Kendrick Lamar and SZA (who grew up in Maplewood) have announced a co-headlining tour that will include shows at MetLife Stadium, May 8-9. Tickets go on sale Dec. 6 at 10 a.m., with pre-sales beginning Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. Visit ticketmaster.com. Or click HERE for Cash App Visa Card pre-sale information.
Other Northeast shows will include Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, May 5.
The tour, which is currently scheduled to last from April 19 to June 18, is called Grand National Tour. For more information and to see all dates, visit grandnationaltour.com.
Its announcement follows the surprise release, Nov. 22, of a new Kendrick Lamar album, GNX. The tour and album titles both refer to a car, the Buick Grand National Experimental that Lamar poses with on the album cover.
It is a significant car for him, evocative of his musical roots. He has said: “My Pops put me on to rap. When I was born, I came home from the hospital in an ’87 Buick Regal while my Pops was bumping Big Daddy Kane. He would say, ‘This is Rakim. You get your whole style from Rakim!’ Or, ‘Go listen to Biz Markie!’ Sometimes I sit back and listen to hip-hop with him to see where my hip-hop roots come from.”
He has also said, on social media, “life get real tricky. No matter where you at with it. i never pick and choose what stories to relate to. all of them is relative. like my momma say tho. different strokes for different folks. a good ol saying can snap you back into reality sometimes. but in the moment of confusion, the best thing you can do is find a gnx. make you realize the only thing that matters in life is that original paper work.”
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