Kendrick Lamar Gives Unbelievable 2016 GRAMMYs Performance
Top nominee Kendrick Lamar just followed the un-followable Hamilton performance with a moment that will, no questions asked, go down in GRAMMY history. He showed up as the black-eyed leader of a chain gang to perform a rocked-out version of To Pimp a Butterfly's snarlingly political, conflicted "The Blacker the Berry." Next he crossed the stage to join tribal drummers and dancers in front of a house-size bonfire to tackle "Alright."
He closed out alone with a sequence of lightning-hot bars while the camera made jarring cuts and a strobe light flashed at increasing speed. The last image was of Kendrick standing in front of a stark white image of Africa with the word Compton printed on top.
Kendrick is nominated for 11 awards tonight, second in history only to Michael Jackson's 12 nods in 1984 for Thriller. Prior to the telecast kicking off he was declared the winner of four awards—Best Rap Performance, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song and Best Music Video (for his part in Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" remix). “I want to win them all,” he told Billboard earlier this month. He also grabbed the first onscreen award of the night, Best Rap Album.
21m
23m
6m
1m
41m
56s
1m
10m
3m
2m
3m
2m
3m
2m
9m
5m
2m
20m
1m
1m
41m
21m
49m
19m
21m
2m
44m
59m
1m
20m
8m
20m
2m
20m
20m
8m
1h 25m
1h 15m
41m
20m
1m
46s
3m
46s
21m
45m
1m
21m
41m
2m
1h 36m
22m
20m
4m
44m
20m
1m
1m
1m
59m
41m
45m
1m
1m
1m
20m
22m
1m
26m
1m
54m
23m
25m
9m
15m
21m
9m
26m
2m
1m
37s
1m
19m
4m
27m
1m
9m
24m
24m
21m
2m
3m
2m
5m
1m
20m