GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 26: Kendrick Lamar performs on the Pyramid stage during day five of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 26, 2022 in Glastonbury, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
Kendrick Lamar has responded to a viral video showing a security guard crying during his performance of “Love” at a concert in Houston last week, saying “that’s how you want everybody to receive your music.”
Devyn Sanford was working Lamar’s concert at the Toyota Center last Friday night when he was filmed in a state of great emotion, having been moved to tears as the 35-year-old rapper performed onstage behind him.
The video has already garnered nearly 12 million views on TikTok as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lamar caught wind of the 10-second clip, and told 12-year-old reporter Jazzy of Jazzy’s World TV that he wondered ‘what (Sanford) is going through,’ but added that’s what music should do.
‘At the end of the days, that’s how you want everybody to perceive your music, you know, make them feel good, make them feel like a moment they’re attached [to]. It can live forever,’ Lamar told Jazzy.
The 14-time Grammy Award winner added that he wanted his music and legacy to “impact and inspire people.”
“Through my music, I want to make sure that’s the legacy – showing people how to communicate – and it’s okay if you’re not perfect, it’s about accepting the beauty of imperfection,” he said.
Sanford told FOX 26 Houston that he was “going through a tumultuous time in my life” back in 2013, when the song “Love” was first released, saying that hearing it “brought me back.”
The security guard nearly missed the chance for the viral moment as he debated whether to buy tickets or work the show, however he said it would have still had the same impact on him either way.
Sanford said he got caught up with emotion between the concert’s energy and the lyrics of the song being performed.
“Kendrick Lamar is one of my favorite artist, so I made sure to be there,” the security guard told Fox 26 Houston. “I kind of debated whether or not just to be buy tickets or work the show, and I decided to work it, and it still had the same impact.”
“I kind of just absorbed everybody’s emotions and I was trying my best to hold it together, but I just kind of cried,” he told the outlet.
Since going viral, Sanford says Lamar’s team has reached out to him to send him free merchandise, with the chance to meet the rapper on the table as well.
“They want to send me some free merch and I think I get to talk to him, or something. I’m not really sure,” he said. “I’m still trying to process it all.”
