Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar dropped a new song, 'The Heart Part 5,' with a video that briefly features Kanye West's face photoshopped over his own.

There have even been several false alarms, such as a social media frenzy ignited last summer by his record label TDE, but that turned out to be a tease for the Isaiah Rashad album. The video, which was directed by Lamar and longtime collaborator Dave Free, opens with a written statement — “I am. Lamar unveiled the long-awaited “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” album last month.

Lamar's new song and video is a precursor to his album, 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.'

The rapper's long-awaited fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers finally arrives this Friday, and he kickstarted his rollout on Sunday with a new song and video for “The Heart Part 5," a new entry in the series of songs he began back in 2010. The transformations appear to correlate with the lyrics: OJ appears as Lamar interpolates a classic Jay-Z line, who of course made “The Story of OJ,' there's a bipolar mention when Ye appears, and the lyric “in the land where hurt people hurt more people” occurs when Smith appears. OJ Simpson's. This continues for the rest of the video, with him taking on the visages of Kanye West, Jussie Smollett, Will Smith—all notably in the news for recent problematic behavior.

Watch the music video for Kendrick Lamar's new song The Heart Part 5.

Earlier this week, Lamar posted a picture on his website oklama.com that strongly suggested Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers will be a double album. Kendrick Lamar has shared a new song and music video. The song begins with Kendrick thanking his fans, family, and teachers, before launching into a blistering critique of modern notions of culture.

Watch Kendrick Lamar transforms into Ye, Will Smith, Nipsey Hussle, O.J. Simpson and others in new "The Heart Part 5" music video.

Lamar dismissed the claims and posted a video on the Instagram account of Top Dawg CEO, Anthony Tiffith, to proclaim his loyalty. Fans have been anticipating a new record from Lamar for years, even speculating in 2020 that he was about to leave the label. I completed my mission, wasn't ready to leave." Slyly replying to a February tweet that read: "Kendrick Lamar is officially retired," Lamar linked out to the website Oklama.com, announcing the album's title "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers." The video for his new single, titled "The Heart Part 5," features only Lamar against a dark burgundy backdrop in a white T-shirt as he raps: "As I get a little older, I realize life is perspective and my perspective may differ from yours." Ahead of the highly-anticipated arrival of Kendrick Lamar's fifth album "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers" on Friday, the Compton-bred rapper is teasing fans about what's to come with a new single and accompanying music video.

Kendrick Lamar has shared 'The Heart Part 5', the first single to be lifted from his fifth studio album 'Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers'.

In a follow-up teaser post, Lamar was pictured holding two CDs and a book adorning the album’s title – indicating that the release may be a double album, as well as potentially including an accompanying written piece. An accompanying music video has been shared for the single, co-directed by Dave Free alongside Lamar himself. The song serves as Lamar’s first solo single since 2018’s ‘All The Stars’, which featured SZA and served as the lead single from Lamar’s curated Black Panther soundtrack.

Ahead of his upcoming album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick Lamar just dropped his first lead single in four years: The Heart Part 5.

How much of the new album can we glean from “The Heart Part 5," I hear you ask? “The Heart Part 5,” a continuation of the 34-year-old rapper's series of one-off records, is the first lead single he's released in four years — and trust us, it doesn't disappoint, combining Latin verve with the upbeat spirit of disco. It's all thematically appropriate: at one point, as he rhymes about a “bulletproof rover,” the rapper turns into OJ Simpson. Turning to bipolar disorder, he becomes Kanye West. Whew.

Exciting LeBron James, the 14-time Grammy award winner shows love to Kobe Bryant in his new music video.

Kobe taught us to be better: a better teacher, a better teammate, a better loser, a better winner. The tribute features memorable highlights from Bryant's illustrious career and has Lamar's speaking about the Hall of Famer's importance to Los Angeles and the NBA. Lamar himself is seen throughout the video. The Mamba Mentality is about getting better, every day, in everything we do. This relentless drive for improvement is the legacy Kobe leaves. Seeing Bryant's face while Lamar raps instantly recalls the legacy left by Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash with his 13-old-daughter Gianna in January 2020. Bryant's hand is from his fifth championship in 2010 as it's taken from an iconic photo of him with the Larry O'Brien photo.

Artists and fans have been reacting after Kendrick Lamar returned today with comeback single 'The Heart Part 5' – see what they're saying.

As I continue to pursue my life’s calling,” he wrote last August. “There’s beauty in completion. In a follow-up teaser post, Lamar was pictured holding two CDs and a book adorning the album’s title – indicating that the release may be a double album, as well as potentially including an accompanying written piece. The perfect rapper, idc. — Denzel Curry (@denzelcurry)May 9, 2022 — Denzel Curry (@denzelcurry)May 9, 2022 The new single is part of a series of songs titled ‘The Heart’ that Kendrick has released over his entire career, with ‘Part 4’ coming in 2017.

The rapper's flow is as charged and acute as ever as he lays out a manifesto of radical empathy.

“I want you,” Lamar says as the track’s final line, a statement of pure fraternal need. “You can’t help the world until you help yourself,” Lamar says as Hussle, and this is ultimately Lamar’s credo. Yet by rapping in the first person, Lamar blamed himself as much as anyone, and the track’s even fiercer invective was aimed at an apocalyptically racist US: “Your plan is to terminate my culture.” This is a key part of Lamar’s overall musical project: a sustained, fraught, fallible and passionate inquiry into the forces that tear down and build up Black America.

'The Heart Part 5' is Lamar's first song as lead artist since 2018 and the first track from his upcoming album, 'Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,' due Friday.

Little is known about “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” which will come five years after the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Damn” and four years after Lamar’s Oscar-nominated soundtrack for 2018’s “Black Panther” movie. Last week the rapper — who’s taken to using the name Oklama online — posted a picture of two CDs, one marked “Morale” and the other “Steppers,” which led to speculation that the new LP is a double album. The celebrated Compton rapper dropped a new song on Sunday, his first as a lead artist since 2018.

Kendrick Lamar also transforms into the likes of other Black celebrities in the music video, including Kobe Bryant, O.J. Simpson, Jussie Smollett and Will ...

And always faith in the unknown," continued his letter to fans. "As I produce my final TDE album, I feel joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years. "There's beauty in completion. Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? As I continue to pursue my life's calling." "All factual information for this release will come directly from this source only."

Kendrick Lamar surprised fans overnight Sunday by dropping a new track and music video ahead of his expected album release later this week.

Fans have long hoped for Lamar's return. After receiving a Pulitzer for "DAMN." in 2018, the rapper curated and contributed a number of songs to the soundtrack for the film "Black Panther," including his Grammy and Oscar-nominated collaboration with SZA, "All The Stars." "The Heart Part 5" appears to call for a greater empathy and understanding of the role of social ills including racism and entrenched poverty on individual agency.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar is causing a stir with the video for "The Heart Part 5," his first single in four years.

And my perspective may differ from yours." The words: "I am. Directed by Dave Free and Lamar himself, the video for "The Heart Part 5" starts simply enough.

The latest installment in his long-running song series comes with a jarring video just ahead of his forthcoming album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

“Part 5” is the second “Heart” entry to be paired with a video, and this time, the intrinsic link between song and visual is a double-edged sword. During the third verse, Lamar speaks from Nipsey’s perspective, positing what he might’ve thought at the moment he was shot and telling his family and his brother, Black Sam, that he’s watching over them. Twelve years later, his respect within the industry is unparalleled and he’s the first and so far only rapper ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. But gold can’t erase the bloodstains of the past, a fact that Lamar openly grapples with on his latest single “The Heart Part 5.”

Kendrick Lamar's new music video, which dropped on Sunday, features the rapper morphing into the face of several public figures using deepfake technology.

“Damn” was also the first non-classical and non-jazz album to win the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2018. As Lamar begins the music video rapping by himself against a crimson backdrop, his face morphs into those of other Black men, including Ye, formerly Kanye West, Will Smith, Jussie Smollett and O.J. Simpson, as well as the late Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle. The roughly 5-minute music video opens with a black title screen with a statement in white: “I am.