Analysis of "Humble" music video by Kendrick Lama. A2 Media Studies coursework by Clara Barroso

1. KENDRICK LAMAR
MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS
C L A R A B A R R O S O

2. BACKGROUND
• “HUMBLE.” was the single that brought the best out of
Kendrick Lamar back into the rap music industry. The single
was released on the 30th March 2017.
• However his album “DAMN” was only released on the on the
14th April 2017, which it was on the same day Jesus died on the
cross for the religious belief in Christianity. On the album cover
Kendrick Lamar as his head down just like when Jesus died on
the cross and the album font and background is two different
tones of red which links to the ide of being a connotation to
blood or danger.
• Kendrick Lamar is also very known for being called ‘K-Dot’.
• The “HUMBLE.” song is a hip-hop/rap song.
• The song was composed by Kendrick Lamar and Mike WiLL
Made-It.
• “HUMBLE.” is the eighth track on the “DAMN.” album.
• Kendrick Lamar won the award for “Best Video of the Year”
from the “HUMBLE.” music video, at the MTV VMA’S 2017.
• The single became Lamar's second number-one single on the
US Billboard Hot 100 after "Bad Blood" and his first as a lead
artist.

3. NARRATIVE• This video has a narrative and a story of different scenes that all
together creates a story and the scenes reflect back on the song
lyrics sang by Kendrick Lamar.
• This music video has a religious narrative by the post-modern
scenes of Kendrick Lamar dressed as a Pope and representing
Jesus on ‘The Last Supper’ scene.
• The music video also has a second narrative side of the story,
which is where it involves all the ,other scenes (not including the
religious ones) where it portrays the idea of how the people from
his background/ race are represented in the society through
political views and through the media, as the lyrics link to the
scenes and the special effects that has been included on the
music video.
• However, at the start of the video, Kendrick Lamar is introduced
to the audience by being in an empty cathedral, dressed as Pope,
with light coming down on him as long as this scene being shot
as an extreme long shot in a low angle.
• The music video has links with Goodwin’s theory as the actual
music video has relation with the song lyrics itself.
• This music video doesn’t follow Todorov’s narratology as there
is an issue being portrayed all the way through the video which
is when K-Dot mentions his background/race and how is viewed
in many different ways. And also the fact that society is still very
racist and the way he tries not to hide from his identity but
trying to get a message through that still hasn’t been solved. So
it doesn’t follow the Todorov’s theory.

4. GENRE • The genre of the song is Hip-Hop/ Rap.
• The genre that is represented on the song is portrayed by the
protagonist (which is Kendrick Lamar himself) found in
different scenarios.
• But as a whole the narrative of the music video tells a story;
- How Kendrick Lamar is viewed in the rap music industry, as a
King of rap.
- Having K-Dot as Jesus from the famous painting from ‘The Last
Supper’.
- Him representing other rappers by lip-syncing the wrong lyrics
in one of the scenes, as the camera is moving around but always
focusing on Kendrick Lamar.
- And many other scenes where he shows a representation of
black people and how they are portrayed through the media and
politically, minding the fact the whole music video only includes
people from his race and background to portray the message
clearly.
• Having so much going on through the music video but only
focusing it all on the lyrics, what’s happening on the scenes and
K-Dot himself all the way through, this got the public eye as the
video got more the attention from all the best visual effects that
blew with views on YouTube.
• In conclusion, from the beat of the song it would belong to Hip-
Hop genre but because the lyrics and the main character is the
singer taking different roles this song would also belong to Rap.
• Personally I would identify this song/ music video to belong on
the Rap music genre.

5. MEDIA LANGUAGE
• “Humble” resonate deeply with black people is the way it
juxtaposes black excellence and authenticity with black struggle
and the black come up. In both visuals, we are stunned by the
capacity of our wonder, and the gravity of our community’s
issues, such as racism, police brutality and more. The result:
iconic, moving visuals that speak volumes.
• “Humble” follows some traditional rap video aesthetics.
• The aerial shot of Kendrick laying on a bed of money while
shooting more into the air.
• But it also takes some chances, which makes the visuals
resonate poetically. The bald bobble head scene is visually
striking as well as symbolically thoughtful: it reminds me of
togetherness, of the struggle between individuality and
community (he is the only one with braids in this shot) and of
the ways society views black people as a monolith.
• The media language through this music video includes a lot of
post-modernism, as the audience recognise a lot of famous art
pieces as a whole that Kendrick Lamar decided to pick up and
change it in his own imagery/ vision.
• The use of the different settings sets a specific use of media
language and the use of only black people identifies clearly that
his video is just about his race and the ways his race is portrayed
and how racist it can be. It’s a media language for the society as
a whole to reflect how racist people to this day still are towards
black people.

6. AUDIENCE
• Kendrick Lamar target audience is the demographics from ages 18-50.
• This is a huge demographic and huge age range, from a really young
age to an older age that wouldn’t be seen in a rapper. It is a huge
demographic for hip-hop and contemporary rap.
• Kendrick Lamar is considered as one of the artist with an enormous
audience reach.
• His primary target audience is male, by 56% are male listeners that
listen to his music.
• His secondary target audience is female, by 44% are female listeners
that listen to his music.
• K-Dot’s main selling points include being relatable and politics in his
music and then portrays it in his music videos.
• Kendrick is endorsed by Reebok which advocates his music as well as
their brand. His main selling points speak volumes through the
speakers for all the relative realistic events that are taking place in
society today that the every day listeners can also relate to.

7. THE MAIN PARTS IN THE VIDEO ABOUT
REPRESENTATION

8. REPRESENTATION
POPE
In the first scene, there is various shots, such as; extremely long
shot, mid shot and close up shot that has been used when he is
firstly dressed as the Pope in an empty cathedral. This represents
the idea of linking to the fact that he is one of the greatest rappers
of all time. He has also been considered as the King of Rap from
all his work, career and albums. So this is a true reflection at the
start of this single, the way he demonstrates his first impression
by being dressed as the Pope, representing a huge religious
character and belief within Christianity.
1
JESUS
2 The next character that Kendrick Lamar is representing in his
own music video is the character of Jesus in ‘The Last Supper’
as he has the wine and the bread in front of him which is the
same thing that he has in this scenario. The only differences
between this scene and the painting of ‘he last Supper’ is that
Jesus itself on the painting is cutting the bread and on this
scene he is only paying attention to the people around him
(which have the same background as him) and can be
identified as his disciples.

9. REPRESENTATION
4
DREAMER
Another scene that Kendrick Lamar is representing a character is
when he has his head on fire and is wearing a white sweatshirt that
says “Dreamer” on the left top corner. In this position he is
representing all the people from his race and background. He is
representing the idea that all black peoples dream do not come true
and the media itself makes it seem to black people to follow their
goals, that’s the main reason why their heads are on fire. The people
at the back is what the media identifies black people as, more what’s
happening at the back rather than following their dreams.
3
REPRESENTING ALL OTHER RAPPERS
This is the most interesting scene out of the whole music video, as
K-Dot himself is representing all the other rappers and talking
about how bad they can be when it comes to lip-syncing their own
lyrics. As interesting as it may seem, if you watch the video on this
part, during the second verse, you would be about to know that
whatever K-Dot is lip syncing is completely different to the lyrics
that he is actually supposed to be singing. This is his way of
representing how other rappers look like when they try to lip sync
their own lyrics on their own music videos.

10. THE VIDEO’S BEST VISUAL REFERENCES;
POST-MODERN

11. REFERENCES
The video opens with Kendrick Lamar dressed as a Pope inside an empty
cathedral. Werther by designed or coincidence it has reference from ‘The Young
Pope’. This show only started airing in America in January 2017, however it all
depends when they started to shoot the ‘HUMBLE.’ music video. This is the first
reference that links to post-modernism, by the fact that he took an original piece
from the platform ‘Netflix’ and used at the right start of the music video. The
reference of K-D0t being dressed as a Pope, also links to the idea of him being the
King of Rap which is the genre of all his music, including this music video.
On the next scene, Kendrick Lamar shows up as this new character, the is
a victim of the media. You can see that the women are counting money
and the ban not counter looks like typewriters and these girls represent
paparazzi journalists. They are making money of this character like
parasites. Their faces are hidden underneath which means they are
undercover.

12. REFERENCES
The next scene that comes up next is where Kendrick is found in a salon
as the women are enjoying what is said in those magazines and they seem
not to be questioning the information as they seem very concentrated
with what they’re reading. He is the only one that is not reading those
magazines because he already knowns the truth. He therefore does not
get brainwashed by what’s going on in the media and the information the
women seem to be taking in as they read the magazines.
The next visual reference is the 360 degree, tiny planet, stereographic
shot of Kendrick Lamar riding a bike. Which may also be seen as a
postmodern reference to the more visually daring to late 90’s and early
2000’s music videos as there has been used 0f 360 degree tiny planet
shot in different angles and use of the space around from other previous
artist. The artist that has used this type of shot was; Ludacris, Missy
Elliot and Busta Rhymes. Also this shot on the music video has an Easter
egg, where K-Dot’s white shirt has the name of the album with the same
font that is used on the final album cover.

13. REFERENCESThen Kendrick Lamar comes with a scene of bold man, all dressed in black
with their heads turned down bobbing around. The scene is a reference to
Eninem song ‘The Real Slim Shady’ but it could also be taken from an
inspiration from another HBO show ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ but they might
all linking from the 1999 ‘Being John Malkovich’. Also it can be refencing that
African Americans in history have been forced not to question anything and
just follow the orders as it is saying be humble shit down as you see some men
looking down. This shot K-Dot is making clear that he is referring to the skin
colour as they are all dressed in black.
However on the very ending on the last scene you see them dressed in a social
status and no one is looking down, even though he sings “sit down” and he is
the only one completely wearing white. As it potentially means that he will be
keeping on fighting against racism until his mission is over/ completed.

14. REFERENCESIn “Formation by Beyoncé. She sank a cop car with her body.
And in “Humble”, Kendrick Lamar mirrors his own imagery
with a little more humour as Kendrick Lamar swinging golf
balls off deserted whip. This is a reference to post-modernism
as a link that he took a scene from a different artist, the same
concept, idea and look but made in his own imagery which
made this scene more ‘modern’.
Then Kendrick Lamar very humbly compares himself to Jesus where there is
reference to ‘The Last Supper’ which was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci from
the late 1400’s that captures Jesus breaking bread with his disciples before
being portrayed. ‘The Last Supper’ is one of the most famous paintings ever,
so it’s a popular culture reference into post-modernism, but in Rap music
genre as many 0ther rappers have already used this reference K-Dot did in
this music video.

15. This scene also has refence to…REFERENCES
This scene explains how the racist people think and say. They often
imagine someone is taking over their place and it is clearly affecting the
dreamers. Notice the word ‘dreamers’ on his sweater, which is clearly
visible as this shot changes from a close-up shot to a mid shot as the
director creates movement with the camera. Their heads are on fire
because they cannot fulfil their dream. They are forced by the society to
live a life like the guys sitting in the background which is what people
from his race and colour would fit in the media and how the media
world would portray them instead of being able to achieve their dreams
and becoming far.
The idea of K-Dot having his head on fire which resembles the
Marvel superhero; Ghost Rider of Vengeance. Which is a film
that was produced by Columbia Pictures.

16. “I’m so fuckin’ sick and tired of the
Photoshop,” Kendrick preaches. “Show me
somethin’ natural like afro on Richard Pryor.”
Ok, so his logic is a little “woman, thou art
loosed” — there are a myriad of social and
political connotations surrounding black
women’s hair, and choosing a lace front
over natural coils doesn’t necessarily reflect
one’s black identity. Still, Kendrick counts
himself as a proud admirer of stretch
marks.
Richard Pryor
REFERENCES
Richard Pryor is an African American
comedian and he is known for working
against racism so mentioning him on the
lyrics “I’m so fuckin’ sick and tired of the
Photoshop,” shows the meaning of
talking about girls in the media and when
he sings “Show me somethin’ natural like
afro on Richard Pryor.” changes the
whole lyric meaning from girls to Pryor.
With the true meaning of him talking
about being tired of people hiding their
truth ethnic background just to be
accepted by the society. This is because
African people are most unemployed just
because of their true background.
The video also has a post-modernism reference to a classic to a 1981
Grey Poupon commercial from Hall of Advertising. Kendrick Lamar
isn’t the first to reference the ad. Perhaps the most memorable Pop
culture reference is from the 1992 film ‘Wayne’s World’ (Paramount
Pictures). For whatever reason, in the media and in the music world,
Grey Poupon has a lot of cultural resemblances in Hip-Hop. In 2011
alone 50 different rap songs mentioned Grey Poupon and last year
Kanye West refenced it on his album ‘Life of Pablo ’ on the song ‘Facts’.