Just hours after Spotify accidentally leaked the information, the lead single from Kendrick Lamar’s new album has dropped.
With anticipation for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers already at fever pitch, the Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) Twitter account @hiiipowers noticed that Spotify had confirmed the rapper’s new song ‘The Heart Part 5’ was on the way. “Kendrick Lamar is back. Stream ‘The Heart Part 5’ on This Is Kendrick Lamar,” it said on the streaming platform very briefly.
And just a couple of hours later, the song is officially out. ‘The Heart Part 5’ is Kendrick’s first single as a lead artist in four years, following last year’s ‘Family Ties’, his incredible collaboration with his cousin Baby Keem.
The music video for ‘The Heart Part 5’ is particularly memorable. Directed by Kendrick alongside Dave Free, the trippy clip sees the rapper’s face morph into several deepfakes, with the choice of people being noteworthy: Kendrick transforms into Will Smith, Jussie Smollett, Kobe Bryant, Kanye West, and even O.J. Simpson throughout the video.
The lyrics often align with the person he’s resembling at that moment, with a line about murder arriving just as his face changes into the late Nipsey Hussle. “I am. All of us,”, a quote attributed to Kendrick’s Oklama, is displayed onscreen before all of this unfolds. ‘The Heart Part 5’ continues Kendrick’s long-running ‘The Heart’ singles series. All four previous parts arrived prior to the release of a larger project.
‘The Heart Part 5’ is likely to be the only single released from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, with the album just days away from release. Kendrick seemingly indicated that this would be a double album last week, posting a photo on his website featuring a book called Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers accompanied by two burned CDs.
One CD had “MORALE” scrawled on it while the other CD had “STEPPERS” written on it, leading fans to think that a double album is on the way (and, by using that logic, also a book?).
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Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is set for release on Friday, May 13th, 2022.
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Watch ‘The Heart Part 5’ by Kendrick Lamar:
