videology

A GIF Guide to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Loyalty’ Video, Featuring a Savage Rihanna

How does Kendrick Lamar continue to outdo himself? He’s a modern music-video genius with a great appreciation for the stopping power of a quality audiovisual, and how it can deepen the narrative of a song that already stands as great on its own. So what do you do when you’ve already got two of the best videos of the year so far? You put Rihanna in your next one. Boom. Done. Close the books. Hall of Fame. So that you may experience “Loyalty” properly, here is a GIF guide to Lamar’s latest entry into the video canon.

Note to Drake: This is a much cooler way to show you’ve got a lot of enemies trying to drain you of your energy.

Beyoncé voice: “So what are you gonna say at my funeral now that you’ve killed me?”

If you didn’t come for the Rihanna content, you don’t have to go home, but you certainly can’t stay here.

Kendrick Lamar responding like any reasonable person would if Rihanna was putting them through it like this.

If you’re about to get your ass beat and your car stolen, could it be in service of a higher cause than Kendrick Lamar assertively shucking his leather jacket and Robyn Rihanna Fenty serving this side eye?

Oh, didn’t they tell you that she was a savage? Didn’t they tell you?

Never in my life — in my life — did I ever think I’d see a pop star who could match the video face of Britney Spears. You know, it’s the way she deploys micro-gestures in tight close-ups to manipulate the viewer and pull them into her orbit, making her a transfixing screen object and master illusionist. Well, Rihanna has it the way Britney did. It’s not about being beautiful so much as it is about controlling the focus of the viewer, and Rihanna is — as always — in total control.

This is visual poetry.

Every time Rihanna smirks slyly and offers a conspiratorial giggle, an angel gets its wings.

Yes, you should have gasped and clutched your pearls when Rihanna fell off the side of a fake building in this entirely computer-generated life-threatening scene.

Kendrick dispatching a female enforcer to kill a version of himself is so Kendrick in 2017.

Sharks on chains are far better than snakes on planes.

Somewhere in St. Tropez, Leonardo DiCaprio is watching this GIF, knowing he could never be the wheelman in a Rihanna joyride and muttering with dissatisfaction.

Vulture does not condone doing doughnuts in your stolen luxury car and getting into wrecks without your seat belt on, but if there’s some other way you can end up sharing cathartic laughter with either Kendrick or Rihanna or both, shoot your shot.

A GIF Guide to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Loyalty’ Video