For the first two hours of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, performances were at worst sleep-inducing and at best entertaining in the most PG way. And then Kendriock lamar performed. We already knew from good kid, m. A.A.d. city and To Pimp a Butterfly that the Compton MC is cinematic. His performance Tuesday night was divided into three equally intense acts. The first was set in a jail cell with him and his dancers in chains for "Blacker the Berry," a fierce track about being black in America: Then the night's leading nominee moved on to act 2, with a giant fire roared behind him as he gave a charged up performance of "Alright."
Whether or not Lamar wins at the Grammys, he made his statement.