Sorry to Every Grammy Performer Who Has to Follow Kendrick Lamar Tonight
If you thought the Grammys were going to ease up on the politics, well uhhh... Kendrick’s opening performance proved you wrong right off the bat. Performing "XXX" from his Grammy-nominated album DAMN, Lamar started the show with a statement. And also Bono. And Dave Chappelle. Way to top-load it, Grammys!
If there was any question that Kendrick isn’t one of the best rappers out there right now—if not the best—this performance swiftly shut that down. After blazing through “XXX,” surrounded by dancers in military fatigues, Bono and the Edge emerged because sure, why not throw them into the mix during music's biggest night?
Interrupting the performance was a comedic interlude or two from Dave Chappelle, who joked, “The only thing more frightening than watching a black man being honest in America, is being an honest black man in America.” And as Kendrick continued with his verse from Jay Rock’s “King’s Dead” from Black Panther, as his dancers, dressed in red hoodies, fell to the ground one by one as if being shot down, Chappelle asked again “Is this on cable?”
We knew that the Time’s Up movement and sexual harassment in the entertainment industry would be a focus of tonight’s show, but Kendrick’s performance was a reminder that, you know, there are lots of things to be mad at right now. And he killed it. And then of course it was followed up by host James Corden, who joked that he was the “least diverse” host imaginable. At least they tried?
