Kendrick Lamar left social media in tatters when footage of his recent performance surfaced on the internet, showing how, to the naked eye, he pulled off a Houdini disappearing act.
Did Kendrick Lamar actually disappear on stage?
Social media exploded in a frenzy when the Mr Morale and the Big Steppers rapper seemingly disappeared from the stage while reciting the lyrics to United In Grief, the first song on his critically acclaimed fifth studio album.
This camera angle shows the mind-blowing moment Kdot and his creepy-looking ventriloquist doll went “poof!”, much to the cheers of the watching audience.
The ‘disappearing’ act, which is more of an optical illusion than real magic — if that exists, anyway — lent further credence to Lamar’s high-level artistry, something he reflected heavily on in the open letter he posted earlier this week.
In the letter, which he posted to his Instagram story, Lamar reflected on Mother I Sober, a song raw with emotions and memories of his past traumas, and admitted it took him 20 years to conjure up the will to write it.
“Rap has truly helped my expansion of self, beyond the perception of who I believed to be. On [Joseph], music is air to a young n**** at this point. Mr Morale, the catalyst of my self expression, I’ll never forget the process of falling in love with imperfection, he wrote.
Going back to Lamar’s ‘disappearing’ act, of course, the rapper may be a magician with the pen, but in no way did he evaporate into thin air. This angle, taken at the same event and moment, shows Lamar kneeling down into darkness after the spotlight that beamed over him was turned off.
Despite the existence of empirical proof negating claims Lamar pulled off a Houdini disappearing act on stage, fans were still left in utter dismay. Here are some of the reactions to the optical illusion: