Given that hip-hop culture has long glamorized alcohol use (and even abuse), I have to give props to Kendrick Lamar for dropping this new song. Despite what its catchy chorus might suggest, Lamar's new single "Swimming Pools (Drank)" is a cautious, dark, and surprisingly personal indictment of alcohol use, and a lamentation of the place that alcohol has in the life of a rapper. To accompany the track, Lamar dropped a new music video for the song as well, featuring some well executed visual imagery that helps emphasize the dark undertones of "Swimming Pools." That chorus suddenly takes on a much more harrowing message when paired with footage of Kendrick falling helplessly to the bottom of a pool, as does the rest of the song.
Check out the video above and pick up Kendrick Lamar's major label debut good kid, m.A.A.d city on October 2nd via Interscope.