Every week, a slew of new music videos hits the web. Watching them at your desk is not time theft because you deserve it; think of it as a nice reward for surviving another work week. But what if you don’t have time to watch every video — maybe you have a deadline, a hungry pet, or other grown-up concerns. In consideration of your schedule, Lizzie and Kaitlyn bring you a series called One Video. Each week we’ll tell you “one video” you need to watch, why, and for how long.
This week’s video: “Humble” by Kendrick Lamar
Lizzie: Near the end of the day yesterday, we thought we had our idea for this week’s “One Video” all locked in, and then Kendrick Lamar went and released a new video. It’s hard to stay mad at him for disrupting our plans though; “Humble” is distractingly easy to watch, and for my money, might be the best “One Video” video yet.
Kaitlyn: Lizzie, you’re right. “Humble” was an easy and obvious choice for this column. If you’re going to watch only one music video every week, it might as well always be a Kendrick Lamar video. It doesn’t even have to be a new one. He always packs his videos with enough fascinating visuals to reward rewatching. (Think of him as the reverse Terrence Malick.)
This one, directed by Dave Meyers (who has done videos for everyone from Britney Spears to the Notorious B.I.G. to Aerosmith to Rihanna), has Kendrick Lamar as a young pope, Kendrick Lamar as Steve Jobs, Kendrick Lamar doing a short advertisement for Grey Poupon mustard, and uh, this:
What’s special about “Humble”:
Lizzie: You could say it’s special for the sole fact that it’s a Kendrick Lamar music video, the likes of which we haven’t seen since 2016’s “God is Gangsta.” While that one featured Lamar sitting alone with a bottle of liquor, questioning his faith and his success, “Humble” sees Lamar donning papal robes and taking that center seat at the Last Supper.