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Kendrick Lamar's Powerful Grammy Performance Starts In Chains And Ends In Triumph

And it included a new verse.

With wins for five of his 11 nominations already under his belt (Album of the Year is still pending), Kendrick Lamar hit the stage for a stirring medley Monday night.

After entering bogged down by chains, K. Dot rapped a verse from "The Blacker the Berry," surrounded by bandmates enclosed in jail cells. Before long, though, the rapper and his cohorts broke out of their shackles, and shifted to a new setting, stage and song.

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Backed by a large bonfire and whirling dancers, he transitioned into "Alright," delivering the song -- which morphed into a protest anthem in 2015 -- with a mix of hope and passion. Then, in a welcomed surprise, he powered and sweat his way through a never-before-heard verse, with pulsating camera angles to match.

As the performance came to a close, Kendrick, exhausted, was backed by a large screen showing outline of Africa, with the word "Compton" stamped in the center.

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The 58th GRAMMY Awards - Show

As for that new verse, there could be more where that came from.

“I got a chamber of material from the album that I was in love where sample clearances or something as simple as a deadline kept it off the album," he said recently. "But I think probably close to ten songs that I’m in love with that I’ll still play and still perform that didn’t make the cut.”

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