By Jay Donnell
After a pair of Coachella sets and a show at the Quebec City Summer Festival, the ‘Damn’ tour is now in full swing and one of the biggest stars in music is continuing to make waves all over the United States and beyond. It’s safe to say this tour is one of the most highly anticipated hip-hop tours ever. Scratch that — it might be of the most anticipated tours of any genre ever. Period. The 30-year-old is in the prime of his career and if you get a chance to see him live you better not miss it because the man is a lyrical genius and he puts on one hell of a show.
The tour began last Wednesday, July 12th in Glendale, Arizona which is fitting because if you follow weather news like I do (is that weird?) you know that it has been scorching hot in Arizona this summer. In fact, while Kendrick was there the high was 107 degrees. Unfortunately for the residents of Arizona, the already sweltering temperatures got a little hotter when Kendrick arrived on the scene. The Compton native didn’t show any mercy either. He opened with “DNA” followed by “ELEMENT.” and “King Kunta.” Kendrick also played some older hits — read “classics” — such as “m.A.A.d city” and “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe.” He closed out the show with his now world famous hit, “HUMBLE,” which has a quarter billion hits on YouTube.
Kendrick would continue his assault on the nation in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Philadelphia. He’s in Brooklyn tonight and then things get really interesting this weekend with dates in D.C., Boston and back to Brooklyn on Sunday. The tour will conclude in Miami on September 2nd.
Joining Kendrick on the tour is Travis Scott and D.R.A.M. Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight album took the nation by storm last September. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the 25-year-old Houston-born MC continues to ride the momentum he’s been gaining in the past year. D.R.A.M. is a little less well known, but I’m not quite sure why. D.R.A.M., which stands for Does. Real. Ass. Music., released his debut album, Big Baby Dram in October of 2016. His hit song “Broccoli” (featuring Lil Yachty) was named the 47th best song of the year by Rolling Stone in 2016. One interesting fact about D.R.A.M. is that he was born in Germany. His mom was in the military and they eventually moved to Hampton, Virginia where he was raised.
This is one hell of a trio. We’ll most definitely look back on this summer one day and wonder how we ever had it so good. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Travis Scott or D.R.A.M. I would encourage you to check out their music. “Antidote” and “Pick Up the Phone” are two fan favorites from Scott and I really enjoy both. D.R.A.M.’s “Tiny Desk” concert on YouTube is a must see if you’ve never heard the German-born 28-year-old before.
Obviously though, this tour is all about Kendrick. Section.80 debuted six years ago if you can believe that. Lamar only managed to follow that up with Good Kid, M.A.A.D City the following year. No big deal. In 2015 he released To Pimp a Butterfly and now he’s given us another great album. My only question is, when is this guy going to run out of hits? I’m not betting on it being anytime soon.
We know you’re all over the Kendrick videos, so here’s D.R.A.M.’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert:
Live Music Daily 