On Friday, Kendrick Lamar took over social media timelines once again when he dropped the highly-anticipated music video for his hit song “Luther.” And while the visuals were fire and aesthetically pleasing, fans are talking about it for a whole other reason.
Coming in at a little over five minutes, the music video bounces back and forth between black and white and in color imagery and features love interests for both Lamar and SZA. Towards the end, it also allowed for the Luther Vandross song that it samples — the 1982 hit, “If This World Were Mine” feat. Cheryl Lynn —to get some extra play time so true music lovers could appreciate and revel in the nostalgia.
But what fans caught at the very end of the video was the director credit and that belonged to none other than Karena Evans. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, that’s okay because you’ve definitely seen her work before — most notably for the music videos of three of Drake’s 2018 hit songs: “Nice For What,” “God’s Plan” and “In My Feelings.”
Once people got wind of Evans’ involvement, they were quick to point it out as well as the fact that Lamar’s video release came just after Drake dropped his mostly black and white laced video for his hit song “Nokia.”
“The petty war continues, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Luther’ music video is directed by Karena Evans from Toronto, Canada she is Drake’s former video director for God’s Plan, Nice For What, I’m Upset, and In My Feelings,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“It took Drake 11 days to get just over 9 million views on the NOKIA video. Kendrick has 2 million views on the “luther” video in 6 hours,” said another.
“Kendrick and SZA dropped the Luther video right when Nokia was pushing for the #1,” wrote one user.
On the topic of the romantic visuals and Vandross’ song getting more play, others wrote:
“I love how Kendrick and SZA gave Luther Vandross some extra appreciation and recognition in the music video.”
“We need to get back to love songs. That visual was so gorgeous & we need more of that. We’re fed so much of the negative & extreme & we need balance,” said another.
“I’m crying every time I think he’s done making stuff he drops something else LMFAO this is the best year to be a Kendrick fan ever,” one user wrote.