Finally, after much speculation Kendrick Lamar’s new album has a release date, following on from the release of his album untitled, unmastered last year, a sort of B side to K Dot’s phenomenal 2015 release To Pimp A Butterfly. Since then Kendrick’s career has been fairly quiet, occasionally featuring on something mainstream to stay relevant. But, a few weeks ago Kendrick Lamar marked his return to the cultural zeitgeist hungrier than ever, when he dropped The Heart Part IV.
It’s a track that switches between beats, steadily getting more aggressive as K Dot’s verses get more venomous. Cornrow Kenny is back and he’s taking no prisoners. He calls out Donald Trump and weaves subliminal disses to unnamed rappers in his verses sparking fans to conspire about who exactly Kendrick is aiming his bars at. The track reaches a climax and Kendrick seems to be gearing up for something big, ending the track with the line “Y’all got til April the 7th to get y’all sh*t together”.
Kendrick Lamar drops another track along the way titled HUMBLE. in the form of a trippy music video directed by Dave Meyers. This single release is the first song that will feature on the LP and it’s a banger. Featuring production from Mike WiLL Made-It, the track shows Kendrick’s more braggadocios side without him shying away from his typical complex and conceptual lyrical side. K Dot turns the track into a commentary on the consumerist culture within the music industry with lines like “I’m so f*ckin’ sick and tired of the Photoshop, Show me somethin’ natural like afro on Richard Pryor, Show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretch marks”.
Kendrick Lamar, HUMBLE music video:
We get to April 7th and what we all speculated as the release of Kendrick Lamar’s latest LP culminated in a morsel of information about what is to come. Instead, an iTunes pre-order was released giving fans a little insight into what to expect from the album, currently titled ALBUM., as well as a release date of April 14th via Top Dawg Entertainment.
While the track HUMBLE. will feature on the album, a track list has not been released and neither has the album artwork. What fans did learn from the information released by iTunes was that U2, BADBADNOTGOOD, The Alchemist, James Blake and more were named as contributors on Kendrick’s new LP. Check out the full contributor list according to iTunes below.
Kendrick Lamar ALBUM tracklist:
- Track 1: D. Tannenbaum and Anthony Tiffith
- Track 2: Mike WiLL Made-It
- Track 3: Sounwave, DJ Dahi, and Anthony Tiffith
- Track 4: Sounwave, James Blake, and Richie Riera
- Track 5: Sounwave
- Track 6: DJ Dahi, Sounwave, Anthony Tiffith, and Terrace Martin
- Track 7: The Internet’s Steve Lacy, Anna Wise, and Anthony Tiffith
- Track 8: Mike WiLL Made-It
- Track 9: DJ Dahi, Mark Spears, and BadBadNotGood
- Track 10: Zacari Pacaldo, Teddy Walton, Sounwave, Greg Kurstin, and Anthony Tiffith
- Track 11: Mike WiLL Made-It, DJ Dahi, Sounwave, Anthony Tiffith, and U2
- Track 12: The Alchemist
- Track 13: Richie Riera, Sounwave, DJ Dahi, D. Tannenbaum, Anthony Tiffith, and Cardo
- Track 14: 9th Wonder
By Kenji Abe
