From its opening moments, it’s clear that Kendrick Lamar’s new “Not Like Us” music video serves as extra than simply as Lamar’s victory lap in his culture-twisting diatribe towards Drake. It’s additionally a reaffirmation of a declare he made—or, maybe, a objective he set for himself—final summer season: that he, KDot, is the best-dressed MC in rap.
Following a strobing black-and-white interlude, the “Not Like Us” visible—directed by Lamar and his pgLang co-founder Dave Free—kicks off with the rapper in a crisp white Willy Chavarria monitor jacket, matching below-the-knee shorts by British design duo Stefan Cooke, hiked-up white tube socks, and white Chuck Taylor lows, with a sporty scarf by the British designer Martine Rose knotted round his traditional blue Dodgers cap. From there, the video devolves right into a gleeful parade of alternative luxurious labels and up to date haute streetwear.
Within the clip, KDot leads the cost of a rollicking crowd sporting a distressed Ghetto Rodeo x Kaló Soil baseball cap, Loewe biker boots, and leather-based moto bomber and tailor-made cargo pants from Martine Rose; he later adjustments into the designer’s boxy inexperienced subject jacket and Velcro-strapped loafers. He smashes an owl-shaped piñata sporting a white tee and a pair of silver sequined Loewe shorts. He hopscotches, to the sadly catchy trill of “A minorrrrrrrr,” in an ERL zip-up hoodie and a Martine Rose monkey graphic tee. He peacocks, triumphantly, in entrance of a wall of transport containers sporting a glossy Prada go well with.
The result’s a video that seems like Kendrick flexing his “best-dressed shifting ahead” credentials—whereas additionally anointing his personal private “in” crowd of vibey menswear designers. Rose, Chavarria, and Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson et al are his mates, and so they are locked in. It’s related, too, that the general “Not Like Us” type frenzy was crafted by a cogent style hivemind: Kendrick labored once more along with his go-to stylist Taylor McNeill, the video’s wardrobe was coordinated by Complicated alum Karizza Sanchez, and The Reduce’s Jessica Willis styled Free and the dancers.
