Humble by Kendrick Lamar

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On the ironically braggadocious track “HUMBLE.” Kendrick Lamar challenges his competition. It was released a week after the first promotional single, “The Heart Part 4,” with a music video directed by Dave Meyers and The Little Homies. It features religious imagery mixed with urban life, such as Kendrick in priest’s robes and a moving re-enactment of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper—juxtaposing this with the concept of humility in the chorus. On a religious note, the song could also be a reference to James Chapter 4, verse 7: So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The beat features a deep piano riff and a banging 808 bass line. This style of production is a departure from the sound of Kendrick’s previous jazz-influenced project, To Pimp a Butterfly. It seems to reference the character Deebo’s theme song from the popular comedy movie Friday (1995). Kendrick is also shown riding through the neighborhood on a bicycle in the music video, similar to Deebo in Friday. The song debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 22, 2017, making it not only the highest charting song for Kendrick, but also one of the highest debuting hip-hop singles since “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem. The song later hit No. 1 on the chart on June 5, 2017, making it Lamar’s first solo No. 1 song and second No. 1 song overall on the charts.