Aside from the immediate delight that comes from seeing two of the biggest names in rap in one show, there is a pleasing asymmetry in Doechii and Kendrick Lamar performing together. Fame is still new enough for Doechii, rap’s “swamp princess” and most rapidly ascending star, that her rapid-fire lyrics mostly revel in the pleasures it offers and announce her ambitions for greatness. Lamar, on the other hand, has achieved new heights with tracks that detail his weariness and irritation with the trappings of fame – mainly all the pretenders and hangers-on who don’t treat rap seriously (yeah, Drake) and don’t deserve to cower in his shadow.
It seems inevitable that Lamar and Doechii will collaborate at some point – they haven’t yet, but they’re both connected to Top Dawg Entertainment and Lamar has praised her as “the hardest out there” (start praying now for whoever they turn their sharp tongues on).
That Doechii’s first ever performance in Australia is in a 30,000-seat stadium speaks to how fast her star has risen; she’s been brought out with Lamar for the regional Spilt Milk festival, but his first show at AAMI Park on Wednesday was supported by ScHoolboy Q instead. I suspect many will have come to both shows to catch a glimpse of her too; I have never seen a venue so full and enthusiastic for the arrival of a support act.
Doechii’s 50-minute set is so confident and coherent that it feels less like a support act and more like a particularly satisfying appetiser. There are a plenty of songs from her 2024 breakthrough Alligator Bites Never Heal – the acidic Nissan Altima, the playful storytime-rhythm of Denial is a River, the swaggering Catfish – as well as a euphoric rendition of Alter Ego, perfect for an arena in summertime. The set is structured as a series of lessons and Doechii displays all the humour and physicality she’s become known for, crawling up school desks, delivering a sex ed lesson and, at one point, waving a sword around in her undies. The screaming crowd is completely in her palm; she knows it and we know it.
It feels strange that we haven’t even reached the main course yet, but Lamar announces himself with enough fireworks and pyrotechnics to send us all to the moon. He was last in Australia with his 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, a thoughtfully produced but minimal affair that saw Lamar wield a puppet version of himself. But from the opening wails of Wacced Out Murals, it is clear Lamar has embraced a grander kind of melodrama: there’s black and white imagery of colossal statues, video interludes of a deposition in which he’s questioned about his relentless need for attention, and we haven’t even started pulverising Drake yet.
This is a tight ship and Lamar is not one for checking in on his audience. There are signs he’s enjoying himself, such as when he smiles toothily during a criminally abridged version of King Kunta, hearing the crowd singing it back. When he does reach Drake, on Euphoria, the stadium erupts together to shout: “But don’t tell no lie about me and I won’t tell truths about you.”
It is an odd proposition: a dazzlingly theatrical show about hubris and the artifice of success. But it works. The comparatively subdued GNX track Man at the Garden is a surprising standout, Lamar reciting everything he deserves like a prayer. Older tracks Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe and Money Trees are rapturously received, before a run of fresher hits: Luther, his romantic collaboration with SZA; the grand crowd-pleaser TV Off; and of course, Drake’s albatross. Not Like Us, a diss track for the ages, has 30,000 people screaming “a-minoooooor” as one.
After such a bruising song, it’s sweet that Lamar takes time at the end to thank a group of fans he recognises from his first tiny shows in Australia back in 2012. “I’m not good with names but I sure don’t forget faces,” he says, pointing them out and promising to come back to Australia “until the wheels fall off” – before ending on Gloria, his gentle duet with SZA. It is a wholesome end to a ferocious show. It’s not hard to imagine that, in years to come, everyone in that crowd will say, “I was there.”
Kendrick Lamar and Doechii are performing at Spilt Milk festival in Ballarat, Perth and Gold Coast, 6-14 December. Kendrick Lamar will play Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on 10 December with ScHoolboy Q and 11 December with Doechii
