Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, and Future star in the music video of "King's Dead," a song from the Marvel movie Black Panther.
The video comes on the day the first movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a predominantly black cast opens in theaters in the United States and across the world. Last week, Lamar, who co-produced Black Panther: The Album, also shared the music video for "All The Stars," his collaboration with SZA.
King's Dead, All Hail The King
The new music video directed by Dave Free (of the Little Homies) and Jack Begert brings the two rappers, Lamar and Jay Rock, in different various locations: on top of a palm tree, inside a barber's shop, in a chaotic office, a fancy elevator, and on a rooftop. The video is also interspersed with grainy footages of the boys' naughty antics.
The video turns dark when Lamar tries to collect money from an unknown person in a dark alley. Then a fight breaks out, and a gun comes out.
Watch the action unfold in the video below.
"King's Dead" marks Jay Rock's first entry into the Billboard Hot 100. The song, the second to be released from Black Panther: The Album, currently sits at the 69th spot of the songs chart. It also features work from British singer-songwriter James Blake.
Last week's "All the Stars" jumps to the number 31 spot.
Making An Impact In The Community
According to Pitchfork, Lamar's record label, Top Dawg Entertainment, will be holding a screening for youths who live in the Watts housing project in Los Angeles. The screening will take place on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Top Dawg Entertainment also represents SZA, ScHoolboy Q, and others.
Welcome To Wakanda
Black Panther, which came out this week, has been receiving positive feedback from fans and movie critics. It currently has a 98 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite the attempt of a group of trolls who want to sabotage the movie's score.
The movie already grossed $23.2 million when it opened in 17 territories on Tuesday, Feb. 13. It also started to break records, beginning in the United Kingdom, where the movie set the biggest single-day gross of the year with $3.7 million.
The movie, which stars Chadwick Boseman as the titular superhero, is on track to gross $165 million in its opening weekend. Tracking also predicts the movie to land on the top 5 or 6 of the domestic openings for a superhero movie ever.
Black Panther also stars Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis, and Martin Freeman.
