Kendrick Lamar gave a shout-out to a young fan who attended his recent show in Detroit, later penning a heartfelt letter with words of encouragement.
Footage of the interaction during the concert — which took place at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday (August 14) — has made the rounds on social media, and captures the moment Lamar first notices the audience member, who was holding a sign which read: “My name is Kendrick. This is my [first] concert. Can we take a pic.”
In response to the sign, written by the fan believed to be nine-years-old, the rapper took a few moments to shout out the younger Kendrick, reminding him to thank his parents before encouraging him to be a dreamer. “[Your parents] brung you to your first concert. Always respect and honour them,” Lamar said.
“You will forever be great. You’re great right now. You can do whatever you wanna put your mind to, you know it? You understand that? … Little Kendrick, do what you wanna do in life.”
As shared by the fan’s father in a subsequent Instagram post, the rapper later wrote his own letter addressed to “Young Kendrick”, which further elaborated on the pair’s mid-set interaction. “Thank you for coming,” Lamar wrote, “I’m glad we got to exchange energy. You are special. Continue to manifest the great energy you possess!!! See you next time!!! Luv!!!”.
The heartfelt exchange comes weeks after a similarly emotional moment at a separate Lamar show in Houston, during which a security guard was brought to tears by the rapper’s performance of the ‘DAMN.’ song, ‘Love’. In response to the clip, which promptly went viral in July, Lamar said that “at the end of the day, that’s how you want everyone to receive your music”.
Both shows form part of Lamar’s ongoing ‘The Big Steppers’ world tour, which kicked off in Oklahoma last month in support of his latest album, ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’. Lamar’s recent Detroit show precedes a swathe of remaining US dates throughout August and September, ahead of the tour’s European and UK leg at the tail end of this year.
Elsewhere, Lamar has performed sets at both Glastonbury and Rolling Loud Miami, the latter of which enlisted fellow rapper Kodak Black. More recently, Lamar joined Taylor Swift in qualifying for next year’s Oscar nominations, both eligible for their extended music videos for ‘All Too Well’ and ‘We Cry Together’ respectively.