It’s been quite a year for Kendrick Lamar, the Compton-born hip-hop star who, with coheadliner SZA, made his triumphant return to Southern California on Wednesday for the first of three shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
One year ago this month, Lamar released “Not Like This,” the mic-dropping final nail in his back-and-forth rap feud with Drake. In November, “GNX,” his sixth studio album, arrived to widespread acclaim. A few months later, “Not Like This” took home five Grammys, including the prestigious song and record of the year trophies.
And now, the Grand National Tour is staking its claim to be the tour of the year, thanks to the star power and powerful performances of Lamar, the top dog in hip-hop, and SZA, the still-rising R&B star with whom he has frequently collaborated.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA opened a three-night run on their coheadlining Grand National Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday, May 21. They are seen here performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 9, 2025. (Photo by Cassidy Meyers) Kendrick Lamar and SZA opened a three-night run on their coheadlining Grand National Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday, May 21. Lamar is seen performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 9, 2025. (Photo by Brandon Xay) Kendrick Lamar and SZA opened a three-night run on their coheadlining Grand National Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday, May 21. SZA is seen here performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 9, 2025. (Photo by Cassidy Meyers) Kendrick Lamar and SZA opened a three-night run on their coheadlining Grand National Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday, May 21. SZA is seen here performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 9, 2025. (Photo by Cassidy Meyers) Kendrick Lamar and SZA opened a three-night run on their coheadlining Grand National Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday, May 21. Lamar is seen here performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 9, 2025. (Photo by Greg Noire) Kendrick Lamar and SZA opened a three-night run on their coheadlining Grand National Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday, May 21. They are seen here performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 9, 2025. (Photo by Cassidy Meyers) Show Caption1 of 6Kendrick Lamar and SZA opened a three-night run on their coheadlining Grand National Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday, May 21. They are seen here performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on May 9, 2025. (Photo by Cassidy Meyers) ExpandIt’s good to be king, and even better to be home, as he said early in the show that presented more than 50 songs over two hours and 45 minutes.
“We’ve been all around the world and back,” Lamar said earlier in the night. “I couldn’t (bleepin’) wait to make sure I came back home, you hear me!”
The crowd that packed the stadium roared again and again, as he shouted out neighborhoods from Long Beach to South Central, Watts to Compton.
The night was presented as a nine-act performance with Lamar and SZA alternating between sets of solo music while coming together for two acts.
Lamar kicked off the night with “Wacced Out Murals,” the first of 10 tracks played from “GNX,” which takes its name from the 1987 Buick GNX, a limited-edition version of the Buick Regal that his father drove as he took the future star home from the hospital after he was born.
Lamar appeared first at SoFi inside a similar car, which rose through a trapdoor in the stage floor, a camera inside the vehicle showing him rapping behind the steering wheel before exiting midway through the opening number. “Squabble Up,” one of two No. 1 singles off “GNX,” followed, its syncopated rhythms setting the crowd to dancing, before older hits such as the equally funky “King Kunta” and “Element.” slipped seamlessly into his flow.
SZA arrived to huge cheers with “30 For 30,” her collaboration with Lamar, who stayed for the handoff to her first set. As she sang older songs, such as “Love Galore,” “Broken Clocks,” and “What Do I Do,” the style of the show and its individual artists slowly revealed itself.
Lamar’s sets typically featured him and his dancers in muted tones of blue and gray performing in front of video screens that displayed minimalist scenes, such as a massive concrete wall or a stark set of cement stairs with a sole streetlight at one side. For SZA, the concrete wall visuals were transformed by green vines and pink flowers before they slowly cracked and crumbled, revealing a forest world of leaves and insects on screen or suggested in the costumes her dancers wore.
Video interludes between sets often featured Lamar in faux depositions seemingly designed to further troll Drake, who earlier this year filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group for defamation over Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track. In one, an offscreen lawyer asks Lamar where he was on Feb. 9 this year – the date when Lamar played “Not Like Us” during his Super Bowl halftime performance – and similar satirical references showed up in later clips, too.
Other highlights in the first half of the show included Lamar’s second act, which opened with “Euphoria,” another of the 2024 diss tracks, before slipping into earlier hits such as “Humble.,” “Backseat Freestyle,” “m.A.A.d. city,” and the fan favorite “Alright.”
SZA, meanwhile, was terrific on songs of love, the good and bad, as her natural world visuals expanded into something akin to a live-action “FernGully”-like rain forest. For “Scorsese Baby Daddy,” her dancers were adorned with moss and leaves, while on “Garden (Say It Like Dat),” two stilt-walkers in praying mantis costumes stepped slowly around the stage. On “Kitchen,” she rode a giant animatronic ant, whose name, apparently, is Anthony.
The midpoint of the show featured the first fully collaborative act of the night with SZA and Lamar singing with each other on “Doves in the Wind” and “LOVE.” sandwiched around “All the Stars,” their Oscar- and Grammy-nominated single from the soundtrack to “Black Panther.”
SZA’s songs often looked inward to emotions, with “Kill Bill” a fantasy about offing an ex, and “Special,” an ode to positivity made even more so by the surprise appearance of Lizzo to duet with her. The entomological delights of the night reached a peak a song or two later during “Crybaby” as SZA rose from the stage on wires, a shimmering cocoon-like gown falling 20 feet or more below her, before it fell away to reveal the singer as a butterfly singing high above her dancers.
Many of Lamar’s songs examine the inner life, too, but the “GNX” album has been hailed as a reboot of classic West Coast rap, and as such, it features lyrics from the streets and neighborhoods around the protagonists of his lyrics. “Dodger Blue,” which arrived later in the show, hit hard on those themes of L.A. loyalty with shoutouts to high schools in Compton, Westchester and Gardena.
When he reached the line, “Don’t say you hate L.A. when you don’t travel past the 10” – a dig at those ignorant of wide swathes of the city – the crowd joined in loud and proud.
Later, another line from a video interlude earned an even louder roar from the Southern California crowd. In it, Lamar and SZA stop at a gas station and bicker over the snacks she wants him to get at the minimart. “What is it … chimmy chua?” he says as he exits the car.
“Chamoy!” she replies, rolling her eyes in exasperation as she name-checks the sweet and savory Latino treat. “Your fans are Mexican. How do you … .”
After Lamar’s final solo set wrapped up with a raucous run through “Not Like Us,” the crowd singing along loudly as the video screens used vibrant color visuals for one of the few times in the night, SZA joined him for a final pair of songs, starting with “Luther,” their collaboration which at present has been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for an impressive 13 consecutive weeks.
It was followed by “Gloria,” which closes out the “GNX” album, and like “Luther,” a gentler R&B vibe that brought the crowd down from the higher, harder peaks of the night that preceded it.
At its close, the black GNX Regal was back on stage. Like a proper gentleman, Lamar opened the passenger door for SZA, and then taking a seat behind the wheel, they disappeared beneath the stage until Friday, when the second of these three SoFi shows begins.
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