Kendrick Lamar fulfilled what was probably a longtime dream this Labor Day weekend when he rocked a crowd of about 35,000 in his home town of Los Angeles. Lamar, currently the hottest rapper in the game, proved to be one of the standout acts at the Made In America festival, and the buzz couldn’t be higher for his forthcoming projects.
The two-day Made in America festival switched it up from last year’s installment, consisting this year of two separate events, one in Philadelphia and the other in downtown Los Angeles. Lamar performed at the L.A.’s Grand Park in front of an estimated crowd of 35,000 fans. Kendrick took the stage with the rest of the TDE crew, including Isaiah Rashad, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and ScHoolboy Q.
The TDE crew put on a 75-minute set, according to Rap-Up , and Kendrick capped off the performance by joining ScHoolboy for “Collard Greens” and performed “Poetic Justice” and “m.A.A.d city” off his breakout album Good Kid, m.A.A.d City .
Lamar has been probably the most celebrated rapper in the world following the release of Good Kid , and the Compton-born rapper faces great expectations for his follow-up effort, expected to drop some time before year’s end. In the mean time, though, Lamar hasn’t been shy about collaborating with other artists on hot tracks. Lamar and Interscope label mates Imagine Dragons rocked the Grammys with a remixed version of “Radioactive,” and his verse on Big Sean’s “Control” set the rap world on fire just about a year ago.
This year looks to be promising for Kendrick Lamar, as his own success has helped put the Top Dawg label on top. Kendrick’s road dawgs have all released or are expected to release albums this year , and they may all collaborate on a Black Hippy album before the year is out.
Lamar has also been working with celebrated artist Flying Lotus, and Kendrick was apparently so enamored with the rapper-producer’s work that he may have grabbed a few too many of Lotus’ beats for his forthcoming album.
“We’ve been working on stuff together,” Flying Lotus said of Kendrick to Pitchfork . “I went on tour and [Kendrick] recorded to a bunch of my songs. I don’t know if he’s gonna use them or not, but he recorded a bunch of stuff… He took all my beats!”
The idea of Kendrick Lamar collaborating heavily with Flying Lotus for his next album is certainly enticing, but Lamar is also said to be working with Dr. Dre for his Good Kid follow-up. Either way, we’re definitely looking forward to seeing what Kendrick is able to come up with, though we’ve got a few ideas of our own on what would be great to see.
[Lead image via XXL.]