Kendrick Lamar's "Pop Out" concert on Juneteenth in Los Angeles will likely go down as one of the biggest hip-hop-adjacent events of 2024. Frankly, the reaction to it on the West Coast might cement it as one of the biggest cultural moments of the year at large, and one of L.A.'s most iconic figures recently gave his stamp of approval. Moreover, Snoop Dogg relayed a message to the Compton lyricist for his show, but ironically enough, he said that he was out in Canada, the territory of Kendrick's current rival Drake. We'll get to that soon enough, but Tha Doggfather did not focus at all on that conflict and instead stressed the much more meaningful importance of what went down that night.

"Top of the morning, Big Snoop Dogg coming at you live from Canada," the Long Beach native began his message to Kendrick Lamar. "Sending a big shoutout to K.Dot and all the homies from the West that stood together, unified, organized, in peace [and] love. That was beautiful, that was fun to watch. Beautiful to see all of my peoples coming together. And, um, K.Dot... you are the king of the west. That's the kind of s**t kings do: we unite. We bring our peoples together."

Furthermore, this is all very interesting because of the mixed signals that Snoop Dogg has sent in the midst of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef. You probably recall that Drizzy used an A.I. Snoop verse on the "Taylor Made Freestyle" diss, and that Death Row now falls under the OVO-affiliated Gamma. However, other social media posts, public statements, and verse shoutouts indicated that the Cali legend was sticking to his roots. It's a pretty complicated subject to theorize on, but at the very least, we know that he likely has a lot of love for both sides.

After all, Snoop Dogg was featured on Drake's most recent album For All The Dogs, and there hasn't been much that indicates he thinks there's a "winner" or a right side. Rather, he focused on praising both. This time around, though, it was great to see the emphasis fall on West Coast unity rather than rap beef. Even though there are still some question marks here and there, it's clear that there are much more important things than whose "side" someone's on.

About The Author

Gabriel Bras Nevares is a music and pop culture news writer for HotNewHipHop. He started in 2022 as a weekend writer and, since joining the team full-time, has developed a strong knowledge in hip-hop news and releases. Whether it’s regular coverage or occasional interviews and album reviews, he continues to search for the most relevant news for his audience and find the best new releases in the genre. What excites him the most is finding pop culture stories of interest, as well as a deeper passion for the art form of hip-hop and its contemporary output. Specifically, Gabriel enjoys the fringes of rap music: the experimental, boundary-pushing, and raw alternatives to the mainstream sound. As a proud native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, he also stays up-to-date with the archipelago’s local scene and its biggest musical exponents in reggaetón, salsa, indie, and beyond. Before working at HotNewHipHop, Gabriel produced multiple short documentaries, artist interviews, venue spotlights, and audio podcasts on a variety of genres and musical figures. Hardcore punk and Go-go music defined much of his coverage during his time at the George Washington University in D.C. His favorite hip-hop artists working today are Tyler, The Creator, Boldy James, JPEGMAFIA, and Earl Sweatshirt.

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