OPINION: All I can do is shake my head at the crazy, scary, spooky and hilarious Compton rapper.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
We all knew it was coming. Kendrick Lamar dropped his latest album, “GNX,” the Friday before Thanksgiving and people have been yelling “MUSTAAAAAAAAAARD,” in reference to Kendrick’s hilarious yelling of DJ Mustard’s name on the song “tv off.” This includes, it seems, DJ Mustard, who recently posted that he yelled it out while walking down the street, forgetting that he was referring to himself. Good times.
Anyway, because Kendrick is the kind of artist who drops a project and then goes on a major tour to support it, on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, his press team spammed all of our inboxes with a press release announcing that Kendrick and SZA would be embarking on the “Grand National Tour,” a 19-city stadium tour that traverses North America. Makes sense. The show does most major cities in the United States — New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, D.C., Vegas, Philadelphia, etc. — and one fun little show on June 12, 2025, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
This guy.
On the off chance that you’ve been literally living under a rock or were on a 12-month taping of “Naked & Afraid” or something, you know that Kendrick Lamar and one of Canada’s greatest exports, Drake, have been embroiled in a tiff that has included allegations of crimes, legal actions, bops and the absolute song of 2024, “Not Like Us,” where Kendrick Lamar out-Draked Drake in every conceivable way. Drake is, of course, from Toronto. Considering that not only have Kendrick and Drake taken repeated aim at one another in lyrical form over the past nine months, but their crews, supporters and fans have also taken sides, doing shows in one another’s respective cities really didn’t seem like a thing that would happen. At least, not right now. Drake is still Drake, though his shine has been heavily varnished (some because of Kendrick, some because those colonizer claims are starting to look more accurate than we’d like, no matter what “business” dictates you do), so of course when he decides to go on tour to support whatever thing he does, he’s going to Los Angeles.
I suppose the same can be said for Kendrick. Is he supposed to NOT go to Toronto because he’s beefing with Wheelchair Jimmy? I guess that’s dumb. Plus, Kendrick told us he really loved New Ho King, a restaurant in Toronto. He’s not supposed to go get his fried rice and dip sauce? Of course he is, especially after it’s been alleged that Drake shut down a show by a TDE artist, SiR in a Toronto venue.
I hope everybody has their popcorn ready because this is just diabolical. Like, fam, after you go to the Super Bowl and perform “Not Like Us” (that is going to be wiiiiiiiild) for millions and millions of people to watch, you’re going to do the same on Drake’s home turf? I don’t even know what to say here. If ever Kendrick wanted to make a point, performing “Not Like Us” in Toronto to a sold-out arena that yells “A-minoooooooor” in unison and then yells out “MUSSSSTAAAAAAAAAARD” is going to be the stuff of legend.
I wonder who comes up with these schedules and venues. I’m assuming LiveNation gave Kendrick the list of venues and he was like, “Yep, Toronto.” Now that I think about it, I’m actually surprised that he isn’t doing the Toronto stop on June 16, which is Tupac’s birthday, considering how prominently (and oddly) Tupac has played a part in this whole fracas. That almost seems like an oversight on Kendrick’s part — either that or the venue was booked that day.
Who knows what will happen? It’s doubtful but, perhaps in the time between now and the start of Kendrick’s tour, Kendrick and Drake will sit down with Farrakhan (or whomever this current generation would hold in high regard) and squash the beef and we never hear “Not Like Us” performed again and Kendrick safely traverses Canadian soil while Drake digs into his bag and actually releases an album that demonstrates some growth — or at the very least, real ambition. Again, I doubt any of that is going to happen and I’ll just patiently wait while June 12, 2025, is circled on my calendar.
MUSTAAAAAAAAAAARD!
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).
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