One joked: “Kendrick’s hate for drake really unified the bloods and crips.”
It’s not the first time Kendrick Lamar has sought to provide some peace between the two infamous gangs.
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Both the Bloods and Crips were represented on the cover art for his 2014 single “i.”
Kendrick later spoke about his thinking behind the artwork.
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“Where I’m from, there’s a lot of gang culture and things like that, so instead of throwing on up gang signs, which we used to, I put a Blood and I put a Crip together and we’re throwing up hearts,” he said.
“Sparking the idea of some type of change through music or through me because I go back to the city now and people give me the honor and respect that, you know, this kid can change a little bit something different that’s been going on in the community.”
Kendrick Lamar’s “Pop Out” concert was also notable for his renewed attack on Drake.
As well as performing diss tracks “Euphoria” and “Like That,” he also played “Not Like Us” five times at the end of the show.
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During the concert, Kendrick also called on Drake to return a ring that belonged to 2Pac, which was bought at auction for over $1 million.
He changed the lyrics of “Euphoria” to say: “Give me Tupac’s ring back and I might give you a little respect.”
Drake had previously been threatened with legal action from the late rapper’s estate for using an A.I. recreation of his voice for diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
