It may have come out in April, but if Kendrick Lamar’s Damn hasn’t turned into one of your summer ‘17 staples, you’ve got some work to do in August. Thankfully, some help from Rihanna and a new visual for their collaborative track “Loyalty” from the West Coast masterpiece means Kendrick will continue to stay on the country’s collective playlist for the foreseeable future.
The video begins with Kendrick blindfolded and in peril sitting atop a throne in a room full of scantily clad women, before transitioning to scenes of blacktop quicksand, literal street sharks and skyscraper trust falls. Like the first two video treatments from Damn, “DNA” and “Humble,” “Loyalty” keeps a crisply polished cinematic feel throughout. It doesn’t hurt that Rihanna, fresh off her role in the box office blockbuster Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, serves as a more than suitable co-star.
The visual treatment, directed by Dave Myers and the Little Homies, or Dave Free and Kendrick if we’re being technical, largely tracks the sentiment of the song, touching on allegiances from the mafia and masked up goons to Hollywood relationship goals.
Even after foreign whip donuts turn into a t-bone collision and sinking streets capture our protagonists, the pair is never torn apart, ending the video cuddling on top of the world, loyal as ever.
Rihanna is already enjoying a summer of success thanks to her movie roles and the lasting popularity of the DJ Khaled smash “Wild Thoughts,” so don’t be surprised if “Loyalty” has a summertime redux at the club, blasting out of car stereos and generally stuck in your head like it was all Spring.
There’s no word on which track from Damn will be the next to get the visual treatment, but with the steady stream of releases and a long list of hits left, it shouldn’t be long before Kung Fu Kenny is back with his next graphic masterpiece.
