Pusha T was proud to bring Kendrick Lamar into his world of dark and seedy drug-dealing raps on an early favorite from the Clipse MC’s upcoming solo debut, My Name is My Name. For the song’s video, though, King Push jumped into the good kid’s world, opting to shoot in K-Dot’s hometown, Compton, California.
On Thursday night, Push gave NPR.com the go-ahead to premiere the black-and-white visual. In the clip, the G.O.O.D. Music MC walks by himself down a dark block as the camera swings around from his back to his front profile, just in time to catch his opening rhymes: “Twenty-plus years of selling Johnson & Johnson/ I started out as a baby-faced monster/ No wonder it’s diaper rash on my conscience/ My teething ring was numbed by that nonsense.”
“Just the parallels man, that’s the only way I know how to,” Pusha told MTV News about comparing his rise in the drug game to a baby’s growth. “If it doesn’t make sense, then I really can’t rap it. I’m just trying to show people the chronological of the verse and what I’m saying in the verse.”
The street that Pusha walks down in the video is eerily empty, that is, until Kendrick appears to start his rhyme. “You wanna see a dead body,” he begins, echoing the famous line from John Singleton’s 1991 classic film, “Boyz n the Hood.”
The video has already gotten applause from fans and rappers alike. The visually minded Tyler, the Creator tweeted, “Wow that nosestalgia video wow that was sick @PUSHA_T @kendricklamar i like. Sucks i have a video thats kinda like that coming soon i hope no one think i stole that haha.”
The track is a different sound for Lamar, who admittedly hasn’t participated in the street life. The one-take music video is also a new look, relying on the rappers’ expert-timing and onscreen chemistry.
“I felt it was really dope that Kendrick hopped in my world — the street life — and [put] his perspective on it,” Pusha told us about the track.
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