Why “Roman numeral seven” is so important to Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar is still thriving off the success of his GNX album despite its release in November 2024. The album was a chart success, debuting atop the Billboard 200 with 319,000 units in its first week. With the success of his Super Bowl halftime show, tracks from the album have continued to dominate the top of the charts this year.
One song, ‘Luther,’ has been at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks straight. The track collaborates with SZA and was produced by Sounwave, Jack Antonoff, Cardo, Kamasi Washington, Bridgeway, Roselilah, and M-Tech.
The love song is named after Luther Vandross and heavily samples his and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 version of ‘If This World Were Mine’. The song appeared on Lynn’s album Instant Love and hit number four on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart. In the first verse of ‘Luther’, Kendrick directs some words towards the “Roman numeral seven,” explaining what he would do to better the world of his lover.
Kendrick raps in the song, “Hey, Roman numeral seven, bae, drop it like it’s hot/ If this world was mine, I’d take your dreams and make ’em multiply/ If this world was mine, I’d take your enemies in front of God/ Introduce ’em to that light, hit them strictly with that fire.”
But what exactly does the Compton rapper mean by “Roman numeral seven”? The line references the number representing perfection and completion in the Bible. The world was perfect on the seventh day of its creation story, and Kendrick says his partner is perfect and completes him.
Other theories suggest it could reference the tarot card about pursuing your truth and seeking deeper within oneself spiritually. With the “drop it like it’s hot” line, Kendrick references Snoop Dogg’s hit of the same name on an album honouring the West Coast. Coincidental or not, Snoop’s song also appeared on his seventh album, R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece.
In the chorus of ‘Luther’, SZA sings about the fictional couple’s future together. “In this world, concrete flowers grow/ Heartache, she only doin’ what she know/ Weekends, get it poppin’ on the low/ Better days comin’ for sure,” she says on the record.
Kendrick and SZA have worked together many times, including another song on GNX called ‘Gloria’. Elsewhere, they collaborated on ’30 for 30′ from SOS Deluxe: LANA last year, and previously ‘All the Stars’, ‘Doves in the Wind’, ‘Babylon’ and Jay Rock’s ‘Easy Bake’.
K Dot is an enigma, well-known for keeping his plans and personal life out of the spotlight. So much so that SZA hadn’t heard the final version of ‘Luther’ until it was released as part of his surprise album.
“He’s such a genius, and part of his genius is him being so elusive and so mysterious,” she said on the Sherri chat show. “I don’t know what’s going on as much as you don’t know what’s going on. When ‘Luther’ came out, I said, ‘OK, that’s the vocals we’re using.’ And same with ‘Gloria.’”