Kendrick Lamar brought the roof down at the Grammy Awards with a powerful performance invoking decades of musical and American history, shortly after dedicating his first trophy of the night to the rappers who came before him.
Dressed in a prison uniform, with a black eye, surrounded by flames and dancers in traditional African garb, Lamar condensed blues, jazz and hip-hop into one of the most political and explosive moments of the night.
Lamar did a medley of “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright” and concluded his set silhouetted against a lit-up display of the continent of Africa, with the word Compton written across it. The Compton native received a key to his hometown Saturday.
Needless to say, the performance set social media ablaze.
“kendrick was spitting FIRE i felt my soul ascend into heaven during his performance,” said one fan on Twitter after the performance.
“After Kendrick everyone should just go home,” said famous fan Debra Messing.
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/699426501759016960
https://twitter.com/Ziweeee/status/699426273806983169
https://twitter.com/sfj/status/699426817225011200
Kendrick with amazing imagery pic.twitter.com/s9rt06kAaU
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) February 16, 2016