Kendrick’s set at famous European festival Primavera Sound, which took place in Barcelona in early June this year, left hip hop fans with subtle but undeniable deja vu.
K.Dot pulled an unexpected stage trick from his sleave on the closing number of the Primavera performance, “Savior” from his most recent album “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”.
A group of identically dressed dancers joined Kendrick, and people immediately drew parallels with Eminem’s “Real Slim Shady” performance at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.
It is still debatable if that was the effect Kendrick Lamar wanted to achieve. While all his dancers wore identical white T-shirts, black overalls and sunglasses, their attire didn’t exactly match a blue tracksuit that K.Dot doned for the performance.
While indeed Kendrick stated earlier that Eminem was one of his biggest influences, it seems that it was more in regards to Em rapping skills and lyrical abilities that choreography and stage design. Additionally, the trick with filling the stage with the artist’s clones have been used a lot since 2001, and might be attributed not only to Marshall, even he was the first to do that. Two most impressive examples of using look alikes recently might be the army of clones invading Tyler The Creator’s performance at the Grammys in 2020 and The Weeknd’s Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2021.
Watch Kendrick Lamar — “Savior” live Primavera Sound Barcelona 2/6/23 below and tell us what you think. Is at an homage to classic Slim Shady or a trick used by many without any reference to Marshall?
