Kendrick Lamar
Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW
Wednesday, December 10th
If success is the best revenge, then Kendrick Lamar is practically God-tier when it comes to getting even.
Ever since he obliterated rap rival Drake in what was arguably the ugliest hip-hop beef of all time in 2024, the Los Angeles rapper has been doing an extended victory lap, from a televised performance broadcast to millions at the 2025 Super Bowl, to embarking upon this current world tour, where he plays to sold-out crowds and gets to rub a few dump trucks’ worth of salt into his enemy’s wounds at every show.
As for said enemy, Drake emerged on stage at his Australian shows earlier this year wearing a hoodie pocked with theatrical smoking bullet holes; a predictably embarrassing response and a fitting metaphor for the Canadian pop star’s lean into performative “gangsta-ness” over the last decade. Kendrick has no need for such look-at-me artifice, instead using his immaculately sculpted rhymes to verbally dissect his opponent on the calculated character assassination “euphoria”.
Even though the Kendrick vs. Drake battle dominated music discourse in 2024, it still can’t overshadow the fact that Kendrick has been in a prolonged Imperial phase of his career that shows no signs of stopping any time soon, his catalogue now full of bona fide classics and new tracks worthy of sitting alongside them.
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GNX, Kendrick’s 2024 album that acts as both a celebration of L.A. hip-hop culture and a return to a more street sound after 2022’s cerebral and divisive Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, is played almost in its entirety. From sinister opener “Wacced Out Murals” through to instant party starter “Squabble Up”, the tracks sound monster-sized in a stadium, the bass loud enough to make everyone’s ribcage rattle.
Having fun with the beat switch that appears mid-way through the track, the two halves of GNX highlight “tv off” are split up and played at different points during the show, resulting in a hyped up stadium of people screaming “MUSTAAAAARD!” — not something that would make much sense to anyone at the gig unfamiliar with Kendrick’s body of work.
Speaking of which, the setlist expertly blends the new with the old, ensuring fans get to hear beloved favourites along with the on-point newer material. A thunderous “Alright” from To Pimp a Butterfly gets all hands in the air; “Money Trees” from good kid, m.A.A.d city has everybody going spare; and “HUMBLE.” and “DNA.” from the Pulitzer-winning DAMN. sound just as earth-shaking as they did when initially released in 2017.
On the visual front, a team of 10 incredibly athletic dancers bring the visual pizzaz, as do a small fortune’s worth of pyrotechnics and some oversized props (the dice and an air freshener you’d find hanging from a car’s rearview mirror, plus an actual gargantuan car itself). Several videos, while handsomely produced, fail to land due to sound issues. Whether it’s the outdoor setting or the videos themselves, they’re almost impossible to understand, even if they give a cinematic flair to the performance.
Kendrick demonstrates he’s a master of buildup and release by peppering in some slower songs during the set, including “LOVE.” (minus Rihanna), “Luther” (minus SZA), and “Poetic Justice” (minus Drake, as you’d expect).
The show ultimately ends with “Gloria”, a song where he uses a complicated romantic situation as a metaphor for the relationship he has with his pen. But the real climax comes one song before, with the track everybody’s been waiting to hear all night arrives: the Grammy-winning, Drake-ending diss track “Not Like Us”.
Taking pleasure in tens of thousands of people calling Drake a “certified paedophile” and hollering “[t]ryna strike a chord / And it’s probably A Minorrrrrrr” may be a little juvenile but it’s accurate to call it the highlight of the night, a joyous celebration of Kendrick defeating all comers and keeping the hip-hop crown on his head where it firmly belongs.
When he raps “I deserve it all / The respect and the accolades” on “man at the garden”, it’s impossible to argue otherwise after witnessing this top-of-his-game MC give his fans exactly what they came for — a next-level stadium show few of his peers can match.
