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After a historic 2017, Kendrick Lamar closes it out by dropping new Nikes
Kendrick Lamar’s third studio album, DAMN was regarded a ‘classic’ seconds after its release back in April this year. Though we should be used to such claims — every studio album of Kendrick’s is arguably a classic — the project arriving within Trump’s first 100 days really made the premature declaration not so premature.
238,000 first week sales, two number one songs, five top tens, and seven Grammy nominations later, it’s safe to say that, yet again, early recognition of Kendrick’s greatness was warranted.
Most would be satisfied after releasing a body of work as praised as DAMN but the “Humble” rapper has been everything but still since.
Between pop-up shops and rocking the VMA’s, Kung Fu Kenny has has his fingerprint on the industry all year despite a first quarter album release.
Yesterday, he was at it again, taking to his Instagram to announce his new collaboration with Nike’s classic Cortez sneaker.
The red and white take features the words “Don’t Trip” on the laces and plays to his karate alter-ego with Chinese symbols on the side of the shoe. This is Kendrick’s first signature show since collaborating with Reebok in 2014 and pays homage to the West Coast sneaker culture.
Before letting fans recover from the news of his signature shoe yesterday, ESPN announced that Kendrick is officially the halftime performer for the 2017 college football National Championship in Atlanta.
According to the sports network his performance ‘will be integrated” into ESPN’s broadcast, which possibly means but does not guarantee that they will be airing the concert. Kendrick spoke about the opportunity saying,
“Having the opportunity to perform at halftime of what will surely be the best game of the year between two deserving universities is truly an honor.”
“Thank you, ESPN, for having me be the first halftime performer ever at the College Football Playoff National Championship.”
Though the National Championship doesn’t kick off until Jan. 8, it just shows how thorough Kendrick’s 2017 has been. No wonder he’s number 14 on Forbes 2017 top earners list.
There hasn’t been an official release for Lamar’s Nike Cortez collaboration but if the announcement tells us anything, its that the hustle never ends, even when you’re ahead.