Review: Kendrick Lamar takes big steps in Minnesota's biggest hip-hop show of the year

Hip-hop has come a long way from the two-turntables-and-a-microphone stage show of lore, and Twin Cities fans saw maybe its farthest-reaching tour yet Saturday night in St. Paul.

Kendrick Lamar offered up a highly artful, visually stunning 100-minute performance at Xcel Energy Center, one that somehow combined modern dance, psychotherapy, a ventriloquist dummy and even COVID testing — all without missing a beat.

The truly clever, shadowy stage production was no indicator the music itself lacked wow value. Simply put: The only rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize once again lived up to the hype as the greatest in his field at the moment.

Coming a month into the tour behind his fifth album, "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers," Saturday's show was Lamar's second time packing St. Paul hockey's arena in the decade since his hometown heroes Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg propped him up as Los Angeles' new rap king.

Unlike his appearance with those two mentors in the Super Bowl Halftime Show back in February, though, Saturday's stage production was far from super elaborate. Black and white imagery and light and dark tones battled each other throughout the concert, much like the inner demons that Lamar openly wrestles with on the new record.

The 35-year-old rapper took the stage to the tune of "United in Grief" carrying a dummy version of himself, as if struggling to offer up his own real voice. He found it soon enough, though.

A therapist's voice — recorded by Dame Helen Mirren — popped in here and there over the speakers to offer psychoanalytical feedback to the star after he hid behind a proverbial mask in "N95" or wrestled with his fast-rising fame in "Rich Spirit."

The rest of the staging matched that stark, direct vibe. Instead of fly-girl dancers, a dozen men and women in black and white suits gracefully moved in and out of dimmed white stage lighting. And instead of hyperactively running up and down the runway — which stretched more than halfway across the arena floor — Lamar often moved slowly and with purpose. Sometimes he didn't even move at all.

One of the most stirring moments actually found him sitting on a plain chair in the center of the blank stage delivering "Father Time" crouched over like a doctor delivering a baby. And what delivery, too!

During "Mirror," Lamar didn't have any other choice but to mostly stand still. He performed it confined inside a box-shaped hospital decontamination bubble as he lamented about the COVID pandemic, "Sorry I didn't save the world, my friend, I was too busy building my redemp."

Another simple but impactful effect played out well in "M.A.A.D. City," when the dancers surrounded the rapper with bright flashlights looking like a police caravan closing in on him. Most clever of all, in the slow-building "Count Me Out" Lamar bobbed and swayed in unison to a giant shadow version of himself reflected on a curtain; the shadow, however, had arrows shot into his back.

Saturday's set list was stuffed with nearly all the tracks from the new album. The 14,000 or so fans responded to the new material with ample excitement, and even sang along to some of the deeper cuts. They also turned it on for "Family Ties," which brought opener Baby Keem back to the stage.

Based on the rabid reaction to "King Kunta," "Humble," and "Backseat Freestyle," though, the crowd would have appreciated more of Lamar's old stuff. You could hear genuine groans when he cut off "Loyalty" and "Swimming Pools (Drank)" after only one verse each, blending them into a medley with "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe."

This one clearly wasn't meant to be a greatest-hits affair, though. That made it all the more impressive. It should go down as one of the greatest hip-hop tours of all time.