Kendrick Lamar has dropped his second new track in as many weeks, Humble. The song came along with a video, directed by Dave Meyers and the Little Homies (The Little Homies are Kendrick himself and Dave Free of TDE).
The track follows on from The Heart Part 4, released last week. To say it’s different to anything we heard on To Pimp A Butterfly and untitled, unmastered is quite the understatement, and will no doubt excite fans who preferred K-Dot’s Good Kid m.A.A.d City-era sound more than the jazz of TPAB. The piano instrumental is heavy, sparse and aggressive, growing more synth-intensive throughout. Meanwhile, the video plays on religious imagery, wealth and social leadership, in one of the most engaging clips of the year so far.
The clip begins with with Kendrick wearing religious robes, alone in a church, preaching to his absent audience. We then see Kendrick lying on a pile of money, cash all over the floor, and three women counting the stacks. The opposing continue to switch for the duration of the verse.
“Be humble, sit down,” King Kendrick instructs during the hook, which sees two new scenes: Cornrow Kenny in the middle of a sea of bald men, and a bare recreation of The Last Supper, with little more than piles of bread on the table.
Verse two sees Kendrick and a group of black men with flaming ropes wrapped around their heads. We then reach a scene which spotlights women’s bodies (with Kendrick rapping about how he’s sick of Photoshop) as well as his own face.
The scene of the second hook is similar in that it’s a sea of black men with Kendrick in the middle, but this time around, they’re all wearing black suits, except for Kendrick, in white.
This track is incredible. It’s unexpected, and it’s incredible. The video is packed with layer upon layer of imagery and symbolism, but the overarching message – being humble – is not only powerful, but incredibly unique and rare in hip-hop.
Thanks god for Kendrick Lamar.
Read: Connecting the K-Dots: Kendrick Lamar’s The Heart Parts 1-4
Image: Youtube