Kendrick Lamar Joins Lineup For TDE’s 11th Annual Concert And Toy Drive

On Tuesday (Dec. 10) night, Top Dawg Entertainment announced that Kendrick Lamar will be joining the lineup for its 11th annual Christmas concert and toy drive.

Musical performances are slated to take place in Compton at 11 a.m. PT on Thursday (Dec. 12) and will feature plenty of other artists including ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Doechii, Isaiah Rashad, SiR, Ab-Soul, Ray Vaughn and SZA. For those who plan on attending the event, the official flyer requests fans bring an “unwrapped gift” for entry — presumably toys, clothes and other donations.

Aside from Rashad and Rock, who’ve maintained relatively low profiles throughout the year, TDE’s roster has been on quite the run. Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal earned her three nominations at the upcoming 67th annual Grammy Awards. In recent weeks, she’s performed a medley from the mixtape on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert.”

SZA is revving up to release LANA, which appears to be the deluxe album of her 2022 effort, SOS. On Monday (Dec. 9), the latter-mentioned project’s second anniversary, the Missouri singer shared a snippet of unreleased music sampling The Isley Brothers’ “Voyage to Atlantis.” The trailer was accompanied by the caption, “Clock starts now.”

Lamar, though no longer signed to the West Coast powerhouse, released GNX in November. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, thanks to records like “squabble up,” “tv off,” “wacced out murals” and more. He and SZA also put their magic on display via records like “luther” and “gloria.”

In fact, TDE’s concert and toy drive will somewhat serve as a preview of what fans can expect from Lamar and SZA’s highly anticipated “Grand National Tour.” It’s expected to begin on April 19 at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, followed by shows in Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Chicago, to mention a few. Los Angeles and Toronto recently received added dates, now totaling three and two stops in each city, respectively.