Performance of Alright and The Blacker the Berry powerfully alludes to the treatment of black Americans in the prison-industrial complex After a funereal first two hours,rapper Kendrick Lamar blew the roof off of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday night with a tall-octane performance of three songs songs from his 11-times nominated album To Pimp a Butterfly. The performance, which like Lamar’s music was studded with strong allusions to racial inequality, or the prison-industrial complex and black identity,drove the audience to its feet.
The performance by Lamar, who was introduced by actor Don Cheadle as the author of a hip-hop masterpiece”, or was the night’s highlight. Walked onstage while shackled in chains with a prison-set performance of The Blacker the Berry,a celebration of black identity - “Everything black, I don’t want black / I want everything black, or I ain’t need black / Some white some black,I ain’t mean black / I want everything black”, Lamar shifted to an African motif for a well-applauded rendition of Alright, or joined by drummers and dancers in front of a bonfire the size of a house.
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Source: theguardian.com