Inside Kendrick Lamar's performance with the National Symphony Orchestra

"You don't happen to have any extra tickets by any chance?" a young man asked, making his way through the crowd on the Kennedy Center balcony Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. It was his last-ditch effort to gain entrance to Kendrick Lamar's highly anticipated collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra.

It was an hour before the show and the odds were not in his favor. The one-night-only performance had sold out within seven minutes when tickets went on sale to the general public in September. Floating from one group to another, he eventually made his way back into the foyer, unsuccessful in his attempt.

A sizable number of the lucky 2,002 people in attendance at Tuesday night's performance had purchased tickets in a members-only pre-sale. Others without Kennedy Center membership resorted to resale sites after tickets were sold out to the general public, with one couple shelling out $1,300 for their tickets through StubHub.

But outside of the ticketing war-stories -- the Kennedy Center's Grand Foyer was vibrating with the giddy excitement of people who had fought hard to be there. Once everyone was seated and the house lights dimmed in the concert hall for the main act, NSO conductor Steven Reineke led a medley of songs off Lamar's 2015 release, "To Pimp a Butterfly," before introducing Lamar to a wave of thunderous applause.

Dragging the microphone stand behind him as he entered, Lamar began the show with his lyrical interlude "For Free?" -- a pithy summation of his set list's political message on the African-American experience. With lyrics like "Livin' in captivity raised my cap salary / Celery, tellin' me green is all I need" and "I need 40 acres and a mule/Not a 40 ounce and a pitbull," Lamar rapped at a furious speed with high energy, setting the tone for the evening. And the jazzy frenzy of the poetic opener slid effortlessly into the funky "Wesley's Theory"-- proving just how that the NSO could do more than keep up.

Reineke's enthusiastic leadership combined with the impeccable arrangements of Lamar's stylistically wide-ranging songbook showcased the dynamic partnership onstage. This was perhaps best exemplified during "Blacker the Berry." The swell of the horns mixed with the feverish, staccato of the string section complemented the urgency of Lamar's intense lyrics.

By the time he played crowd favorites "King Kunta" and "m.A.A.d. City" came during the encore, all semblance of decorum went out the window with fans on their feet -- arms in the air, knees loose and bouncing.

But perhaps the highlight came when Lamar took the mic at the end the night -- not to spit another harrowing verse, but to ask the crowd for quiet. And the audience members in the concert hall obliged. As the collective silence settled over the crowd, Lamar said, "I did 'To Pimp a Butterfly' for these moments right here."