"Money Trees" is a song by American rapper

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

, taken from his major label debut studio album ''

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City ''Good Kid, M.A.A.D City'' (stylized as ''good kid, m.A.A.d city'') is the second studio album by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Interscope Records, Top Dawg Entertainment and Dr. Dre's Aftermath Enter ...

'' (2012). The song, which appears as the fifth track on the album, features a guest appearance from his

Black Hippy Black Hippy was an American hip hop supergroupJay Rock Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1985), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. Rock signed with local independent label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005. He secured a major lab ...

, and was produced by

DJ Dahi Dacoury Dahi Natche (born March 10, 1983), known professionally as DJ Dahi or simply Dahi, is an American record producer, songwriter, disc jockey and singer from Inglewood, California. Working primarily in hip hop and R&B music, he has been ...

. It entered the ''

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Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart at number 19 due to high downloads, following the album's release. The song, mixed by Top Dawg engineer Derek "MixedByAIi" Ali, features background vocals from American singer

Anna Wise Anna Wise (born February 16, 1991) is an American singer, who has independently released music as a member of bands Sonnymoon and Built to Fade. She became more widely known for her collaborations with rapper Kendrick Lamar and hip hop group Cunn ...

of Sonnymoon. ''Money Trees'' samples the 2010 song " Silver Soul" by

Beach House Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...

, as well as vocals from Lamar's " Cartoon and Cereal" and interpolates lyrics from E-40's " Big Ballin' With My Homies". On June 2, 2015,

Jay Rock Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1985), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. Rock signed with local independent label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005. He secured a major lab ...

released the sequel " Money Trees Deuce" as a solo record with no feature from Kendrick Lamar.

Background

"Money Trees" follows the storyline of ''

'', as Kendrick Lamar reassesses what happened so far in the story. He talks about having sex with his love interest Sherane and going to tell his friends about it. He also assesses his current situation in his hometown

Compton, California Compton is a city located in the Gateway Cities region of southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county, and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth ci ...

and reflecting on the immortalization of his uncle after he was shot. At the end of the track, Lamar's mom calls him again and asks him to bring her car back, a recurring theme of the story. His dad has forgotten about the dominoes he wanted by now, suggesting that Lamar "has been out of the house for a while, driving around and trying to figure his life out, having just been attacked outside Sherane's house".

Music video

On August 28, 2013,

Taj Stansberry Taj Stansberry (born in Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, w ...

revealed that he had begun to shoot a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

with Lamar and Jay Rock for "Money Trees". Stansberry, who called the song his favorite song on the album, said upon getting the job to come up with a treatment for the video that was due in a day, he dropped everything right then, and created a website for the idea to present to Lamar. He added: "I started literally at 9 in the morning and finished at 9 at night". The video remains unreleased.

Live performances

Lamar performed "Money Trees", alongside Jay Rock at the

BET Experience BET Experience, also known as BETX, is an annual event organized by Black Entertainment Television (BET) that combines live music, entertainment, and cultural events. Held in Los Angeles, California, the BET Experience is designed to celebrate Afri ...

concert at the

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in Los Angeles. The duo also frequently performed the track on Lamar's ''Good Kid, m.A.A.d city'' world tour and at the 2013

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

music festival. On October 15, 2013, Lamar and Jay Rock performed "Money Trees" at the 2013

BET Hip Hop Awards The BET Hip Hop Awards are an annual awards show, airing on BET, showcasing hip hop performers, producers and music video directors. The awards ceremony began in 2006; it was held on November 12, 2006 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and was first ...

. On July 4, 2016, Lamar performed "Money Trees" at President Obama's Fourth of July BBQ. On June 19, 2024, during the Pop Out show at the

Kia Forum The Kia Forum, also known as Los Angeles Forum and formerly Great Western Forum, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located on West Manchester Boulevard, with Pincay Drive to th ...

, Lamar performed the first verse of the song, and had Jay Rock raised from the floor to perform his verse.

Critical reception

The song was met with acclaim from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s, and it is widely regarded as one of Lamar's best songs. '' XXL'' in their perfect "XXL" review, deemed the song a "tale of hustler's ambitions". In 2021, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked the track at number one on its list of "The 50 Best Kendrick Lamar Songs". A similar 2017 list by ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' placed it fifth on their list of "The Best Kendrick Lamar Songs", while ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' had it sixth on its 2022 list of "Kendrick Lamar's 20 greatest songs – ranked!" The track especially received acclaim for the guest verse from

. ''Complex'' praised Jay Rock's verse, calling it the tenth best guest appearance of 2012. They described his verse as "stellar", adding in the verse Rock "contemplates a life of crime versus one stricken in dire poverty". ''XXL'' included the verse on its 2019 list of the "35 of the Most Iconic Hip-Hop Guest Verses Since 2000", stating that Rock "grounds the tune with a voice wizened by poverty and pushed by pursuit".

Commercial performance

Even without being released as a single, the song spent seven weeks on the US ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart, peaking at number 19. As of October 5, 2024, "Money Trees" is the most streamed song off of ''

'' on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

and is Lamar's third most streamed song on the platform.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2013 songs Kendrick Lamar songs Songs written by Kendrick Lamar Gangsta rap songs Jay Rock songs Songs written by DJ Dahi Songs written by Jay Rock Songs written by Victoria Legrand