Kendrick Lamar might just be a menace. The Los Angeles rapper wasn’t satisfied with taking Drake out of the paint with his incendiary (and now five-time GRAMMY-nominated) diss track “Not Like Us.” Instead of taking an awards season victory lap as he preps his Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performance, the Pulitzer Prize winner shocked everyone this past Friday (November 22nd) with the release of his latest album GNX. The set is still currently being digested and dissected by the masses — who are discovering many layers and meanings throughout the work — but K-Dot isn’t letting up as he’s also just dropped a music video for the album track “squabble up.”
The song, a snippet of which is heard at the beginning of the “Not Like Us” video, samples Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music” and has a natural West Coast bounce to it. And since GNX as a whole serves as a love letter to Kendrick’s Los Angeles, it’s only fitting that the video is filled with references to the city he loves while also giving us deep cut nods to hip-hop’s roots.
The Calmatic-directed clip opens up on a room that looks similar to the one seen in The Roots’ video for “The Next Movement” before revealing Kendrick in LA Dodgers blue below a highway sign from the city being hung up and a dancer crumping in the background. Like “The Next Movement,” things constantly change around Kendrick, including references to films, shows, eras, cultures and significant moments. We won’t name all of them, but there are nods to Menace II Society, Isaac Hayes, Nate Dogg, Ice T’s Power album cover and a whole host of other nods to LA and Compton.
It’s not just “squabble up” that has the streets talking about GNX. The set is filled with moments that prove why Kendrick Lamar might just be the best in the game. And with features that vary from former labelmate SZA to a slew of LA’s up-and-coming rappers (and even incorporating mariachi singer Deyra Barrera throughout), it is worth several listens to catch everything that K-Dot is putting down.
See what all the fuss is about when you watch the video for “squabble up” right here and then stream GNX in full below.
Kendrick Lamar GNX [Amazon][Apple Music][TIDAL]
