In The Quantity Ones, I’m reviewing each single #1 single within the historical past of the Billboard Sizzling 100, beginning with the chart’s starting, in 1958, and dealing my approach up into the current. E-book Bonus Beat: The Quantity Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the Historical past of Pop Music.
I do know. I do know! Consider me, I’m proper there with you. Kenrick Lamar didn’t seek the advice of me on when he ought to drop his new album GNX. The truth is, he threw my writing schedule into chaos. I’ve to work additional shifts on the content material manufacturing unit due to this man’s timing. Kendrick is nearly definitely not conscious of this column. He may’ve by no means seen or learn the phrase “Stereogum” in his life. Kendrick’s buddy Jack Antonoff is a special story, however I might not presume to think about that Antonoff instructed Kendrick to launch his new earthshaking blockbuster document just a few days earlier than the Quantity Ones column on “Humble.” That might be too bizarre. I’m not that essential.
It’s not the primary time this has occurred, proper? The universe strikes in mysterious methods, and sometimes the timing of this column intersects with the true world in dizzying, unpredictable methods. It may very well be a complete coincidence, however I would favor to imagine that I’m subconsciously locked in with a few of the uncanny forces that outline our lives. It’s slightly scary, however I’m getting used to it. Whenever you’re as tall as me, you’re nearer to God. Anyway, let’s get into the column that I began writing earlier than a masterful new Kendrick album all of the sudden appeared on my telephone. Fake you didn’t learn these two paragraphs. Fake the following sentence is the lede.
The second that you simply heard the piano, you knew what time it was. In 1988, the nice Queens rap producer Marley Marl minimize up the pounding riff from Otis Redding’s “Onerous To Deal with,” setting it to some arduous, minimal drums and doing nearly nothing else to brighten it. Marley introduced in 4 of the hardnosed, unflappable rappers from his Juice Crew collective — Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, and Massive Daddy Kane — to flex effortlessly over that beat, typically throwing echo on their voices. No person bothered to provide you with a refrain as a result of a refrain wasn’t the purpose.
The ensuing single was referred to as “The Symphony.” It obtained a enjoyable Previous West-themed video, however it by no means got here wherever close to the Sizzling 100. The late ’80s marked the very starting of rap’s crossover period. Rappers scored just a few Sizzling 100 hits in that second, however they needed to attempt actually, actually arduous to get there. When Marley Marl and people Juice Crew guys made “The Symphony,” that wasn’t what they had been making an attempt to do. They had been simply making an attempt to make the toughest document on earth, and so they succeeded. “The Symphony” helped set up the conference of the posse minimize, the chorus-free exercise the place a bunch of rap titans compete to see who can say the coldest shit, and it stands to this present day as one of many nice examples of the shape.
Rap moved in about one million aesthetic instructions after “The Symphony,” however the primal energy of that minimal gut-punch drums-and-piano beat by no means went wherever. “The Symphony” nearly definitely wasn’t the primary rap document to mix a hard-ass piano with some hard-ass drums, and it was removed from the final. That mixture serves as an immediate back-to-basics assertion, a psychological sign that any person is about to come back in and speak some shit. In Could of 2016, as an example, the Pittsburgh rapper Jimmy Wopo used some hard-ass piano and drums to introduce himself on his music “Elm Avenue.” Wopo, born 9 years after the discharge of “The Symphony,” by no means grew to become a star, and he was gunned down in 2018 on the age of 21. However the electrical jolt of “Elm Avenue” lives endlessly.
A yr after Jimmy Wopo launched “Elm Avenue,” Kendrick Lamar went to the robust minimalism of that drums-and-pianos combo on his instant-blockbuster single “Humble.” Within the second, some Twitter commentators tossed out the concept that Kendrick was making an attempt to experience Jimmy Wopo’s wave. I don’t doubt that Kendrick, a tireless fan and advocate of street-rap, heard and cherished “Elm Avenue.” However when Kendrick heard these pianos, he heard one thing else. In 2017, Kendrick instructed Rolling Stone, “All I may consider was ‘The Symphony’ and the earliest moments of hip-hop, the place it’s advanced simplicity, however it’s additionally any person making strikes. That beat appears like my era, proper now.”
Complicated simplicity, but additionally any person making strikes. That’s lovely, and it’s additionally correct. Earlier than he heard that piano, Kendrick Lamar had already made loads of strikes — sufficient that he was extensively thought of his era’s best rapper, a voice of uncommon depth and virtuosity who may nonetheless typically cartwheel into mainstream consciousness if the whole lot lined up precisely proper. When he heard that piano, Kendrick grew to become one thing else. He went into Juice Crew mode, or an up to date model of Juice Crew mode, and he tore that motherfucker up. “Humble” didn’t come out in 1988. It got here out in 2017, when a hard-ass rap document may simply vault its strategy to the highest of the Sizzling 100.
Kendrick Lamar wasn’t all the time a pop star. That may’t be overemphasized. Kendrick Lamar has been on this column earlier than, however he didn’t get right here on his personal. In 2015, Taylor Swift obtained Kendrick to rap on her “Unhealthy Blood” remix. This was a call made for prestige-bait and stunt-casting causes — Swift recruiting a profound and beloved rapper to hitch her noisy, hammering pop-star diss observe and, extra importantly, its CGI-slathered celebrity-parade video. It was not made for musical choices. Kendrick Lamar didn’t get the possibility to chop unfastened on “Unhealthy Blood.” He won’t have even had the possibility to be himself.
I’m certain Taylor Swift cherished Kendrick Lamar, that she nonetheless loves Kendrick Lamar. Numerous pop stars love Kendrick Lamar. I can nonetheless keep in mind when Girl Gaga stood off together with the third Pitchfork Music Pageant stage to observe Kendrick’s set in 2012. When Kendrick appeared on “Unhealthy Blood,” he was coming off the discharge of his advanced, layered 2015 opus To Pimp A Butterfly, most likely the consensus vital choose for the last decade’s greatest album. To Pimp A Butterfly was not a blockbuster. It solely went platinum as soon as, and its highest-charting single, the pre-release observe “i,” peaked at #39. However the document loudly introduced its significance, and Kendrick Lamar grew to become the kind of rapper that Barack Obama may cite as his favourite.
In 2016, Taylor Swift’s 1989 received the Album Of The Yr Grammy over To Pimp A Butterfly, persevering with Kendrick Lamar’s Beyoncé-esque knack for getting massive Grammy nominations after which shedding these Grammys in ridiculous methods. Irrespective of. Kendrick Lamar was the folks’s champ, and “Unhealthy Blood” additionally confirmed that he was no less than keen to rap on tacky pop songs. In 2016, Kendrick made a equally light-weight look on Maroon 5’s #6 hit “Don’t Wanna Know.” (It’s a 5.) That was a part of a run of pop options, as Kendrick popped up on stuff like Sia’s “The Best,” Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” the Weeknd’s “Sidewalks,” and Travis Scott’s “Goosebumps.” (“Goosebumps” is a little bit of an outlier there, since Travis Scott is no less than a rapper, however he’s not a Kendrick Lamar sort of rapper. He’ll be on this column earlier than lengthy.) None of these songs had been large hits, and none of them actually gave the impression of Kendrick Lamar songs, however all of them charted. On these songs, Kendrick is a supporting participant on his strategy to leading-man standing.
On the similar time, Kendrick Lamar was placing on incendiary awards-show performances and buying and selling bars with rapper’s-rapper varieties like Danny Brown. In a few of his TV appearances, he’d bust out dizzying songs that weren’t even launched. Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly follow-up was a nakedly uncommercial transfer: Untitled Unmastered, a 2016 assortment of TPAB castoffs that had been plainly not made with the pop charts in thoughts. The document debuted at #1 on the album chart — a transparent signal of the goodwill that Kendrick had amassed — however barely any of its songs made the Sizzling 100. (The very best-charting of them was “untitled 02 | 06.23.2014.” — all of them have titles like that — which peaked at #79.)
Within the stretch after To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar despatched some blended messages out into the world. That’s just about what he’s all the time executed. Time and again, Kendrick makes use of his information to current himself as a flawed and contradictory human being, not because the messianic all-substance rap determine that so many individuals clearly need him to be. He stored his title within the combine by rapping on fluffy pop singles, however he didn’t appear to be he wished to be a pop star himself. As an alternative, he made thorny and insular music, carrying himself as a cult artist on the biggest attainable degree. All of it went out the window when he heard the “Humble” piano.
The “Humble” piano got here from Mike Will Made-It, the big-deal Atlanta rap producer who’s already been on this column for his work on Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles.” Really, it got here from two producers: Mike Will and Asheton “Pluss” Hogan, a Canton, Ohio native who moved to Atlanta when he was a child. Mike Will and Pluss met in a highschool math class, and Pluss grew to become one of many in-house producers at Will’s EarDrummers label. Pluss had co-producer credit on Mike Will hits like Lil Wayne’s Drake/Future collab “Love Me” and Beyoncé’s “Formation.” Pluss co-produced “Humble” with Mike Will, and he joins Will and Kendrick Lamar as one of many music’s three co-writers. However Pluss isn’t a longtime title model, so he doesn’t normally get talked about when folks speak about “Humble.” Let’s change that.
Mike Will and Pluss made the “Humble” beat rapidly in a late-night session. Pluss instructed Billboard that it took them 20 or half-hour and that they “actually cooked it up only for enjoyable.” Pluss didn’t discover out that Kendrick Lamar had recorded over that beat till months later, when the music got here out. To listen to Mike Will inform it, although, he had massive plans for that beat. Mike instructed NPR, “I knew that beat was going to seize a second. It simply felt actual pressing. I made that beat [last year] when Gucci Mane was getting out of jail; I made it with him in thoughts. I used to be simply considering, rattling, Gucci’s about to come back residence; it’s obtained to be one thing pressing that’s simply going to take over the radio. And I felt like that beat was that.”
Gucci Mane, the Atlanta establishment who gave a teenage Mike Will his massive break, didn’t use that beat for no matter cause. I’m certain he may’ve gone arduous on it, however it doesn’t actually sound like a Gucci beat, no less than to me. Gucci excels when a observe has a tingly little melody and a druggy, aqueous float. That’s not “Humble.” The “Humble” beat has an old-school ’80s depth, an unforgiving sparseness. Gucci is sufficiently old that he went to see Run-DMC as a child, and he is aware of tips on how to rip up an old-school trunk-rattler, however it’s not his most popular lane. For Kendrick Lamar, coming off of a layered and experimental album, a beat like that was an ideal automobile for a tough zag.
Earlier than Kendrick made “Humble,” he and Mike Will had identified one another for years, however they hadn’t recorded a lot collectively. Earlier than he met Kendrick, Mike Will produced “My Hatin Joint,” a observe that Kendrick’s TDE labelmate and frequent collaborator ScHoolboy Q included on his 2012 album Habits & Contradictions. (ScHoolboy Q’s highest-charting lead-artist single is the 2014 BJ The Chicago Child collab “Studio,” which peaked at #38. Q additionally guested on the Macklemore/Ryan Lewis music “White Partitions,” which peaked at #15 in 2013.) Kendrick was already an ascendant drive by then, however Mike Will says that he hadn’t heard of Kendrick when Q introduced him to the studio in Atlanta.
Kendrick and Mike Will hit it off, and so they talked about making music collectively for a very long time. Mike says that he submitted some tracks for To Pimp A Butterfly however that “they positively weren’t the best vibe,” which appears very true. The primary time that they ever labored collectively was when Kendrick rapped on “Purchase The World,” a music from Mike’s 2014 mixtape Ransom that additionally featured Future and Lil Wayne. (Since issues appear to be brewing on that entrance, it’s notable that Kendrick handily outrapped Wayne.) The second was “Humble.”
Kendrick instructed Rolling Stone that the complete concept for “Humble” got here from the beat: “The very first thing that got here to my head was, ‘Be humble.’” On the “Humble” hook, Kendrick spits that line out as a warning. A military of multi-tracked Kendricks chants, “Hol’ up, bitch! Hol’ up, lil bitch!” Up entrance, one other Kendrick repeats the chorus many times: “Sit down. Be humble.” That line might be greatest understood as a message to the remainder of the rap world on the whole, and possibly to Drake particularly. (Even again then, tons of individuals assumed that each pointed Kendrick line was geared toward Drake.) I feel that’s most likely what Kendrick meant, however Kendrick can imply a number of issues on the similar time.
Kendrick instructed Rolling Stone that he was actually speaking to himself on that hook: “It’s the ego. Whenever you have a look at the music titles on this album, these are all my feelings and all my self-expressions of who I’m. That’s why I did a music like that, the place I simply don’t give a fuck, or I’m telling the listener, ‘You may’t fuck with me.’ However in the end, I’m trying within the mirror.” So he’s reminding himself to be humble whereas additionally informing the remainder of the world that we will’t fuck with him. That dichotomy runs deep within the Kendrick discography. He’s incisive about his personal private failures, however when you come after him, he’ll annihilate you.
“Humble” is generally dedicated to Kendrick flexing arduous. The observe opens with a distorted guitar riff and Kendrick making a singsong proclamation: “No person pray for me! It been that day for me!” (For no matter cause, the video model modifications that first line to “depraved or weak point, you gotta see this” however doesn’t alter anything.) When the beat kicks in, it’s completely colossal — the piano hammering away, the 808 kicks and handclaps hitting like thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk. Kendrick flashes again to being younger and actually hungry — “I keep in mind syrup sandwiches and crime allowances” — instantly locking into his world-conqueror circulation.
When Kendrick Lamar is basically on, he can sound like chaos embodied. The primary time I noticed Kendrick dwell, in what I’m fairly certain was a half-empty faculty cafeteria, I tweeted one thing about how he’s obtained a brief man’s depth, and I meant that as an enormous praise. Kendrick is a small man, and he’s obtained this nasal upper-register honk of a voice. He can do numerous issues with it, however he normally exaggerates that high quality to a near-comical diploma. At his greatest, he lets the beat take the lead, tumbling over the observe with instinctive ferocity and touchdown on indirect, locked-in cadences that no one else would try. He appears like he’s making it up as he goes alongside, however then he says one thing that lodges in your reminiscence endlessly — “My left stroke simply went viiiii-ral!” — even when you’re not satisfied that it truly means something.
“Humble” is without doubt one of the hardest, easiest tracks of Kendrick Lamar’s total profession, however its simplicity is advanced. Kendrick has the uncommon reward of describing avenue actions in ways in which you by no means heard or thought of earlier than: “I get approach too petty when you let me do the extras/ Pull up in your block then break it down, we playin’ Tetris.” He describes his personal elevated stature and shames his lean-addled friends in a few fast, masterful strokes: “This that Gray Poupon, that Evian, that TED Speak! Watch my soul converse! You let the meds speak!” Typically, he performs phrase video games. Typically, he goes direct, throwing out the double entendres as a way to really feel the shit: “I make a play, fuckin’ up your complete life.” You may’t say he didn’t warn you.
There are references galore on “Humble”: Showtime At The Apollo, Richard Pryor’s afro, the very best be aware within the human vocal vary. Kendrick digresses lengthy sufficient to speak about magnificence requirements and PhotoShop, however he cuts it off rapidly sufficient that it doesn’t come off as preaching. He tosses off a fast allusion to his pleasant relationship with Barack Obama and to the newly imperiled Reasonably priced Care Act. Perhaps Kendrick understood that the nation may use some hard-ass rap anthems on the chaotic starting of a Trump presidency. No less than we’re repeating a few of the good elements of historical past, too.
If Kendrick is basically telling himself to be humble on “Humble,” you’ll be able to’t inform. He doesn’t sound humble. He appears like he’s obtained energy bursting out of him and like he needs to gentle the world on fireplace. He’s a rap titan on the peak of his powers, and it’s a blast simply to listen to him minimize unfastened, particularly after the jagged experiments of To Pimp A Butterfly. That’s what made it such an excellent introduction to Rattling, the 2017 album that, for as soon as, didn’t have a lot of an overarching idea. There are many totally different sounds and concepts at work on Rattling, and its unmoored sense of freedom is one among its best strengths. Amongst different issues, Rattling represents Kendrick falling again in love with rap itself. That’s what he does on “Humble.”
“Humble” itself was an announcement, and the video magnified it. Kendrick’s movies have all the time been visionary auteurist works, and he’s all the time performed an enormous half of their development. For “Humble,” Kendrick and his longtime enterprise associate Dave Free, credited because the Little Homies, co-directed alongside Dave Meyers, one of many kings of bugged-out big-budget music movies. Kendrick had by no means labored with Meyers earlier than “Humble,” however the clip has a few of the creative, cinematic silliness that Meyers delivered to his outdated Missy Elliott collaborations like “Get Ur Freak On” and “Work It.”
The primary shot within the “Humble” video is the picture that you simply see within the single cowl artwork above: Kendrick Lamar, dressed up in papal finery, dramatically posed in a beam of sunshine. From there, it’s a fly-ass fever dream. It’s Kendrick using his bike round in cartoonish psychedelic drone pictures or mean-mugging along with his pals whereas the digicam pulls not possible, disorienting strikes. He levels Da Vinci’s Final Supper as a dwelling diorama. He stands amidst a sea of bald bobbing heads, a few of them popping as much as mouth out the hook. He hits golf balls off the roof of his automobile within the LA River. He kilos his chest as sniper-scope pink dots seem throughout his physique. He lights his head on fireplace. It’s superior. I couldn’t cease rewatching it.
When Kendrick first recorded “Humble,” the concept was for Mike Will to incorporate it on his compilation album Ransom 2. Kendrick’s group instructed him that he wanted to maintain the music, and Mike says that he instructed Kendrick, “Bruh, you positively ought to hold it, and it’s best to use it as your single.” As an alternative, Kendrick appeared on a special Ransom 2 observe, teaming up with Mike’s “Black Beatles” collaborators Rae Sremmurd and Gucci Mane on a enjoyable music referred to as “Good Pint.” The “Good Pint” video, a Concern & Loathing In Las Vegas pastiche, truly got here out on the identical day because the “Humble” clip. “Good Pint” didn’t chart, however it most likely helped construct up the sense that Kendrick Lamar season had formally arrived.
“Humble” debuted at #2, and it rose as much as the #1 spot two weeks later, lastly dethroning Ed Sheeran’s “Form Of You.” Not like “Black Beatles” and the Migos’ “Unhealthy And Boujee,” the 2 decidedly non-pop rap bangers that preceded it at #1, “Humble” didn’t want meme help to prime the Sizzling 100. As an alternative, the factor that pushed “Humble” to the highest was the discharge of Rattling, which got here out two weeks after the one.
Rattling was an enormous deal. Kendrick Lamar obtained numerous assist from Mike Will, one of many kings of the then-dominant Atlanta lure sound, with out ever sounding like he was making an attempt to experience Atlanta’s wave. As an alternative, Kendrick discovered methods to suit that Mike Will type into his personal aesthetic patchwork, a lot as he does with Mustard manufacturing on the brand new GNX album. The Mike Will beats share house with a captivating group of producers, together with the Alchemist, ninth Marvel, BadBadNotGood, James Blake, Cardo, Greg Kurstin, Terrace Martin, longtime collaborator Sounwave, and future Quantity Ones artist Steve Lacy. There are not any guest-rappers on Rattling, however foundational mixtape determine Child Capri bellows everywhere in the document. Rihanna, already on her approach out of the pop sphere, reveals up on “Loyalty,” a single that peaked at #14. Weirdly sufficient, U2 additionally pop up on the otherwise-hard Mike Will manufacturing “XXX,” although Bono is barely barely on that one. (“XXX” peaked at #33.)
Rattling obtained near-uniformly rapturous critiques, together with one from me, and it moved greater than 600,000 album-equivalent items in its first week. That first week pushed “Humble” to #1, and Kendrick’s music “DNA” debuted and peaked at #4. (It’s a 9.) That’s one other anthemic Mike Will manufacturing with a mini-masterpiece of a music video — this time pairing Kendrick with Don Cheadle. (On the time, Kendrick took to sporting martial arts outfits and calling himself Kung-Fu Kenny, and Cheadle performed a personality by that title in Rush Hour 2.) Kendrick Lamar movies are the most effective. As I write this, he hasn’t dropped any movies for any GNX tracks but. I hope we get some.
Rattling in the end went triple platinum, which implies it did about 3 times in addition to To Pimp A Butterfly and about the identical as Kendrick’s earlier album Good Child, m.A.A.d. Metropolis. On the 2018 Grammys, Kendrick opened the present with a fire-eyed mini-set that featured U2 and Dave Chappelle, after which he misplaced Album Of The Yr to Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic — typical Grammy bullshit. (Bruno Mars has been on this column a bunch of occasions, and he’ll be again very quickly.) A few months later, although, Kendrick obtained a much bigger award, when Rattling was given the Pulitzer Prize for Music. The Pulitzer had by no means gone to a piece of widespread music earlier than that; it was uncommon for a jazz artist to even win. It hasn’t gone to a different work of widespread music since then, both. On this approach, as in so many others, Kendrick Lamar is one among one.
After Rattling, Kendrick didn’t have to do options on pop information anymore. Kendrick may make a visitor look on one other rapper’s music if he actually revered him, although. In 2018, Kendrick teamed up with Lil Wayne on the story-song album observe “Mona Lisa,” which peaked at #2, although it reportedly was recorded a few years earlier. (It’s an 8.)
Kendrick’s subsequent undertaking wasn’t a correct album. As an alternative, Disney pulled the unconventional transfer of recruiting Kendrick to function curator and government producer of its Black Panther soundtrack. A lot of the songs from that album aren’t within the precise film, however Black Panther was a cultural phenomenon, the most important film of its yr, and Kendrick was positioned as an enormous a part of that triumph. Kendrick appeared on each observe from that album, typically simply doing uncredited backup vocals. The 2 massive singles had been Kendrick collaborations: the end-credits music “All The Stars,” along with his TDE labelmate SZA, and the comparatively smooth and clubby “Pray For Me,” with the Weeknd. Each of them peaked at #7. (“All The Stars” is a 6, and “Pray For Me” is an 8. SZA will finally seem on this column. The Weeknd has been right here earlier than and might be again once more.)
After Rattling and the Black Panther album, Kendrick Lamar went on a few massive excursions, grew to become a father, and went silent for an extended stretch of time. Even his guest-verses grew to become more and more uncommon. When Kendrick’s little cousin Child Keem obtained him to rap on the 2021 single “Household Ties” and to shoot a video, that felt like an occasion. (“Household Ties” peaked at #18. Good music!) Kendrick’s subsequent correct album didn’t come out till 5 years after Rattling, and that album was approach headier and extra inside than what a lot of Kendrick’s viewers wished from him. 2022’s Mr. Morale & The Massive Steppers made an enormous splash just by present, however it didn’t take over the world the way in which that Rattling did. 4 tracks from Mr. Morale made the highest 10; “N95,” the highest-charting of them, peaked at #3. (It’s an 8.)
When Mr. Morale & The Massive Steppers got here out two and a half years in the past, Kendrick Lamar appeared like he not had a lot curiosity in pop stardom. As an alternative, he was within the esoteric zone. He’d already reached the purpose the place he’d be well-known and beloved endlessly, however his widespread peak appeared to be over. That didn’t final. Somebody mentioned one thing that Kendrick didn’t like, and that activated the demon inside him. Kendrick reacted like he was listening to the “Humble” piano for the primary time. That model of Kendrick, the vengeful Kendrick, is the one which the world loves greatest. Because it turned out, “Humble” didn’t symbolize the height of Kendrick Lamar’s profession. That peak is going on proper now. We’ll see Kendrick on this column once more, hopefully many extra occasions.
GRADE: 10/10
