Cyrus Langhorne
Top Dawg Entertainment‘s Kendrick Lamar is going to keep fans waiting a little bit longer. The hip-hop star has revealed the release date for his follow-up to 2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly album.
Once the clock struck midnight April 7, iTunes showed a new Lamar album arriving next Friday (April 14).
Despite the big reveal, little is still known about the project’s title, cover art and full tracklisting.
The full tracklist nor cover artwork have been revealed, but a look at the information provided with the iTunes preorder list U2, BADBADNOTGOOD, DJ Dahi, the Alchemist, 9th Wonder, and more as contributors on the new album. Last year, Kendrick released the collection untitled unmastered. (Pitchfork)
Recently, Lamar surprised fans with his new “Humble” single and music video.
The song, less exploration of contrition on the part of Lamar than an instruction to his peers, picks up a thread NPR Music first examined following that album teaser: how the “best rapper alive” might explore the theme of God, religion and personal growth. (In the previous non-album single, “The Heart Part 4,” Lamar stuck to a similar narrative: “Tell ’em that God comin’.”) (NPR)
Earlier this year, Kendrick dished out details on what approach he’d take on his next album.
‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ was addressing the problem. I’m in a space now where I’m not addressing the problem anymore,” he said. “We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God. Nobody speaks on it because it’s almost in conflict with what’s going on in the world when you talk about politics and government and the system.” I wondered if the new record would engage directly with that conflict. “It’s very urgent,” Lamar replied. (NY Times)
