|
 On stage at the Wireless festival on Saturday, less than a
week after winning "Best Male Hip-Hop Artist" at the BET awards,
Lamar performed a stream of favorites.
"We gon' be alright! We gon' be alright!" the crowd shouted
along with Lamar as they jumped up and down and pumped their
arms in time with his latest single, the up-tempo "Alright"
produced by U.S. hitmaker Pharrell Williams.
It has been a good year for Lamar. After winning two Grammy
awards in February for his single "i", his critically acclaimed
album "To Pimp a Butterfly" reached the top spot on both the
U.S. and British album charts, in a first for the star.
And ask any hip-hop fan who they reckon is this generation's
most gifted rapper and 28-year-old Lamar's name is among them.
That is because of his skills as an emcee and for his ability to
produce catchy hooks while delivering a strongly politicized
account of life as a black man in the United States.
"On how the infamous, sensitive N-word control us ... Well this
is my explanation straight from Ethiopia / N-E-G-U-S definition:
royalty, king, royalty — wait listen / N-E-G-U-S description:
Black emperor, King, ruler," he raps on "i".
Lamar follows a line of famous hip-hop artists from the city of
Compton in southern Los Angeles County, notorious for its gang
culture, such as the rap supergroup N.W.A that spawned Dr Dre
and Ice Cube.
[to top of second column] |
Although his lyrics focus on the United States and its politics,
they seemed to chime with the young, racially mixed London crowd who
rapped along enthusiastically with "Compton", Lamar's ode to his
hometown.
Ella Asiegbu, 17, who spent much of her childhood in Nigeria before
moving to London, had come just to see Lamar.
"He's changed my life - it's a very cheesy to thing to say but it's
true. I've actually lost my voice from screaming so much," she said.
Musically and lyrically Lamar breaks away from hip-hop stereotypes:
"To Pimp A Butterfly" is accompanied by a jazz band.
But it was Lamar's older songs that elicited some of the most
rapturous responses. After saying goodbye, he returned to perform
2011's "A.D.H.D.", one of his first songs to get attention from the
mainstream media.
"It was amazing," Levi Laing, 17, said of Lamar. "I've never seen
anything like it."
(Editing by Michael Roddy and Louise ireland)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
