I need to catch you all up on some stuff I have seen live and watched streaming for the past two weeks. I have been so focused on football that all this stuff had to wait. But I'm back to tell you about all the cool shit I have been doing for the past couple weeks.

Last Sunday I went to Kansas City to see Kendrick Lamar live in concert. This is an artist I have always wanted to see. Kendrick is the best rapper alive, in my opinion. He is at the top of the game, doing it better than anyone else and may go down as the greatest emcee to ever do it. He is a wonderful, introspective rapper who talks about real life stuff. His new album, "Mr Morale and the Big Steppers" is a massive achievement on every single level. So the opportunity to see him tour that album, and play older stuff, this was a can't miss thing for me.

I was utterly blown away by what I saw. He had two openers, Tanna Leone and Baby Keem. I know of Baby Keem because he is on the new Kendrick album. I had never heard of Tanna Leone, except for the one track he is on Kendrick's new record. He does well on that song, and his 15 minute set was solid. He did about five songs and each had its own charm. When Baby Keem came out, the crowd went nuts. He played for about 30 minutes, and it was hit after hit. He is a very, very solid rapper. I found myself bobbing my head along and vibing with the crowd. I have since listened to some of his stuff at home and found myself really enjoying it. But the reason we were all there, the guy who we all wanted to see, got on stage around 9 and proceeded to crush for the next 90 minutes. Kendrick Lamar is a genius. He is such a great performer, writer and, now, an instrumentalist. He opened his set playing the piano. I looked at my brother and said, "I didn't know he played!". We were both hyped. He also had a ventriloquist doll on stage that looked like him. He performed the song to the doll, then to the crowd. It was wild and I loved every second of it.

From there on out it was one of the greatest shows I have ever witnessed. I don’t know if it was because I hadn't seen a live show in over two years, or if it was just his genius. It was probably both. Kendrick Lamar did hit after hit. He sprinkled in tracks from older records and a bunch of his new songs. He brought, both Baby Keem and Tanna Leone on stage with him. He did hits like "DNA", "HUMBLE", "backseat freestyle", "Money Trees" and "swimming pools (drank)". I have always wanted to hear those songs live, and I finally did. They were amazing, He had dancers with him, and when they all danced to "HUMBLE", that was a once in a lifetime thing for me to see. The songs off the new record, I mean, he is such a pro they sounded like classics already. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand all night. We were singing along. When he asked just the crowd to sing, we knew every word. He put on a show too. This was not just about the music. I mentioned the doll, but there was so much more. He had a medical tent that was used for a few songs. There was fire and fake explosions on stage. The stage was humongous and went into the crowd. At one point a part of the stage lifted up about 15 feet into the air. The dancers were incredible. He did songs as if he were speaking to a therapist. He had a bed on stage for a track. He would disappear into the floor of the venue from time to time. The images displayed on the video screen were in perfect sync with whatever song he was performing. When we left the venue my brother and his buddy said it was more like a play than a concert. I couldn't have agreed more. It was truly a show.

I have been to a good amount of live shows before but I have never seen anything like this. There is a reason he is so great at what he does and why he can sell out these big venues. The place was packed and we all had a great time. And I didn't even get COVID. This whole evening was everything I wanted it to be, but it was so much more too. I highly, highly recommend seeing Kendrick is you are a fan and you have the means and he is coming near your hometown. I drove four hours to see him and I'd happily do it again. This show was amazing and I will never forget it. Kendrick Lamar is the man.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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