Dropping the first GNX visual for fan favorite “squabble up,” Kendrick Lamar demonstrates his love for his city, and just how much he isn’t here to play… Not that either were ever in question.
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Filmed entirely in a mysterious green ballroom with a lone crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the Calmatic-directed music video is filled with several references to the West Coast and Compton, from Nate Dogg’s G-Funk Classics and Ice-T’s 1988 album Power, to 1993’s Menace II Society, and the scrabble board seen on the iconic TV variety series, Soul Train.
At one point, Lamar holds up a sign that says “Jases Saves Gangsters Too!” as a group of girls pose in front of a retro photo booth, and, in another, he holds a book titled How to Be More Like Kendrick for Dummies — no doubt a (not so) subtle jab at another rapper (Drake, is that one for you?).
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Also seen in the video, a street sign for the 105 Freeway, a hydraulic bouncing Buick GNX (the car after which the album is named), and extras engaged in a variety of shenanigans – moshpits, street fights, LOTS of dancing, and even a candle-lit vigil.
The latest of Kendrick’s odes to L.A. Hip-Hop street culture, the video also closes with a hometown holiday season announcement, as a man dressed as soul singer Isaac Hayes from his “Black Moses” rolls out a banner that reads, Compton Christmas Parade. Which is now known to be taking place on December 14 on Compton Boulevard and Bullis Road. However, whether Lamar will be in attendance, is not.
First teased in the intro to the “Not Like Us,” “squabble up,” which samples Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music,” dropped Friday alongside the rest of Kendrick’s surprise album, GNX.
While we’re on the topic of Kendrick’s surprise album, we’d be remiss to not discuss the flood of reactions GNX received after arriving with absolutely zero warning. The internet really went wild and did it’s thing
Check out just a few of the double-tap worthy reactions we came across, below, and then if you haven't already, watch the "squabble up" music video above.