Kendrick Lamar concluded his sensational The Pop Out — Ken & Friends Juneteenth concert at Kia Forum in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, June 19, by welcoming all of the night’s surprise performers — the “friends” in the billing — to dance while he ran through “Not Like Us,” his masterclass Drake diss track that hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, five times in a row.
Below, check out all of those surprise performers from DJ Hed, Mustard, and Kendrick Lamar’s respective sets.
Here Are All Of The Surprise Performers From Kendrick Lamar’s ‘The Pop Out’ Concert
DJ Hed
Remble (“Touchable”)
Ray Vaughn (“Problems”)
Cuzzos (“Goldmembers”)
Rucci & AzChike (“Light It Up”)
Meet The Whoops (“Meet The Whoops”)
Wallie The Sensei (“03 Flow”)
Westside Boogie (“Silent Ride”)
Zoe Osama (“Underrated”)
Kalan.FrFr & G Perico (“Right Wit It”)
Bino Rideaux (“Bozo”)
BlueBucksClan (“Walkin’ In”)
RJMrLA (“Get Rich”)
OhGeesy (“Geekaleek”)
Jason Martin (“Like Whaaat”)
Tommy The Clown
Mustard
310babii (“Soak City [Do It]”)
Blxst (“Overrated” & “Chosen”)
Ty Dolla Sign (“Paranoid”)
Dom Kennedy (“My Type Of Party” & “When I Come Around”)
Steve Lacy (“Static” & “Bad Habit”)
Tyler The Creator (“WusYaName” & “Earfquake”)
Roddy Ricch (“Racks In The Middle,” “Die Young,” “The Box,” “Ballin’”)
YG (“BPT,” “My N****,” “You Broke,” “Toot It And Boot It,” “Who Do You Love?” & “Big Bank”)
Kendrick Lamar
Jay Rock (“Money Trees,” “Win,” “King’s Dead”)
Ab-Soul (“6:16 In LA”)
Schoolboy Q (“Collard Greens” & “THat Part”)
Dr. Dre (“Still D.R.E.” & “California Love”)
Lamar staged a long-awaited Black Hippy reunion. One by one, he was joined on stage by Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and Schoolboy Q. They performed a medley of songs, including “Money Trees,” “Win,” “King’s Dead,” “6:16 In LA,” “Collard Greens,” “That Part,” and “King Kunta.”
Black Hippy, a Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) supergroup formed in the late 2000s, never released a full group LP, though it remained a vague possibility as of March 2023.
In February 2022, Terrance Louis “Punch” Henderson discussed Black Hippy never releasing an album during an interview with Mic.
“We definitely wanted to do a Black Hippy album,” Punch said. “But it was such a learning experience for us, everything was new. The timing never really panned out. When one guy would be recording his album, another guy would be on tour. Everybody was never in the same timeframe. So we didn’t want to hold back; we wanted to keep going and just push further into their individual careers. In hindsight, I wish I would’ve pushed the Black Hippy album more. That was always my goal, personally. You would have to ask everybody individually to see if that’s what their goal was.”
Tinashe is having a moment. A decade after her breakout single, “2 On,” the singer has broken through with the viral smash “Nasty.” It’s absolutely blown up on TikTok, and the popularity of the earworm song has carried over to the Billboard charts. “Nasty” debuted at number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first time in Tinashe’s career in which she cracked the pop charts as a solo artist. This is extremely impressive given how long the singer has been at it.
Tinashe dropped her first mixtape, In Case We Die, in 2012. She had her aforementioned breakthrough with “2 On,” which peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains the singer’s biggest hit to date. The song did feature a verse from ScHoolboy Q, however, and was later remixed by Drake. “2 On” was eventually certified platinum, but it didn’t pave the way for much more radio success. Tinashe failed to have any of her singles chart over the next ten years. This, despite releasing well-received albums like Joyride (2018) and Songs for You (2019).
The singer is keenly aware of the rarity of scoring a hit a decade into a career. She told TIME Magazine that the success of “Nasty” has been rewarding, given how hard she’s worked on her craft. “This is what you wait and hope for,” she explained. “I’ve been grinding in the music industry for 10 years at this point. I’ve come to the place where I’ve accepted my path and I don’t really need more validation.” Despite the surprise success of the sing, Tinashe remains committed to her core fans. “I am super thankful for my core fanbase because they’ve been there from the jump,” she explained. “It’s exciting to see how it’s affecting the numbers of all my other songs too.”
The thing that separates the success of “Nasty” from “2 On,” however, is the fact that the latter is an independent release. Tinashe was signed to RCA when the first hit dropped, but now she’s releasing everything through Tinashe Music. “It’s amazing, it really validates all of my hard work,” she told the outlet. “Also taking that risk to go independent, it felt a little bit scary. I think staying true to myself and being able to make music that I love… has just propelled me to be a different human being that is much more confident. I’m so much more sure of myself and my path.”
When J Cole gracefully removed himself from the Kendrick Lamar and Drake war, people online and in the hip-hop sphere were tearing him down. So many were disappointed that the “7 Minute Drill” rapper would bow out from the competition, especially given his pen. However, since he dropped the diss that was, frankly, half-hearted, the battlefield has become extremely bloody. He even admitted that himself, and since most fans knew that Cole was always more of a lover and not a fighter, the narrative has switched. Now, spectators have become more understanding and giving him grace online.
However, a new and interesting angle has been making the rounds on the web that someone in the know actually influenced Cole to remove himself from the beef. According to articles from Bossip and AllHipHop, TDE teammate ScHoolboy Q was supposedly the one who helped convince him. A writer witnessed the BLUE LIPS and Might Delete Later MCs chatting at Dreamville Fest. Unfortunately, she was not able to make out what exactly was said, but sources informed her that some sort of warning was passed from Q to Cole.
The severity of the warning was not specified, though. “I’m not specifying what kind of warning — whether it was a bullying move, a Deebo-like maneuver or just a friendly heads-up. I don’t think it matters at this point. But based on what Punch (TDE president) said, I think they gave him what he needed to hear to bow out of the battle with as much grace as possible,” the writer said. Now, J Cole or ScHoolboy Q willing to speak about this conversation will certainly be something to monitor going forward.
What are your thoughts on ScHoolboy Q allegedly warning J Cole to drop out of the Kendrick/Drake beef? If this is true did the TDE labelmate do the right thing here, why or why not? Do you think Cole should have entered the battle to begin with? Who do you have on top right now and why? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef, J Cole and ScHoolboy Q. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
After 5 years of chopping samples and dropping unplanned bars with his closest friends, Kenny Beats ended his hit YouTube series The Cave. The Cave centered on one key phrase, which has become a spiritual mantra of Kenny’s studio: Don’t Over Think Sh**. Throughout 46 episodes of varying length, Kenny inspired rappers such as Freddie Gibbs, Danny Brown, Teezo Touchdown, and more to rap over hastily-made beats with uncleared samples, resulting in a myriad of delightful tracks that will never see life on any streaming service.
In an April 29 community post directly to his YouTube subscribers, Kenny Beats confirmed that he would be bringing The Cave to an end. “I spent 16 hours a day in that room, 7 days a week, telling any one I could reach to come make music,” the statement read. “After a while, we realized everyone who was coming by was going to be a legend, and the Cave started. This show changed my life, your support changed my life.” Let’s look back on a handful of the best freestyles to come out of the illustrious series.
ScHoolboy Q popped up for the series finale of The Cave and ended the show with a bang. As part of a victory lap from dropping his long-awaited album Blue Lips at the top of March, Q explained right from the start that he hadn’t had much material prepared. Ultimately, he managed to rap the “verse of the year” even though Kenny hadn’t finished chopping the beat.
It’s more than fitting that the final episode of The Cave saw Kenny Beats uttering his now-iconic refrain of “the show is not supposed to go like this,” as that became something of a motto throughout the series. If there’s one lesson to take away from Kenny’s show, it’s that rappers can be difficult to work with, incapable of following direction and flatly aggressive at times, but if you give them a hot enough beat, they’ll turn it into magic.
6. Isaiah Rashad
Like ScHoolboy Q, fellow TDE signee Isaiah Rashad also joined Kenny Beats on The Cave to promote a new album back in 2021. Rashad appeared on the show just before his album The House Is Burning hit streaming. Isaiah Rashad and Kenny clearly share a lot of camaraderie, and their chemistry shines on their quickly-constructed track.
Rashad was originally slated to appear on The Cave at an earlier date. The original episode never materialized online, for unknown reasons. Kenny Beats jokes about this at the beginning of the episode by labeling the song file “Zay Cave Take 2.” He also stated, “We have Isaiah Rashad in The Cave today, first time ever… Somebody leaked a photo a while ago, that was all Photoshop.”
Unlike most guests on The Cave, Thundercat doesn’t specialize in writing bars. This made his episode extra special, as he joined Kenny in constructing the beat, dropping some slick grooves on his bass before entering the booth. Thundercat exudes purely chaotic energy in the studio, making him one of the most entertaining characters to grace the series. In his February 2020 episode, Thundercat correctly predicts that Coronavirus is about to become a serious problem, expresses concerns over the upcoming presidential election, and downs a staggering 4 Yerba Mates, totaling more than 300 mg of caffeine in less than an hour.
4. Earthgang
Earthgang deserves a spot on this list for Olu’s incredible world map pants alone. Still, their inclusion can truly be credited to the “crazy kung-fu freestyle action” promised by WowGr8 early in the episode. The Atlanta rap duo joined Kenny Beats on The Cave in the first season. They provided a freestyle so well-crafted it could seamlessly have been dropped on streaming if its samples were properly cleared. The pair of Dreamville signees exhibit tremendous chemistry here, making their long-awaited episode one of the most memorable in the show’s 5-year run.
Denzel Curry’s episode of The Cave was billed as the season 1 finale. It packs the second longest run time of any episode at 16 minutes and 12 seconds in length. Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats dropped a collaborative EP only 6 months after this episode premiered. The project, titled Unlocked, solidified the fact that the pair perfectly fed off of each other’s musical energy.
While Denzel is less outwardly antagonistic to Kenny than his usual guests, he manages to keep the energy incredibly high. Kenny even remarks “Denzel here by himself is like more energy than ten people.” If we’re measuring by pure bars, this might actually be the best freestyle on this list, as Denzel effortlessly traverses multiple beat switches in real-time with memorable lyrics such as “Flames all on my body like I’m Charmander.”
2. Zack Fox
While Denzel Curry may have had the best jaw-dropping bars in The Cave‘s history, nobody made the show synonymous with their name quite like Zack Fox. The Cave is largely responsible for launching Zack Fox’s music career in the first place. Though Fox had dropped a few comedic tracks online before his Cave appearance, he was mostly known for his comedy writing and hilarious social media rants which once got him banned from Twitter (now X.)
While Thundercat may have exhibited some loopy energy on The Cave, Zack Fox appears on the series as the final boss of chaos. Fox raps hilarious bars about freeing Palestine and preemptively offering condolences for the impending death of Betty White. His freestyle was later developed into a “real” song titled “Jesus Is the One (I Got Depression)” that went mega-viral. When people think back to Kenny Beats’ series The Cave, there’s a 90 percent chance that this is the episode that got them into the show.
1. Vince Staples
Just two weeks after the explosive Zack Fox episode made The Cave a viral sensation, Vince Staples joined the show and launched the insanity to the stratosphere. Denzel Curry may have offered the best rapping, and Zack Fox may have provided the most comedy, but Vince Staples perfectly smashes these two worlds together with a freestyle that is equal parts off-the-walls and loaded with powerful rhymes.
From the top of the show, Vince Staples pesters Kenny Beats with the voracity of Bugs Bunny, demanding a beat with “808’s no heartbreak, at all” and “Black on everything crime, even animals.” Elsewhere in the episode, Vince throws up gang signs, accuses Kenny of engaging in the slave trade for locking his studio door, and raps the now iconic phrase “Kenny Beats is the police.” Kenny Beats cop memes flooded the internet for years after this landmark episode, causing the producer to jest in multiple episodes that “Vince Staples ruined my life.”
March was a major month for Schoolboy Q fans, as the rapper dropped Blue Lips, his first album since 2019’s Crash Talk. The project features collaborations with folks like Ab-Soul, AzChike, Freddie Gibbs, and Rico Nasty, and has been regarded by some critics as one of Schoolboy’s best albums yet. If that sounds like something you’d want to see live on stage, the good news is that Schoolboy has decided to take the album on tour.
The bad news is that as it stands now, he’s offering relatively limited opportunities to see it. Yesterday (April 24), the rapper announced Blue Lips Weekends, a series of concerts in July and August that, yes, take place during the weekends, allowing for a relatively relaxed touring schedule.
Information about specific venues isn’t available yet, but we do know that the tour will hit major cities like Toronto, Chicago, Atlanta, Brooklyn, San Francisco, and Seattle, among others. Tickets aren’t for sale yet, but fans can RSVP here to be notified when more information is available.
Check out the list of tour dates below.
Schoolboy Q 2024 Tour Dates: Blue Lips Weekends
07/18 — Toronto, ON
07/20 — Chicago, IL
07/25 — Washington, DC
07/26 — Atlanta, GA
07/27 — Brooklyn, NY
08/01 — Dallas, TX
08/03 — Houston, TX
08/04 — Denver, CO
08/08 — San Diego, CA
08/10 — San Francisco, CA
08/11 — Seattle, WA
ScHoolboy Q is taking over some of Hip-Hop’s hubs for the weekend to support his Blue Lips album. Q hit social media to announce Blue Lips Weeknds, targeting a run of shows for Toronto, Chicago, Brooklyn, Dallas, Houston and more.
“Only doing a few sHows,” ScHoolboy Q wrote. “Blue Lips Weekends on sale Friday.”
It should come as no secret by now that Schoolboy Q loves golf. He’s talked before about how the sport helped him learn about himself as a person and he even partnered with 2K Games for the rollout for PGA Tour 2K21, appearing in the game’s launch trailer and performing at the game’s launch party in Los Angeles.
However, rap fans may not appreciate his love for the game as much when they learn it was one of the main reasons for the five-year gap between his last two albums, 2019’s Crash Talk and the newly released Blue Lips. Appearing on Lil Yachty’s podcastA Safe Space, Q recalled how he got into golf via a bet, but ended up making so much from his secondary career, it basically funded his hiatus from rap. “I don’t kick it in the studio no more,” he said after joking that his “studio budget is silly.”
Schoolboy Q was on Lil Yachty’s podcast talking about his life as a golfer experiencing racist behavior and says he took 5 years off because he made so much money from the sport pic.twitter.com/z9ldmOsKXy
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“I was able to relax for five years,” he said. “I made a lot of money off rap, but golf helped me a lot.”
It should be no secret either that music is… not the most lucrative career. For every multi-millionaire, there are dozens of artists grinding to make ends meet — and for every one of them, there are even more whose dreams never make it past local stages in dive bars [raises hand]. So for Q, having some level of celebrity — and the perseverance to polish his game to serious levels — golf turned out to be a blessing for the South Central rapper because of endorsement deals.
Unfortunately, there was also a dark side: He says he fell back from endorsements and appearances because of racialized disrespect he experienced, such as being asked to wear grills to appear “more Black.”
ScHoolboy Q has an incredibly unique cadence on every beat he spits over, but he’s a talented storyteller outside of the studio too. This week, Lil Yachty and Mitch debuted a new episode of their A Safe Place podcast, bringing on the “CrasH” artist to talk about everything from his brand new album to his life before finding fame. As a teenager, Q was once robbed by gang members at a bus stop, though he thankfully didn’t have too much to lose when they approached him.
“Some Bloods rob me. They took my bread. I had, like, a transfer for the bus, and like $2. But I was peace treaty as soon as they walked up, though, right?” he told the hosts. “He took my beanie off, and he said, ‘How much money you got in your pocket?’ And I said, ‘I got $2. I play basketball.’ He said, ‘We need some weed anyway,’” Q recalled, as HipHopDX reports.
ScHoolboy Q Chats with Lil Yachty and Mitch on A Safe Place Podcast
The altercation could’ve been much scarier, but Q handled it as well as any teenager could’ve. It certainly wasn’t his last time crossing paths with Bloods, though his celebrity status makes him a much bigger target for serious robberies. Besides gang activity, the 37-year-old also shared his thoughts on dealing with groupies and how much younger high school kids look now than when he was still a student.
Elsewhere in the news, ScHoolboy Q continues to celebrate the success of his Blue Lips LP. In an Instagram post earlier this week, the West Coast icon shared that Jay-Z was a fellow artist who had the opportunity to listen to the album ahead of its release – a seemingly surreal moment for Q. Read all about that at the link below, and check back later for more hip-hop/pop culture news updates.
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