On Wednesday, the sixteenth of June, Kendrick Lamar He threw himself a party. Dubbed “The Pop Out: Ken and Friends,” the concert, held at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, was a celebration of West Coast hip-hop, and “The orbit of victory“For Lamar after he ostensibly won it Beef with Drake After the release of “Not Like Us”. Or as One of the X users contacted me with the offer“, “Kendrick Lamar Presents: I Hate Drake’s Musical.”
Pop-up, that was live feed on Amazon Prime Videospread from Wednesday to Thursday, and although much of the talk revolved around the performances of Tyler, the creator, Steve Lacy, and Dr. Dre, seem more focused on Lamar using the show as an opportunity to get another hit on his rival. “Kendrick really threw his Hatechella lol this is the hate and hysteria Mary J. Blige was talking about,” one X user wrote. Calculate X’s Public Enemies Podcast books “This level of hatred will never be repeated.”
Ultimately, it wasn’t about hate; Lamar expressed several times that the show was meant to be a moment of unity, In addition to that “It had nothing to do with there not being a song at this point, and nothing to do with there not being recordings back and forth.” However, he performed “Not Like Us” more than four times, which in turn fueled online outrage over his beef with Drake.
Lamar’s show was the latest in a series of concerts this summer that have taken viral cultural moments online and brought them to the stage — or used the stage to create viral moments of their own.
Two weeks ago, when Chappelle Rowan, a feminist pop star, took the stage at the Gov Ball in New York dressed as the Statue of Liberty, she created a near-instant meme fueled by her announcement that she had turned down an invitation to play a Pride parade at the White House. “We want freedom, justice and liberty for all,” she said. “When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”
Rowan’s popularity is largely fueled by her online fanbase and inability to deliver a single bad song The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern PrincessHe convinced the organizers of the Bonnaroo Music Festival to do so Give her a bigger stage At the event last weekend. He created her performance and the thousands of people who flocked to her Another viral moment. (Search for “Chapelle Rowan Bonnaroo” On TikTok to taste.)
Do you want me to bring it full circle? Here is the tweet From X user @JoseRMejia: “Imagine [if] Kendrick Chappelle directed Rowan.
This isn’t the first time the parties have caused a stir online, of course. when Beyonce Coachella themed In 2018, it nearly melted on YouTube, which broadcast the performance. It sparked the service formerly known as Twitter as well. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is like a living meme, getting new iterations every time she goes to a new city or continent, and getting a lifeline, vampire-style, from Swiftie’s hyper-connected fanbase as she goes.