“N95” by Kendrick Lamar

The song “N95” is the lead single off this album and is one of the best tracks off the album. Kendrick utilizes much of the same fiery flows that he unleashed on his last album, DAMN. He has some of his best bars from the whole album on this track, all the while deconstructing the current culture of designer and false idol worship. He asks the listener to remove the superficial facades and coping mechanisms they’ve acquired over time, likening it to wearing designer masks rather than N95’s. He ponders what is left underneath, and comes to the conclusion that it’s ugly. However, this theme is not limited to the listener but to Kendrick himself. On this song, and this whole album, he is very vocal about his stature in both music and the culture at large. He shys away from the “messiah” mantle that’s been placed upon him, and the calls for him to be “the voice of a generation”. It’s all idol worship for someone who admits he is deeply flawed, and he asks us to examine why we put that in him.

The music video was released on May 14th, 2022, the day after the album dropped. It was directed by Lamar himself and Dave Free. The video begins with the words “This Sh*t Hard” in big red capital letters as the camera pans across a beach to Lamar floating over the water in a Christ-like pose, visualizing his status as a “false” idol. The video then cuts almost as quickly between scenes as Kendrick switches up flows. We see him and his cousin Baby Keem running down a hallway, Lamar working out alone on a rooftop, him in bed with a woman, and then playing piano alone. Ashe answers a payphone and asks a bunch of questions at the end of the third verse. We see he’s wearing a pair of black chucks, which makes sense since his company PGLang just started collaborating with Converse recently. The video features Kendrick’s signature visual style and penchant for incredible visuals, and fits with the thematic direction of the song and album very well.