Kendrick Lamar performs onstage during The Pop Out – Ken & Friends Presented by pgLang and Free Lunch at The Kia Forum on June 19, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Timothy Norris/Getty Images for pgLang, Amazon Music, & Free Lunch)

OPINION: On his latest song, Kendrick Lamar shares some of his thoughts, feelings and concerns about “the party” and all therein.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

One day last fall while teaching a class at Howard University, I found myself troubled by some of the work a few of my students turned into me. There’s no need to get into the specifics, but let’s just say, I felt some type of way — RIP to Rich Homie Quan. My class felt it so I shut down the class and let everybody go early. Anyway, the next class I showed up wearing triple black (otherwise known as all black) Nike Air Force 1 Lows. One of my students, who is also a sneakerhead, noticed my shoes and said something to the effect of “Oh, that’s what type of time we’re on??” I went on to lecture my class about taking kindness for weakness and mistaking my desire for them to succeed with a willingness to accept mediocre work. It wasn’t a fun class that day though we all walked away clearer about my expectations and their effort. I was exhibiting black Air Force 1 energy, and they knew it. 

Black Air Force 1s are legends of the shoe game. Whereas the all-white Nike Air Force 1 Low is a beloved shoe worn by people from 8 months to 80, when people think of their black counterpart, they think of sinister, nefarious, angry and destructive behavior. Every person who wears black Forces isn’t committing a crime, but everybody committing a crime is wearing (or has worn) black Forces. That last statement is probably not true, but it also could very well be true. Black Forces are synonymous with the type of people who are over things and who are about that life; they’re either about to show you that they mean business or have already done so and you know better than to mess with them anymore. Black Air Force 1s are the shoes of the person who bucks the system and all inside of it. 

So it came as no surprise to me when Kendrick Lamar dropped an untitled single on Instagram (the streets are calling it “Watch the Party Die”) whose cover art was worn, beaten black Air Force 1s. It’s Kendrick Lamar’s first song since his summer heater and potentially the best diss record of all time, “Not Like Us.” The shoes on the IG post might as well be the ones with which he stomped all over Drake’s credibility and cool; Kendrick’s entire run of diss records aimed at Drake’s post “Like That,” was giving black Air Force 1 energy. 

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The song itself is interesting in that it almost feels like the thoughts of a dude walking down the street whose shoe of choice is black Air Force 1s. Kendrick is fed up with, well, all of you. Maybe even me, too. He is annoyed by fake individuals and people who aren’t about anything, the men out here who have nothing to offer to the women out there. He’s a thinking man now who is on his way to destroy and rebuild the game because, well, maybe he feels like he’s the only one who can. That’s definitely black Air Force 1 energy.

He is also conflicted. He wants to have empathy for those individuals who just don’t seem to know better. He’d like to pray for them but … he has on black Air Force 1s. He’s about that action and pushing the line for those that matter to him most. He also realizes the cost of his fame, celebrity and artistry is his peace. Those same frauds out there being a menace to the community through their music and life will attack him because he has something to give. 

Again, Kendrick sounds like a man whose work and action are about purpose and doing the work and he’s stuck in an industry full of people who don’t care about anything more than destruction. He had to take out Drake for being the very personification of that thing. Look, I have no idea if this is what Kendrick is truly thinking on a day-to-day basis as he goes to the studio (or at all), but if we were to find out later he raps in those same shoes he put on the cover of this song, I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s a man who has it all and who also realizes what that means. That’s what I get from this song: Kendrick, who may or may not be preparing to release a new album — he tends to drop songs as precursors to his albums — is tired of everybody. 

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Kendrick is an artist and just participated in and was the victor of the most significant rap battle we’ve had in ages. He’s having, what seems to be, the best 2024 ever. AND now he’s the headliner of the Super Bowl in New Orleans. But I guess that’s kind of the point; no matter how far up you are, you can’t stop being yourself, and Kendrick is ready to put that work in on all of you who are making the game worse for those coming up next. 

Kendrick says it’s time to watch the party die. I suppose he will be doing so in his black Air Force 1s because that is 100% the energy he’s giving. 

Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).