All the Style References in Kendrick Lamar’s “Squabble Up” Video

Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, GNX, is a sonic victory lap. With its layered production and lyrical themes paying homage to his home of LA, Lamar’s newest artistic statement proclaims his prophetic “King Kunta” bars to be true.

Track 2 of the album, “squabble up,” merges G-Funk, Hyphy, and Freestyle production. The 2-minute-45-second song—whose title refers to the dance of the same term, or the LA slang for “fighting”—has quickly become a fan favorite that’s projected to go No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The CALMATIC-directed “squabble up” video is an amalgamation of Black American culture, a collage of Kendrick’s lens on Blackness. Its backdrop recreates the set of The Roots’ music video for “The Next Movement,” which many speculate as a nod to Questlove’s comments earlier this year about Kendrick and Drake’s beef. This afternoon, Questlove posted a response thanking Kendrick for the tribute to something he thought “no one saw or cared about.”

There is quintessential imagery of gang culture such as bandanas and color-coded unity, a recreation of the “Black Moses” aesthetic and imagery of Isaac Hayes post-Shaft, and a banner for the Compton Christmas Parade (a holiday celebration for nearly 70 years), hung on the wall. There’s also a reference to E-40’s In A Major Way album cover with an enlarged gold Rolex next to G Perico and RJ, ‘That Go’ scraper bikes (a deeper homage to Bay Area artists Trunk Boiz and Keak da Sneak), and the importance of ‘Gangster Ministries’ in Leimert Park and West LA with a “Jesus Saves Gangsters” sign. Even the ceramic Haegar Black Panther statue first produced in 1941, which has become a staple in Black households since the ’80s and ’90s, and David Hammons’ African American flag created in 1990, are on full display.

Kendrick’s appreciation of Black art, media, and fashion has been displayed countless times throughout his career. From honoring icons like Spike Lee and Gordon Parks to his long standing collaboration with designer Martine Rose, his work celebrates and amplifies the influence of Black culture. “squabble up” is his continuing celebration of the tapestry of all the elements of Black and Hispanic culture on the West Coast. The video is packed with moments that spotlight the heritage of these communities—with Kendrick, everything means something. Here’s a closer look at the cultural nods Kendrick delivers through the fashion of “squabble up.”