Kendrick Lamar will return to headline a huge hip-hop fest

Kendrick Lamar is a lot of things: Multi-platinum icon, LA royalty, Pulitzer Prize-winner, Oscar nominee, mainstay of Obama’s shower playlist and the musical heartbeat of Wakanda. And yet for the past two years, Lamar has been laying low, even pre-pandemic. He hasn’t been heard from since he destroyed a verse on Busta Rhymes’ “Look Over Your Shoulder” in 2020.  

That changes this November, when Lamar headlines Las Vegas’ Day N Vegas hip-hop festival, scheduled for November 12-14. 

Coincidentally, the concert will close a loop started in 2019: The last show the explosive performer played was to a packed crowd at the Day N before a packed summer-tour/festival schedule evaporated with the COVID outbreak. 

According to the event’s poster, Lamar will perform songs from records ranging from his debut 2011 full-length, Section.80, to the Pulitzer-winning DAMN. That seems to indicate that the artist will not perform any of the hits from Black Panther: The Album. However, the presence of SZA on the festival roster could lead audiences to witness the live performance of that record’s Academy Award-nominated “All the Stars” that Oscars audiences were denied when Lamar declined to perform the song at the ceremony. 

Lamar will headline the three-day festival on Friday, followed by Travis Scott Saturday and Tyler, The Creator Sunday. The absolutely stacked roster also includes DaBaby, YG, Lil Baby, Doja Cat, Saweetie, Freddie Gibbs, Joey Bada$$, Lil Uzi Vert, Earl Sweatshirt, Rico Nasty and dozens of up-and-comers. 

Day N Vegas is scheduled for November 12-14 at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. Presale begins June 18. Tickets, safety information and a full roster of artists are available on the festival’s official site. 

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