Kendrick Lamar Promises He'll "Be Back" After Governor's Ball Performance

BYLavender AlexandriaPublished on June 12, 20231.7K Views

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 11: Kendrick Lamar performs during the 2023 Governors Ball Music Festival at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on June 11, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images)

Kendrick Lamar had a message for fans after headlining Governor's Ball.

Despite the air quality issues plaguing New York all week, Governor's Ball Festival still took place over the weekend. Among the headlining sets was Kendrick Lamar fresh off his tour supporting last year's Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. After Lizzo closed out Friday and Odesza closed out Saturday, Kendrick served as the finale to the entire festival. Lamar worked through a number of his biggest hits and much of the tracklist of Mr. Morale. He also had a special guest on stage, his cousin Baby Keem. The pair teamed up for their hit 2021 single "family ties." Elsewhere in the setlist, Kendrick performed his parts of The Weeknd's song "Sidewalks" and Pusha T's "Nosetalgia."

After closing his performance with a rousing rendition of "Savior" Kendrick Lamar had one final message for the crowd. After listing off all of his albums so far he made a promise that felt like a message for all his fans. "Because of you, I'll be back" Lamar said as fireworks were set off behind the stage. While nothing has been officially confirmed it's easy for fans to extrapolate what Kendrick may have meant with this message. After a five-year gap between Mr. Morale and his previous album, DAMN many are hoping he doesn't take as much time off this time.

Kendrick Lamar Promises NY He'll Be Back

Despite no news on a new album any time soon, Kendrick has stayed busy. Just a few weeks ago he teamed up with Baby Keem once again for a new single called "The Hillbillies." The track's music video featured Kendrick and Keem acting their goofiest and featured a special guest appearance from Tyler, The Creator. In fact, during the video's final moments, Tyler made a sort of soft announcement that his Flow Gnaw festival would return for the first time since 2019.

Kendrick also showed up on a recently released remix of "AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM" from Beyonce's Renaissance album last year. The surprise drop saw the two critical darlings teaming up for Beyonce's second new remix of the year. Earlier in 2023 she dropped a "Wetter" version of another Renaissance track, "Cuff It."

About The Author

Lavender Alexandria

Lavender Alexandria is a music and culture journalist based in Los Angeles, California. She’s covered dozens of musical genres and styles from the most mainstream to the most experimental and underground on her blog and accompanying YouTube channel that looks at music, pop culture, and Billboard charts since 2017: Lav’s Music Corner. Lavender has produced editorial and listicle content both in written and video form over the past far years and has also interviewed up-and-coming artists like Censored Dialogue. Her experiences covering culture have taken her from Hyperpop parties in LA to underground rap shows in Atlanta, to DIY punk shows in Charlotte. Lavender has also written for iHeartRadio, covering some of the biggest artists in Hip Hop such as Ice Spice, Drake, Doja Cat and Cardi B. She also has bylines with ScreenRant and continues to write for Ringtone magazine. Lavender is a lifelong Charlotte Hornets fan and her favorite rap artists include Clipping, Little Simz, Earl Sweatshirt, and Kendrick Lamar.