[10] On the day of its release Pitchfork named it Best New Track, noting that, "[Humble] is a hard-nosed G check of his lessers, that pivots into imperfect critiques of beauty standards".

"[12] For Alex Young of Consequence of Sound, "it's got all the ingredients of a proper lead single: a Mike WiLL Made It-produced beat built on piano and 808 bass, a chorus you can spit along to ('Sit down/ Be humble'), and shoutouts to Grey Poupon and the former president.

"[13] Writing for The Guardian, Harriet Gibson explained how the song is, "sparse and rigid, beginning with the crunching swipes of an electric guitar, and is led by beats and sinister stabs of piano.

It was also his fourth top 10 single, and marked the highest debut for a hip hop song since "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem featuring Rihanna.

Selling well over 111,000 copies in its first week, "Humble" became Kendrick Lamar's second number one on the Digital Songs chart, following "Bad Blood".

It also features a reenactment of Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century painting, The Last Supper, with Lamar sitting in Jesus' chair as his disciples "unappreciatively" gorge on wine and bread.

[26] Fellow Top Dawg Entertainment rapper Jay Rock and producer Sounwave appear in the video alongside other TDE members.

Reviewing the music video, Billboard editor Brad Wete thought it "is a poignant exercise in irony and is also filled with messaging that could be perceived as anti-conformist."

"[26] For Harriet Gibson of The Guardian, "the brilliantly cinematic video, with its fish-eye lens and cartoonish stylising, recalls classic Hype Williams, and leads the viewer through these passages of assignation, fleshing out Lamar's ideas.

"[14] Matt Miller of Esquire opined about the rapper's videography: "in recent years, Kendrick Lamar has revived the music video as a powerful form of social commentary.

The 21st season premiere of South Park, "White People Renovating Houses", featured a character performing the song in a country-style parody.