Kendrick Lamar Packs ‘Squabble Up’ Video With West Coast References

After the successful release of GNX, some of Kendrick Lamar‘s opps are probably flipping through the How to Be More Like Kendrick for Dummies book he holds in the “Squabble Up” video. On Monday, the rapper released the follow-up video to “Not Like Us” and filled it with references to the West Coast and Compton.

The Calmatic-directed video features several homages, including one to Nate Dogg’s G-Funk Classics, Isaac Hayes’ Black Moses, 1993’s Menace II Society, and iconic TV variety series Soul Train‘s Scramble Board. Elsewhere in the video, a street sign for the 105 Freeway is displayed on a wall, a sign for the Compton Christmas Parade is displayed, and he features several dancers performing some Compton street gang walks.

In one part of the video, Lamar holds up a sign that says “Jases Saves Gangsters Too!” as a group of girls pose in front of a retro photo booth, and, in another, he holds a book titled How to Be More Like Kendrick for Dummies. (Drake, is that one for you?)

“Squabble Up” — which samples “When I Hear Music” by Debbie Deb — was first teased in the intro to the “Not Like Us” music video and finally dropped Friday alongside the rest of GNX. “Yes, Lamar is the GOAT of 2024, that much is certain,” read a Rolling Stone review of the album. “And, for the most part, GNX proves why he earned the title.”

GNX also featured 49-year-old mariachi singer Deyra Barrera, who is featured on three different Lamar tracks, including the Tupac tribute “Reincarnated” and the SZA-assisted closer “Gloria.”

“He welcomed me and was so kind. He said, ‘You have such a powerful voice. Thanks for coming.’ I had no idea what to say,” Barrera told Rolling Stone. “Lamar is a genius, a maestro. Everything he makes is magic.”