Kendrick Lamar's The Pop Out - Ken & Friends concert was very eventful.
With thousands tuned in to see how the culture-shifting beef between the Compton emcee and Drake would manifest at the star-studded event, a lyric change is already ruffling quite a few more feathers.
In just one of Lamar's many Drake disses, "Euphoria," the rapper changed a lyric to: "Give me 2Pac ring back and I might give you a little respect."
The lyric references Drake confirming he bought Pac's ring at auction in Travis Scott's "Meltdown" for $1 million when he raps, "I pull out a million to stare at this shit."
Lamar has griped with Drake's lyrics about Pac, rapping on "Not Like Us," "You think the Bay gon' let you disrespect Pac, n***a?" Drake also came under fire for using an AI Tupac verse in his now-deleted diss track "Taylor Made Freestyle."
As for Kenny's all-red fit, that's seemingly not coincidental and it appears to pay homage to one of 2Pac's own fits at the 1994 Source Awards.
The concert saw appearances from Dr. Dre, Tyler, the Creator, Steve Lacy, Mustard, YG, Remble, and many, many more.
K Dot has shown a lot of reverence for 2Pac throughout his career. On his 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick sampled a 1994 interview 2Pac to make it sound like he was in conversation with the late rapper on "Mortal Man." In fact, he also suggested the album was originally to be titled Tu Pump A Caterpillar, a reference to Pac.
In a letter published on 2Pac's official website on the 19th anniversary of his death in 2015, Kendrick Lamar paid tribute to the late rapper by describing what his music meant to him. "I was 8 yrs old when I first saw you. I couldn’t describe how I felt at that moment. So many emotions. Full of excitement. Full of joy and eagerness. 20 yrs later I understand exactly what that feeling was. INSPIRED," he wrote, per the Guardian. "The people that you touched on that small intersection changed lives forever. I told myself I wanted to be a voice for man one day. Whoever knew I was speaking out loud for u to listen."
Drake weaponized K Dot's love for 2Pac with his controversial, and since-deleted, diss track "Taylor Made Freestyle." On the track, Drake used artificial intelligence technology to rap from the perspective of 2Pac.
"Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast savior / Engraving your name in some hip-hop history," he rapped, as a fake Pac. "If you deal with this viciously / You seem a little nervous about all the publicity / Fuck this Canadian lightskin, Dot / We need a no-debated West Coast victory, man / Call him a bitch for me / Talk about him likin' young girls, that's a gift from me."
