Music Video Analysis Three // Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE
‘Humble’ was the single that boosted Kendrick Lamar back into the rap music industry. The single was released on the 30th March 2017 and since then the music video, that was directed by Dave Meyers and The Little Homies, has accumulated over 450 million views on YouTube. This is the most popular video on his channel with 3 times more views than his next most popular video, ‘DNA’. The music video features masses of incredible camera and editing techniques to create unique visual effects that have since been copied by many music video producers. As well as this, the music video is features lots of religious iconography. This is present in the very opening shot of the video (below, 0:04) which is an extreme long shot of Lamar, dressed as the Pope in a cope (the cloak worn by the Pope). The shot is lit almost entirely by a holy-looking beam of light leading from the window in the top right of the frame to light up Lamar in the bottom left of the frame, this results in a very low key lighting with a strong focus on Lamar, enhanced by the strong leading line created by the beam of light that leads the viewers eye through the frame and to Lamar. The extreme long shot used by the directors and Lamar’s positioning in the bottom corner of the composition makes him look modest, unobtrusive and humble.
This is then flipped on it’s head and Kendrick shows of the other side of the coin in the next scene by portraying another character. The scene shows Lamar dressed in all black lying on a table of money, ignorantly shooting stacks of money from a cash cannon, as the women around him are counting the money (below, 0:19). It could be argued that this character represents Lamar in the eyes of the media, and the women represent the paparazzi journalists that are making money off of this character.
We are then introduced to the next scene where Lamar is sat in a hair salon setting with three girls in the chairs next to his (below, 0:34). The girls are all absorbed in their magazines representing the general public getting brainwashed by the media, they are even performing synchronized choreography that plays on the idea that everyone in society is becoming clones that all believe everything that they see in the media.
Kendrick is the only one without a magazine, showing how he ignores everything that the media has to say about him. The ‘holy’ light that was cast on him in the opening scene seems to have remained in this scene highlighting the fact that he stays humble and true to himself despite what the media says. All of the girls are oblivious of their surroundings, not talking to each other or Lamar, completely captivated by the media that they are consuming. This is the directors’ first hints towards one of the messages behind this video, emphasising how removed from reality society has become. The mise-en-scene has also been thought about carefully, with one of the girls wearing a top with the word ‘humble’ on it, this is used as an ‘Easter egg’ device that the audience will find enjoyable and rewarding if they find it.
The next scene is comprised of a series of ‘tiny planet’ (or stereographic) shots of Lamar (below, 0:41). These were most likely filmed with a GoPro Omni, a syncronised 6-camera rig that captures a 360° image. This rig was then mounted to Lamar’s handlebars and instead of stiching the images together to create a 360° video, they were inverted to create this mind-blowing ‘tiny planet’ effect. I think this shot is used to reflect that, no matter how big Kendrick gets, he’ll stay true to his roots as being the little boy who rides his bike around the block, or “lil’ Kenny from the block” as he calls it. A simiar style of shot is used in vidoes by hip-hop/rap artists such as Missy Elliot, Ludacris and Busta Rhymes. This series of streigraphic shots also contains a little easter egg for the viewers in that Lamar is wearing a white top with the name of the album ‘DAMN’ in the same font that is used on the cover.
The next scene is a high angle of Lamar with his head raised to the camera, rapping along to the lyrics in direct address. He is surrounded by a group of bald black man, all dressed in plain black, bobbing their heads to the beat of the song (below, 1:01). This is widely recognised as a political reference to the way that African Americans in history have been forced to not question anything and to just follow orders. The fact that they all have shaven-heads and black clothes makes it clear that he is referring to their skin colour rather than anything else. They all have their heads down and are complying to each other, in a similar way that society has a tenancy to comply to stereotypes without questioning or pushing the conventions. Lamar has once again been touched with the ‘divine light’ as he has his head up to the light, breaking the conventions. This shot is also making a reference to a scene in Eminem’s music video for ‘The Real Slim Shady’ that uses a very similar idea but with a crowd of all white-skinned people in white t-shirts.
The next is shot is the first we see of the ‘Last Supper’ style scene. Lamar has once again used very biblical iconography with a very strong reference to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper Painting that depicts the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples. The mise-en-scene is very similar between this shot and the painting, with a long table, wine glasses, bread etc. Lamar is seated in the center as a Christ-like figure which is once again a nod towards the idea that he is an almost holy figure. The next shot cuts in to a mid shot of Lamar that uses a powerful jitter effect. This effect is once again created with a syncronised multi-camera rig with two cameras side-by-side, with another two sat on top to create a square of four camera, all pointing in the same direction. Then, in post, the editor quickly flicked through these four slightly different perspectives, keeping Kendick Lamar in the center of each ‘perspective’, to create this really cool jitter effect (below, 1:21).
The next scene depicts Kendrick Lamar and several other individuals organized in a line with their heads on fire as the camera gradually tracks backwards from a medium close up to a medium long shot (below, 1:37). It could be argued that this scene symbolizes the restrictions that society has put on modern ideas. The fact that Lamar’s white sweatshirt says ‘dreamer’ shows how he’s actually less restricted than his counterparts, suggesting that thinking outside norms is more liberating than staying confided to what is deemed normal and standard. This effect could have just been created using VFX fire and then blending and masking this onto the tops of their heads, however It could also have been achieved by lighting some form of cylindrical props on fire in front of a green screen and then blending this image over the original one and then key-framing and colour grading the flames to make them look more realistic.
Another notable scene is the one that uses a split screen effect with the left hand side representing the natural and unedited version of Lamar and the female actor, while the right shows the unnatural and edited side that they might portray on social media. This fits with the lyric of the song that is being played that says “I’m so fuckin’ sick and tired of the Photoshop. Show me somethin’ natural like Afro on Richard Pryor”. Despite being one of the more controversial lyrics in the song, Lamar is highlighting his distaste towards the over Photoshopped and over edited versions of themselves that people show to the world. When Lamar crosses over the line into the “edited” side of the frame, noting changes to him or his appearance – highlighting how he portrays the true version of himself online and stays ‘humble’ to reality. On the other hand, when the girl crosses over the line to the “unedited” side, her appearance completely changes with her make-up, slick-back hair, and fancy dress all removed to reveal her natural self with natural frizzy hair etc. (below, 1:48). Lamar is preaching that he hates when people, women in particular, hide their true identity.
The lyrics also reference Prior. Richard Pryor is an African American comedian and he is known for working against racism, this suggests the true meaning of the lyrics with Lamar talking about being tired of people hiding their truth ethnic background just to be accepted by the society, as portrayed by the woman in the video.
There is also one final scene that I really like, this is the scene that uses very fast camera movement that seems to snap into different angles of Kendrick while he raps. Lamar is seen remaining in one spot white the camera quickly pans to different angles (below, 1:58). Now, besides his head moving to the camera, it remains the same image just shown in different perspectives. This is same with media. There is only one truth, yet the media has a way of manipulating and turning truth into one or more different stories based on personal perceptions, Lamar highlights how damaging this can be on society. This shot was likely shot using a robotic cinema camera arm (such as a Cinebot or Mylo) that allows the director to get the camera to move to a preset location with pre-programmed settings at very fast speeds.
Overall, this is an incredible music video that contains amazing imagery as well as a much deeper and important set of messages for society based on highlighting how removed from reality society has actually become. On top of this imagery, the directors have used some truly inovative techniques brought about by the creative use of technologies that help to convey the video’s messages in a more effective way. I am really keen to think about how I can emulate some of these techniques in the production of my music video as this video shows just how effective they can be when executed well.
