Kendrick Lamar has officially returned. The critically acclaimed rapper wasted no time releasing the first music video from his latest album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. On Saturday (May 14), the rapper shared the creative visual for “N95” which features an appearance from Baby Keem, skateboarding tricks, and the Compton native floating above rushing water.
Directed by Lamar and Dave Free, both of pgLang, the “N95” video is mostly pictured in black and white with vivid color present in only a handful of scenes, including the phrase “this sh*t hard” (which he repeats on the song) appearing in red font.
The album itself dropped on Friday the 13th and explores a variety of subjects from the artist’s personal life. “N95” is the first song from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers to get the music video treatment.
Ahead of the album and as a continuation of the fan-favorite series, the Compton-bred performer released “The Heart Part 5,” a deepfake-powered creative visual where he morphs into Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle among others while rapping from their perspectives. Once the album dropped, K. Dot kept the momentum and revealed the global dates of his The Big Steppers Tour, set to kick off this summer with Baby Keem and Tanna Leone. Both pgLang artists are featured on the album.
Given the release of this first visual, it is only right to expect more considering Kendrick Lamar’s history of dropping music videos that are often as creative and polarizing as his music.
Watch Kendrick Lamar’s video for “N95” above.