Kendrick Lamar Performs “Alright” and “The Blacker the Berry” at 2016 Grammy Awards

Kendrick Lamar performs "The Blacker The Berry" and "Alright" at the 2016 Grammy Awards. The performance will surely go down as one of the most memorable performance in Grammy history. Dressed in a prison inmate uniform and with his hands cuffed, Kendrick started off by performing "The Blacker The Berry." With prison cells around him, K. Dot rips through the first verse. The stage turns dark and markings covering the TDE artist and his surrounding dancers appear. Kendrick transitions with into "Alright" where african dancers with drums surround him while he performs in front of a monstrous bonfire. Kendrick ends his performance beautifully, standing in front of a picture in front of the outline of Africa with “Compton” written in it.

Before the performance, images surfaced on Twitter and Reddit of Kendrick Lamar setting up the stage at the 2016 Grammys. The images showed a mixture of prison imagery, references to Africa, and tribal paint. LL Cool J, the host of this year's Grammys, said to expect something “controversial.”

Kendrick's national televised performances have always been unconventional. Last year he a song that was created before his appearance on The Colbert Report. The untitled track didn't make To Pimp a Butterfly and has never been released.

K. Dot has 11 nominations including the night’s top honor, Album of the Year, for his sophomore LP, To Pimp a Butterfly.

Lamar was honored by his hometown with the key to the city of Compton this past weekend (Feb. 13). Mayor Aja Brown presented Kendrick the award at the Martin Luther King Monument at Civic Center Plaza during the outdoor event which was was streamed live on Periscope.

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