It’s somewhat telling that Kendrick Lamar’s latest and current tour is co-headlined by SZA. The reluctant superstar has always seemed to have one foot out of the rap spotlight, dropping records more sporadically in the past five years than in his early career. When he does drop, his projects seem distinctly disinterested in courting public favor; His last two albums were a therapeutic meditation on his personal growth over the past decade, and an ode to the muscle car he wanted growing up, respectively.
In between those projects, he dedicated some of his biggest performances to sharing his spotlight with little cousin Baby Keem (at Tyler The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival in 2024), SZA (on his GNX tour and his controversial but enlightening Super Bowl Halftime Show), and seemingly, the whole of the Los Angeles rap scene (at his aptly named Kendrick & Friends concert, just down the street from the GNX tour venue for his Los Angeles dates, SoFi Stadium).
Lately, it has seemed more and more like in addition to his weariness (and wariness) of stardom, he’s as disinterested in shying away from the role of superstar, and he has been in playing it. Instead, he’s entered something of a “big bro” era, using what he’s learned in his experiences to shepherd the next generation of iconoclastic talents in their own growth.
Ironically, this is after he spent the last year spitting venom at one of the artists who arguably tried to do the same for him. But clearly, the way in which Drake tried to mentor him back in 2011 rubbed him the wrong way, leaving him with not only a lifelong disdain for his “Poetic Justice” collaborator, but apparently also a burning desire to do the opposite for his own proteges.
Speaking of K. Dot’s arch nemesis, despite Kendrick’s protests that he is done with their feud, plenty of airtime during the Grand National set is dedicated to both songs from their contentious mid-year exchange and nods to their complicated history. The aforementioned “Poetic Justice” was featured on Wednesday, as was “Euphoria,” the track that arguably buried Drake before dragging him to hell on “Meet The Grahams.”
But what I was most interested in was how Kendrick would manage the “joint tour” billing with SZA. While other joint tours, like Drake and J. Cole’s It’s All A Blur tour, followed a relatively standard opener/headliner format, I knew Kendrick wouldn’t make it a point to push the shared top billing unless there was an elegant solution involved. There was: While Kendrick did indeed take the lead, every 20 minutes or so, he ceded a mini-set to his frequent collaborator, alternating throughout the evening until a three-song run of their biggest collabs: “Doves In The Wind,” “All The Stars,” and “Love” (with SZA filling in for Zacari).
Besides feeding at least half of the set time to SZA, Kendrick also allowed her the more elaborate staging. Where his stage props were resolutely restrained to the titular vehicle for which the tour is named (and a giant version toward the finale), SZA’s were much more interactive. From performing atop an elevated platform to donning a suspension harness to literally play out her fairy fantasy, floating over a transformative cocoon, and riding what my partner fondly described as the “Ant Mobile,” SZA undoubtedly earned her co-headlining status. Despite neither artist’s sets featuring any guest stars, SZA also surprised fans with an appearance from Lizzo, with whom she sang their duet, “Special.”
While Kendrick’s sets more or less followed the tracklist of his new album, GNX, with catalog hits like “Alright,” “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” and “Humble” scattered throughout, SZA’s sets were fittingly more free-flowing, jumping back and forth between fan favorites like “Consideration,” “Snooze,” and “Kill Bill.” But the best parts were when Kendrick and SZA shared the stage, which they did for standouts like “30 For 30” and “Luther.” There’s a magnetic chemistry between the two, which becomes all the more undeniable when they perform together live. It’s enough to make fans even hungrier for the potential joint project the duo teased as they embarked on the tour.
Or, at the very least, more interested in Kendrick’s next career evolution. If it is true that he’d rather take a backseat (or at least the co-pilot’s chair) to his peers and contemporaries, then it’ll be fascinating to watch what those artists are able to accomplish with his guidance and support. And if it turns out that he has a more grand (sorry) vision for his own future, triumphantly returning to his high-concept creations and expectation defying genre experiments, well then, that’d be just fine, too. Just as long as he continues to make time to be the artistic big bro that the rap business needs right now, because in that respect, he’s batting a thousand.
