Kendrick Lamar has returned with his new single, ‘The Heart Part 5’.
The hip-hop megastar has delivered the latest track in his ‘The Heart’ series, which kicked off with ‘The Heart Part 1’ and ‘The Heart Part 2’ in 2010.
The latest instalment – which is the first since 2017’s Part 4 – is the lead single from the Grammy winner’s hotly-awaited fifth studio album, ‘Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers’, which is released on Friday (13.05.22).
In the music video, helmed by Kendrick and Dave Free, with “special thanks” to Trey Parker and Matt Stone (‘South Park’), the rapper appears in front of a plain red backdrop before his face is deepfaked into the likes of O.J. Simpson, Jussie Smollett, Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Will Smith.
The ‘Money Trees’ star recently used his Oklahoma website (oklama.com) to announce that the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Damn’ will drop on May 13.
Kendrick shared the news for the hotly-anticipated album after teasing it in August 2021, labelling it his “final TDE album”, referring to the label Top Dawg Entertainment.
At the time, the page read: “May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life’s calling. There’s beauty in completion. And always faith in the unknown. Oklama.”
He recently appeared to suggest his comeback album comes as a double-disc.
A new image was uploaded to the rapper’s website and suggested ‘Mr Morale and the Big Steppers’ is split into two halves, as one CD is marked up ‘MORALE’ and the other ‘STEPPERS’.
As well as the two discs, a book with the same name as the album and Kendrick’s name as the author is being held in the snap, hinting the rapper may have penned a tome to accompany the LP.
Meanwhile, Kendrick’s engineer, Derek ‘MixedByAli’ Ali, previously teased that he has enough new material for “six albums”.
He said: “I would say every album that he has dropped since [2012’s] ‘Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’ has come with a different feeling, so just look forward to Kendrick obviously expressing himself in the most creative way – the most highest of the creative way.
“How he works, I’ve never seen it before. The recording process, the thought process of piecing an album together and sequencing it. Things like that is what keeps guys like me great. Watching his work ethic … You would expect someone like [Kendrick] to be at home and sitting back: nah, he still comes in on time and is punctual.”