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Continuing his meteoric year, Kendrick Lamar has yet another milestone to celebrate: a Fortnite emote. On Wednesday (March 12) night, the game introduced a dance move set to the Pulitzer Prize winner’s “HUMBLE.,” though social media doesn’t seem entirely sold on it.
“Really? It’s one of his best songs, and we couldn’t get something better?” one response with over 5,000 likes questioned. Another person joked, “Ain’t no way Kendrick was like, ‘This is fire.’ Who approved this dance?” Meanwhile, someone else argued, “Dance could have been better. We need the ‘Not Like Us’ dance from the Super Bowl.”
Revisiting an older, albeit iconic Lamar record like “HUMBLE.” seems to be a bit of a misstep on Fortnite’s part, considering the viral moments he’s given fans in the past year alone. He hit one of the hardest walks to “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show — Serena Williams’ Crip Walk would’ve been just as worthy of an emote — whereas the visual effort for “squabble up” saw the Compton emcee putting in footwork to Sounwave’s production.
Obviously, video games can only do so much, so maybe there’s hope for something better down the line, especially if the “HUMBLE.” emote is just the start. That being said, Fortnite’s past music activations have actually been quite impressive. In 2024, they brought in Ice Spice, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Juice WRLD for Chapter 2 Remix, along with a posthumous release from the late artist.
As for Lamar, he’s gearing up to begin his “Grand National Tour” with SZA in April. The arena run will hit cities like Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Toronto, among others. Both are coming off chart-topping albums, GNX and LANA. Collectively, they housed collaborations like “30 For 30,” “gloria,” and most exciting of all, “luther.”
