Kendrick Lamar shocked the nation with his powerful performance at the 58th Grammy Awards. The Compton-raised rapper took viewers on a journey which detailed the issues of how racism continues to effect Black lives.
Lamar entered the stage chained to other men before rapping the opening verse of “The B[cigallery]lacker the Berry.” He transitioned to “Alright” by breaking from the chains and being surrounded by African dances and drummers. His last song was an untitled tribute to Trayvon Martin and the performance eventually ended with the word “Compton” inside a map of Africa.
But while the performance provided a much needed message, it may not have been an original idea. According to Leigh Ann Hann, Artistic Programmer for La Grand Performance in Los Angeles, the concept was originally performed by rapper Dice Raw.
Dice Raw, a former member of The Roots, initially performed a similar work with the play, “The Last Jimmy,” in front of a crowd of 3,000 at La Gran d in 2015.
The musical began with Dice Raw rapping while in chains with prisoners behind gold jail cells. There was also a transition with African dancers and a large projection of the map of Africa in the background. Dice Raw and creator Phillip Brown worked on the stage play “The Last Jimmy” for two years before its debut. The play was an adaptation of Dice Raw’s concept album, Jimmy’s Back. The album highlighted issues of mass incarceration which is the New Jim Crow. Dice Raw had plans on taking the stage play to New York for a chance to perform it on Broadway.
“The issue is Kendrick, who I deem as a brother and fellow solider in this fight against mass incarceration, performed his song, “The Blacker the Berry, ” in the theatrical setting/elements of what appeared to be gold jail cells, wearing chained cuffs around his hands, dancers in prison outfits, musicians inside of jail cells, an African dance transition and a back-screen projecting Africa – all of which shockingly matches the artistic elements that I use my musical that I co-created over two years ago,” Dice Raw said in a statement.
Dice Raw went on to say that he didn’t have personal beef with Kendrick Lamar, but he wanted Lamar’s creative team to reveal the true source of the artistic expression.
Lamar’s label has yet to respond to the backlash and accusations from Dice Raw. Dice Raw’s team said that a video of the performance of “The Last Jimmy” will be released to the public.
