Kendrick Lamar will “return soon” says Top Dawg CEO

Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith has stirred a huge wave of anticipation by posting of Kendrick’s imminent return.

Where is Kendrick Lamar? To co-opt rap parlance, it’s been a minute since we heard new music from King Kendrick. Though, after a succession of zeitgeist clinching releases, K-Dot was more than entitled to a lengthy break. But us music fans are hungry beasts – our desire for new content knows no bounds.

Finally, a glimmer of promise is creeping over the horizon. While we’re still waiting for official confirmation of an upcoming release, Kendrick’s label CEO sent out a tantalising message via Instagram live late last week.

“Stay patient,” wrote Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, who signed Kendrick to TDE in 2004. “King Kendrick will return soon.” That’s the full extent of the update. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s the juiciest carrot we’ve had to munch on since Kendrick’s headline slot at the since-abandoned Glastonbury festival.

Of course, Kendrick hasn’t exactly been M.I.A. since releasing DAMN. in April 2017. He followed that release by overseeing the Black Panther soundtrack, which came out in February 2018. He received co-writing credits on all 14 tracks while also adding vocals to each, including the multi-platinum single ‘Pray For Me’ (with The Weeknd).

Also in 2018 Kendrick sparred with Pharrell on the N.E.R.D. song ‘Don’t Do It!’ and appeared on albums by Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, SZA, Cozz, Jay Rock, J. Cole and SiR. He also chipped in on Mike Will Made-It’s Creed II soundtrack and Beyonce’s The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack in 2019.

By anyone else’s standards, you’d say he’s been exceedingly busy. But we’ve grown accustomed to carefully constructed artistic statements from King Kendrick, which makes any news of an official follow-up to DAMN. cause for anticipation. That record, after all, scored Kendrick the 2018 Pulitzer Prize For Music – the first and only time the award’s gone to an artist not in the jazz or classical genres.

Check out ‘Don’t Do It!’ by N.E.R.D. and Kendrick Lamar:

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine