Did Kendrick Lamar take a shot at Kyrie Irving in new album?

Rapper Kendrick Lamar included a verse regarding Kyrie Irving’s COVID-19 vaccine stance in the song “Savior” off of his latest album.

Friday, May 13 was a huge day in the music world, as rapper Kendrick Lamar released his latest album titled Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers. Of course, fans were wondering just what Lamar would reference in any of the 18 songs on the album.

Well, in the song “Savior,” Lamar brought up Kyrie Irving and his stance on the COVID-19 vaccine. We have provided the quote below, courtesy of Complex Music.

“Seen a Christian say the vaccine mark of the beast
Then he caught COVID and prayed to Pfizer for relief
Then I caught COVID and started to question Kyrie”

You can listen to the song in full at this link.

Kendrick Lamar brings up Kyrie Irving’s COVID-19 vaccine stance in new album

As for whether Irving is aware of his inclusion in the song, the guard talked about it briefly on a Twitch stream.

“I’m not mad. I’m not indifferent. I’m just grateful. How about that,” said Irving, via TMZ.

Irving was an outspoken critic of the COVID-19 vaccine, where he refused to get it. New York City had a mandate where players of New York sports teams needed to be vaccinated to play in home games. As a result, Irving sat out of games played at the Barclays Center with the mandate applying to him. Initially, Irving sat out all of Brooklyn’s games, but the team allowed him to play in road games.

This past March, an exemption was made for athletes to play in home games regardless of their vaccination status. That paved the way for Irving to play in home games late in the 2021-22 season.

The Nets’ season ended early, as they were swept in the first round by the Boston Celtics.

Irving has a player option for the 2022-23 season, where he will become an unrestricted free agent afterwards.