Last night, cousins Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem led the first night of Camp Flog Gnaw promoted as the Hillbillies, the name of their collective track from earlier this year. They ended their performance with the live debut of “The Hillbillies,” and Tyler, The Creator — who is in the music video for the track — came out to perform with them on the track at the festival he had set up.
Lamar and Keem sing the lyrics of the original song with emphasis on metaphors. For example: “I don’t buy much, I buy land, bro. Cologne, Germany”. This talks about how they invest in real estate and ownership instead of buying commodities. “Big Jay Rocks in both hands, bro”. Kendrick refers to his handgun as a “Jay Rock”, which he has before in his song, “Bitchface”. “Heebee-jeebie talk crazy to me, but Kendrick know I like irregular girls”. This expresses how despite others who try to impress them, they prefer down to earth and “normal” girls. They even give themselves nicknames in the song: “Messi” (not to be confused with Lionel Messi, the soccer player) and “Neymar”. There is a theme in this song where they sing about not treating women as objects. “Didn’t mean to possess your girl Baby, I’m high-profile, don’t ever tell ’em you met me, girl”. They also sing about how they themselves don’t want to be treated as objects. “Famous, but I’m not for sale, why you tryna possess me, girl?”. Despite this, there is some merchandizing in the song, specifically for Martine Rose. “Yeah, niggas know that I’m best-dressed Wear Martine when I board jets”. But in the end, Lamar and Keem tell their audience to think for themselves. “Send it off from here right now, here right now and free your mind and you w—, and you w—“.
Kendrick gave a quick thank-you speech after the song, though when Tyler tried to do the same his microphone didn’t work and he left the stage. Check out the video below.
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
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