Kendrick Lamar & SZA Finally Made A “Luther” Video

For the past seven weeks, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s lush GNX duet “Luther” has been the #1 song in America. In eight days, Kendrick and SZA will kick off their stadium tour in Minneapolis, and I cannot wait until I get to see them. If I hook everything up right, I’ll be at the Charlotte show with my son, and it will be his first concert. Maybe that fast-approaching tour launch is why Kendrick and SZA have finally unveiled a music video for “Luther.”

Kendrick and SZA made their “Luther” clip with Karena Evans, the director best-known for Drake’s “God’s Plan,” “Nice For What,” and “In My Feelings” videos. (Incidentally, Drake’s own song “Nokia” is currently surging on the Hot 100, thanks in part to the release of its own video, and it could soon threaten Kendrick’s long stay at #1. I wonder if that has anything to do with the timing here.) Kendrick and SZA are barely onscreen together in the video. Instead, Kendrick raps many of his lines while staring deeply into the eyes of his longtime partner Whitney Alford. I think that’s her, anyway.

The video mostly consists of shots of Kendrick and SZA amidst some geometry-heavy architecture. The cinematography is lovely, and I’m sure someone in the comments section can recognize the building (buildings?) where they shot it. Kendrick fires a gun offscreen at one point. There are some dramatic pauses in the song but no clips of unreleased songs, as we’ve heard in past Kendrick videos. We do, however, get to hear some more of “If This World Were Mine,” the 1982 Cheryl Lynn/Luther Vandross single that “Luther” samples. Luther Vandross himself never made it to #1 on the Hot 100, but “Luther” did. Watch the video below.

GNX is out now on pgLang.