Kendrick Lamar‘s first album in five years, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, is finally here. He prefaced it earlier this week with “The Heart Part 5,” the latest installment of his non-album track series “The Heart,” and both the song and its video were deservedly showered with praise, sparked even more anticipation for this new album, and signaled the start of a new era for one of the greatest artists of our time.
The new LP is a double album with nine songs on each half, and guests include Ghostface Killah, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Sampha, Summer Walker, Baby Keem, and more. Stream it below.
In the time since Kendrick released his last album, 2017’s DAMN., Kendrick spearheaded the Black Panther album and did a few key guest verses, including his recent verse on Baby Keem’s 2021 song “Family Ties,” which served as the world’s re-introduction to Kendrick Lamar after a lengthy quiet period. We recently included that song at #6 in our list of the best Kendrick Lamar guest verses. He made his return to the stage in 2021 at Day N Vegas, where he broke out deep cuts from the past decade of his career, and earlier this year he performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and 50 Cent, and then joined Baby Keem on stage at Coachella. He has upcoming live appearances at Glastonbury and Rolling Loud Miami. He’s also teaming up with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for a new live action comedy.
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is out now via TDE, Kendrick’s new pgLang company, Aftermath, and Interscope. He says it’s his last album for TDE. Stream it below…
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