Kendrick Lamar's Fiserv Forum show will go down as one of the boldest hip-hop epics Milwaukee's ever seen

He’s made three classic albums, is one of the very few legitimate contenders for greatest rapper of all time debates, and is the only pop artist to win a Pulitzer Prize.

When it comes to Kendrick Lamar, is there any possibility for major artistic improvement?

Yeah, there is: his live show.

Or rather, there was.

Because Lamar’s “Big Steppers Tour,” which came to Fiserv Forum Thursday, will go down as one of the boldest hip-hop epics Milwaukee’s ever seen, rivaled only by Summerfest’s Kanye West coup in 2011 after "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," and Tyler, The Creator's masterful Fiserv Forum show in February. (For Milwaukee hip-hop fans, it's been a very good year).

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That was far from the case seven years ago when Lamar last played Milwaukee. His groundbreaking masterpiece "To Pimp a Butterfly" was a few months old, setting Summerfest up for another West-level milestone — except Lamar's grossly disappointing and generic hourlong set shared none of that album's risk or ambition.

But now, his artful live show execution has matched his studio creativity.

At the 100-minute show's start, 11 dancers — men in black suits, women in white — marched across the floor and up onto the stage, popping their shoulders, swinging their arms and slapping their hands in unison. The men marched off stage, while the women sat on a bed, a single lightbulb turning on to the sound of a single piano note. Then another piano note, and another lightbulb illuminated — revealing Lamar, in his own black suit, at the piano, wearing jewel-lined shades and a lone shimmering glove a la Michael Jackson.

And he had company — a ventriloquist dummy made in his image, sitting at the piano's edge. Delivering syllable-cascading verses for "United in Grief" from the piano, Lamar and his dummy marched to a mic stand on the catwalk, both of them rapping the breathless final verses, united.

Those piano keys would set the mood again, a single note ringing out with every step he delicately took as he slowly strolled across a catwalk following "Rich Spirit." Then Lamar played the piano again — the immortal opening notes to "HUMBLE" — his dancers flooding the stage and zig-zagging around him like a swarm of bees, the dizzying swagger the antithesis of humility.

Male dancers would swarm Lamar again for "m.A.A.d. city," lights in hand, while morphing sharks, spiders, and palm trees surrounded the rapper's silhouette on the stage's large curtains for "Worldwide Steppers." That silhouette trick would later provide one of the most striking visuals of the night, for "Count Me Out." Lamar was hunched over, bouncing his body restlessly, shaking his gloved hand from time, his towering shadow mimicking his movements — except the silhouette showed six arrows sticking out of his back.

Incidentally, Lamar has taken more shots from his supporters than ever before for his latest album, May's "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers." There was the toxic six-minute fight with actress Taylour Paige for "We Cry Together," uncomfortable references to R. Kelly, multiple appearances by problematic rapper Kodak Black. Then there's the well-intentioned but clumsily executed "Auntie Diaries," which purports to be supportive of trans people — but includes multiple homophobic slurs, and Lamar misgendering and deadnaming a trans relative. (It's unclear if Lamar was given consent to do so.)

That Michael Jackson homage may have been upsetting to some in the crowd Thursday, but Lamar wisely downplayed the Kodak Black appearances, played just an audio snippet from "Together," and skipped "Diaries" entirely.

And ultimately, at least a few of those symbolic arrows in Lamar's back he fired himself.

"Steppers" as an album is messy by design. It's not receiving the same rapturous reception of 2013's "good kid, m.A.A.d. city," 2015's "Butterfly" or 2017's "DAMN.," but its also clear Lamar doesn't want to be put on a pedestal any longer. "I love when you count me out," he raps over and over on "Count Me Out," while on show closer "Savior" Thursday, he insisted he is not anyone's savior.

He doesn't want to be a hero, a rap Messiah. On "Steppers," he's just striving to be a better man, and through unflinching, deeply personal reflection, recognizing many of his failures, and the trauma of his youth, more than he ever has through his music before. Lamar's never been this polarizing, yes, but he's also never been so real.

So behind the therapy as theater piece staging, Lamar on "Grief" rapped about "money wiping the tears away," with empty infinity pools and dust-gathering Rolex watches failing to provide comfort or make up for his sins. With "Worldwide Steppers" Thursday, he rapped candidly about his "lust addiction" and cheating on his longtime partner Whitney Alford, and how he "objectified so many (expletive), I killed their confidence."

And for "Father Time," Lamar admits to stifling his emotions and becoming a sore loser from his father's teachings, a man who didn't even take the time to mourn his own mother because, as he said, "That's life."

"I got daddy issues, that's on me," Lamar rapped Thursday. "Looking for 'I love you,' rarely empathizing for my relief."

Lamar appropriately was alone for that song Thursday, circling an empty chair. And he spent a lot of time alone on stage, processing his past memories and current thoughts. For "DNA." from "DAMN" he was also alone, the rapid-fire verses hitting just as hard as any visual, as he took stock of the loyalty and joy, but also the poison and pain, inside of him.

And for "Alright" — the cathartic "Butterfly" anthem that's become the unifying theme song for the Black Lives Matter movement — it's telling that Lamar isolated himself inside a clear plastic cube (aside from four dancers in hazmat suits facing away from him in each corner) – after he was "administered" a COVID test. In fact the most extended physical connection Lamar made with anyone Thursday was with that ventriloquist dummy that looked like him.

Lamar's definitively made three of the best hip-hop albums of all time. That Pulitzer is unprecedented. He'll forever be remembered as one of the greatest rappers we've ever known. And now, he's proved no rapper is better right now at staging thought-provoking live show spectacles.

But when it comes to what matters most — becoming a better person — it was clear from Thursday's show that for Lamar, the work will continue. And it will never stop.

Lamar's cousin Baby Keem, Tanna Leone open

Baby Keem played a sweaty, sold-out Rave show just four months ago

Virtually everyone showed up early for the relative Lamar’s called a “musical genius,” but the trade off for the larger crowd for this half hour set was significantly less energy, understandable since Keem wasn’t headlining.

Nevertheless the crowd knew the catalog, and Keem as a stage performer came off as calmer and more intentional than he did in the spring, best exemplified for “Issues,” a heavy heartbreaker about his estranged mother, accompanied Thursday by footage of a solemn woman behind a rainy window. “Musical genius” remains debatable but “major star” seems inevitable.

Rapper Tanna Leone came out of obscurity this year to become the third and latest artist signed to Lamar’s new media company pgLang (following Lamar and Keem). It was tough to gauge what Lamar sees in him based on Thursday’s largely mellow, 15-minute set, but he sure had a slick presentation for a little known opener, with arty visuals and flashy lighting, and an unlabeled QR code that flashed on the screen at set’s end that took visitors to his webpage.

The takeaways

• A few minutes before Lamar’s set began, he appeared via video in a financial literacy sketch alongside billionaire investor Ray Dalio, doubling as an ad for tour sponsor Cash App. It was also a reminder of Lamar’s hilarious financial advice rap for “Saturday Night Live” nearly a decade ago.

• That was Dame Helen Mirren's voice serving as the narrator/therapist throughout the show, saying things like "First you have to get past yourself" and Uncle Ben's favorite words of wisdom from "Spider-Man": "With great power comes great responsibility" There was a line customized for the show too, with Mirren asking, "Milwaukee, are you entertained?"

• Although there were no musicians on stage, Lamar did have a live band Thursday jamming in a pit near the front. 

• A jerk in the pit had the nerve to throw a crumpled up plastic bottle at Lamar during "King Kunta." Security understandably looked ticked off, but it didn't faze Lamar, or trip up his dizzying flow, in the slightest.

• Along with their opening sets, Baby Keem and Tanna Leone returned for Lamar's performance. A shirtless Leone didn't add much to a busy presentation of "Mr. Morale" that included the dancers and pyrotechnics, but Lamar seemed to relish the Keem link-ups for their collaborations "Vent," "Range Brothers" and "Family Ties," with the crowd reserving the night's most intense energy for the latter. 

The set list

1. "United In Grief"2. "N95"3. "Element."4. "Worldwide Steppers"5. "Backseat Freestyle"6. "Rich Spirit"7. "Humble."8. "Father Time"9. "m.A.A.d. City"10. "Purple Hearts"11. "King Kunta"12. "Loyalty."13. "Swimming Pools (Drank)"14. "(Expletive) Don't Kill My Vibe"15. "Die Hard"16. "DNA."17. "Count Me Out"18. "Money Trees"19. "Love."20. "Alright"21. "Mirror"22. "Silent Hill"23. "Vent"(with Baby Keem)24. "Range Brothers" (with Baby Keem)25. "Family Ties" (with Baby Keem)26. "Crown"27. "Mr. Morale" (with Tanna Leone)28. "Savior"

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kendrick Lamar at Fiserv Forum: One of Milwaukee's boldest rap shows