Kendrick Lamar kicked off the 2018 Grammy Awards with a powerful, politically-charged performance alongside U2 and Dave Chappelle.
Kendrick hit the stage with a group of masked dancers wearing military uniforms and performed his hit “XXX” with a huge American flag flying behind them. The group was then joined by Bono and The Edge before Lamar transitioned into his song, “DNA,” also from his album Damn.
Dave Chapelle then hit the stage to explain the satire that Kendrick was about to perform. Chappelle told the audience, “Hi. I’m Dave Chapelle. And I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America is being an honest black man in America. Sorry for the interruption. Please continue.”
Kendrick continued and returned to the stage with a drummer. The two were surrounded by fire and Kendrick performed his lyrics from Jay Rock’s “King’s Dead.” Following the performance, things got even more intense as Kendrick’s dancers returned to the stage in all red outfits.
As they danced and Kendrick rapped, gunshots rang out and one-by-one his dancers dropped.
The performance was definitely powerful and got reactions from huge stars from Olivia Wilde to Normani Kordei to Bella Hadid.
https://twitter.com/bellahadid/status/957774152294977540
DAMN is right, @kendricklamar. Holy shit. Wow. Yes.
— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) January 29, 2018
TWO WORDS… KENDRICK LAMAR
— Normani (@Normani) January 29, 2018
What a way to open the Grammy Awards.
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