Kendrick Lamar's "The Heart Part 5" Video Hidden Meanings
Spot 7 Easter Eggs in Kendrick Lamar's "The Heart Part 5" Video
3
Lamar dedicates his second verse on "The Heart Part 5" to speak from the perspectives of Simpson, West, and Smollett, all with histories rife with controversy. First up, the rapper tweaks the opening lines from Jay-Z's second verse of "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" to speak on Simpson's celebrity status and how that affected the public scrutiny around his 1995 murder trial that resulted in an acquittal. "I said I'd do this for my culture / To let y'all know what a n***a look like in a bulletproof Rover," Lamar raps.
Next, the rapper morphs into West while he raps, "Friends bipolar, grab you by your pockets / No option if you froze up, always play the offence." His lyrics appear to be a reference to West's mental health struggles and previous claims he's made about his trust issues. "You feel everyone wants to kill you, you pretty much don't trust anyone, and they have this moment where they handcuff you, they drug you, they put you on the bed, and they separate you from everyone you know," West said on David Letterman's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction," speaking of his involuntary psychiatric hold in 2016. "That's something that I'm so happy I experienced myself so I can start by changing that moment. When you are in that state, you have to have someone you trust."
Lastly, Lamar morphs into Smollett during the latter half of his second verse — his lyrics allude to the actor's recent hate crime trial. "The streets got me f*cked up, y'all can miss me," Lamar says, nodding to Smollett's 150-day sentence in jail and 30 months probation for allegedly lying to police about stageing a hate crime attack against himself.