About “HUMBLE.”

On “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 the verse James 4:7.

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

—Thus linking to April 7th, the date Kendrick told the industry to have their shit together.

Mike WiLL Made-It produced the beat. It 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 No. 1 song and second No. 1 song overall on the charts.