Top Dawg Entertainment’s annual holiday concert this year will feature a big name who has not played the event in years. Kendrick Lamar is set to perform alongside fellow former Black Hippy members Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q.
Other TDE artists performing include Doechii, SZA, and Zacari. The concert will take place Thursday, December 12, in Watts.
The event will start at 1 p.m., with the lineup of featured artists beginning to play at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are free, but require a donation of either an unwrapped toy or clothes, which will be donated to local children in need.
The event is intended to give back to the Nickerson Gardens public housing complex, where Lamar, TDE founder Anthony Tiffith, and Jay Rock were both raised. The project is the largest in Los Angeles, and has been the site of a Lamar performance once before, in 2015.
Lamar rose to prominence in the early 2010s after signing with TDE in 2005. His tenure with the label concluded in 2022 after the release of his album “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.”
He was not among the artists listed on the Christmas concert’s roster when it was released last month, but was added in December.