HIP-HOP POP-UP A HARVARD HIT
Rap fans flock to Kendrick Lamar’s one-day shop
Hundreds of Kendrick Lamar fans stood in line in the sweltering heat for the chance to step inside the rapper’s Cambridge pop-up shop ahead of his soldout show at TD Garden, making him the latest A-lister to launch a temporary store near the Hub.
Many of those who lined up in Harvard Square said they were hoping the Grammy award-winning performer would be stopping by #THEDAMNPOPUP store near the intersection of John F. Kennedy and Mount Auburn streets before taking the stage last night. Lamar’s one-dayonly pop-up comes on the heels of other Boston-area shops organized by megastar Kanye West and New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman.
“I don’t go to many pop-up stores, but Kendrick Lamar did bring me out,” said 19-year-old Boston College student Sadiq Ervin of Boston, who didn’t show up early enough to buy the sold-out hat he was hoping to purchase.
“None of us were going to pass up the opportunity to potentially meet Kendrick Lamar,” Ervin said. “It is worth it. If I saw him it’d be priceless, like this experience would be priceless, you know? I couldn’t put a value on that.”
Many shoppers said they heard about the shop after the “Poetic Justice” rapper announced it on social media.
Nineteen-year-old Spencer Papandrea said he got to Harvard Square about 10 a.m. after seeing Lamar tweet out the store’s location.
“He tweets out every day when he’s on tour where the location is going to be,” said Papandrea, who was hoping to buy some T-shirts before the concert.
“They’re not like one-of-a-kinds, but they’re for the city, so they say Boston on them, so I think they’ll be worth some extra money for that,” Papandrea said. “It’s a good piece of memory for the show.”
Other fans who didn’t have tickets to the show said they were willing to wait in line to take home some exclusive pieces of clothing. Tulo Marchetti compared the experience to when he lined up outside Kanye West’s pop-up store on Boylston Street last year, though he said Lamar’s had more options.
“When I went to the Kanye one, I didn’t buy anything,” Marchetti said, “I just didn’t find anything I liked.”
For Rebecca Lynn, a 21-yearold bartender and student from Jamaica Plain, it was her first time waiting to get into a pop-up.
“I’m really into art, poetry and hip-hop,” Lynn said, “I think Kendrick Lamar is, like, one of the greatest hip-hop artists, if not one of the greatest poets of our time.”