We all love a bit of drama. A bit of conflict. As humans, we thrive on it.
For over a year, music fans have feasted on the bitter discord between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, obsessing over each sensational new development in what’s been touted as the greatest rap beef of the 21st century.
So it should come as no surprise that Lamar’s arrival in Toronto on Thursday night — his first venture north of the border since the feud erupted last spring — to perform on the city’s biggest stage was touted as another triumph for the Compton rapper, or framed as a juicy opportunity to provoke his rival on his home turf.
But inside Rogers Centre, the spectre of Drake was hardly discernible. Lamar didn’t mention him, nor did make reference to the feud even once during a nearly three-hour show. Instead, Lamar chose the high road, providing fans with an electric, career-spanning spectacle that felt less like a victory lap than a joyous celebration of a hip hop superstar operating at the peak of his powers.
“I see Toronto ain’t playing tonight,” a smiling Lamar exclaimed midway through the show, following a rousing performance of “Family Ties,” his 2021 collaboration with Baby Keem that sparked the first of several enthusiastic “Kendrick” chants from the tens of thousands in attendance.
And though Lamar chose not to fan the flames of conflict on Thursday, there were plenty of fireworks, both literal and figurative, provided by both Lamar and his co-headliner SZA, in an expensive extravaganza that sagged a little at times, but mostly soared.
I’ll admit that I was somewhat skeptical ahead of Thursday’s show — the first of Lamar and SZA’s back-to-back gigs in Toronto. Something about seeing a hip hop show at a baseball stadium felt wrong, somehow. With a capacity of 50,000, Rogers Centre is more than double the size of Scotiabank Arena, where Lamar typically performs when he comes to Toronto.
As I filtered into the stadium and took my seats, I was surprised at the makeup of the crowd: the vast majority of fans appeared to be under 25, and many were teenagers, some sitting with their parents, munching popcorn or admiring their newly purchased merch. Between the main show and the opening DJ set from Mustard, the vibe felt more like a comic convention than a hip hop show.
All that changed when the lights went down and a black Buick GNX was rolled slowly toward the middle of the sprawling stage, as the menacing horns of “wacced out murals” blasted through the stadium’s booming speakers.
The audience leapt to the feet immediately as Lamar emerged from the car, kicking the show off with furious medley of upbeat songs from across different eras of his storied career — “squabble up” from 2024’s “GNX,” “King Kunta” from 2015’s “To Pimp A Butterfly,” and “ELEMENT” from 2017’s “DAMN.”
After about 10 minutes, the audience erupted for a second time as SZA — who more than once has cancelled Toronto shows at the last minute — emerged from beneath the stage on a rising platform to perform “30 for 30,” a standout collaboration with Lamar from her recent album “Lana.” It was a thrilling moment, buoyed by the natural chemistry between the two artists, their voices duelling and eventually dovetailing in the song’s final chorus.
As Lamar exited the stage, SZA was joined by a troupe of dancers to perform three songs from her beloved debut album, “Ctrl,” her voice nearly drowned out by the thousands of fans singing along at the top of their voices.
The rest of the show proceeded in this unique fashion: a miniset by Lamar followed by a miniset from SZA, with collaborations peppered in between.
In an era where co-headlining tours are commonplace, pairing Lamar and SZA together for the Grand National Tour stands out as a particularly brilliant move. Longtime collaborators, both artists are currently riding a wave of unprecedented commercial and critical success: Lamar’s record-breaking diss track “Not Like Us” recently won five Grammys, while SZA’s 2022 album “SOS” recently spent its 85th week on the Billboard Top 10.
But more importantly, Lamar and SZA feel remarkably compatible: Lamar, at 37, the slippery shape-shifter and lyrical savant. SZA, at 35, the master craftswoman of irresistible hooks that seamlessly fuse hip hop and R&B. Both standing tall as their musical peers slowly recede from cultural relevancy, whether by self-sabotage (Kanye West), by self-imposed exile (Frank Ocean), by the seductions of capitalism (Rihanna) or by the stench of all-consuming solipsism (Drake).
Still, following the excitement of the show’s first half-hour, both the strengths and flaws the stadium setting became apparent.
On the one hand, the show’s production was spectacular. Flanked by gigantic screens displaying cutting-edge visuals, along with incredibly charismatic dancers, it was easy to get lost in the performance, even if you were far from the stage. Most arresting was the show’s use of stunning pyrotechnics, with thick columns of flames climbing hundreds of feet toward the stadium’s ceiling. (Lamar’s performance of “euphoria,” one of two Drake diss tracks he performed throughout the evening, featured more pyro than the entire Metallica show I saw last summer.)
On the other hand, the sound in the stadium was frustratingly muddy, with the bass often overpowering Lamar’s vocals, and an irritating echo making it difficult to make out banter between songs. The complex stage setup, which included stages that disappeared behind sliding screens, made it difficult to see the performers for stretches at a time, sometimes blocking them completely from view depending on your vantage point.
But these issues didn’t seem to spoil the fun for fans, who were absolutely dialed in for Lamar’s midshow set, which featured some of his biggest hits (“Humble,” “Backstreet Freestyle”), along with two deconstructed versions of songs from his 2012 debut “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.”
Nor did the apparent sound issues deter fans from embracing the fun and pure absurdity of SZA’s midshow set, during which she showed off both her range and eclectic style with a string of songs from “SOS” and “Lana.”
For “F2F,” she brought out a guitarist and bassist, briefly transforming the show into a millennial pop-punk fever-dream. For “Kitchen,” she performed while riding a giant ant, as dancers dressed as giant praying mantises roamed the stage. (“She’s such a stoner,” the woman next to me observed.)
As the show entered its third hour, the novelty of Lamar and SZA trading sets began to wear off, and the audience energy began to ebb, even as the two artists trotted out some of their most beloved hits — Lamar’s “Money Trees,” SZA’s “I Hate U” and of course “All the Stars.”
It was nearly 11 p.m. when Lamar finally kicked the show back into a high gear with the hyphy banger “TV off,” as the word “MUUSSTTAAARD” echoed through the stadium amid exploding fireworks and billowing columns of flame.
With the crowd’s energy revitalized, Lamar finally launched into a long-awaited rendition of “Not Like Us” — the chart-topping, record-breaking, multiple Grammy-winning diss track that doubled as knockout punch in Lamar’s feud with Drake; a song that sparked a million think pieces, prompted an explosive defamation lawsuit and arguably changed the shape of hip hop forever.
And yet, in the context of the Grand National Tour, “Not Like Us” somehow transcended all the drama and baggage attached to it. There were no sly comments from Lamar, no cheeky visuals or ad-libs. In fact, Lamar said nothing at all. Instead, the tens of thousands in the arena simply bounced along to the track with the same verve and enthusiasm as they did for the half dozen major hits that Lamar performed earlier in the evening.
Admittedly, there was something visceral about chanting along to the song’s more inflammatory lines, taking part in the gleeful fun we’ve been witnessed from a distance for over year now. But it all felt somehow detached from Drake, while the feud felt suddenly contrived and overwrought. (Earlier in the evening, Lamar performed “Poetic Justice,” a song that features Drake, while SZA performed a cover of his song “Rich Baby Daddy,” a reminder of the Toronto’s rappers ubiquitous, etherlike influence on hip hop.)
Though “Not Like Us” was certainly a highlight, the show reached its pinnacle earlier in the night with Lamar’s performance of “Alright,” a galvanizing, politically charged track from 2015 that became a rallying anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement, and which has taken on fresh relevance amid the ongoing protests against mass deportation in the U.S.
”And we hate popo, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure,” the audience shouted along, in a moment that provided a much deeper sense of emotional catharsis than the lines ”certified lover boy, certified pedophile.”
As “Not Like Us” ended, some half-hearted “one more time” chants bubbled up, but quickly faded away, as fans realized that, after over 50 songs, the show was finally coming to an end.
Wearing a bright red jumper, SZA returned to the stage once to perform “Luther” and “Gloria,” both lovely duets off Lamar’s most recent album.
“Love and faith, that’s what this is all about,” she told the exhausted audience, who began filtering out of the stadium before the final song had even wrapped.
