Kendrick Lamar’s long-awaited album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers comes out this Friday May 13th, and he’s just released his first new song since 2018, “The Heart Part 5.”
Over a stellar flip of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You,” (produced by Beach Noise), Kendrick delivers sprawling, stream-of-consciousness verses that remind you there’s still nobody else who does it like him.
The song comes with a video directed by Kendrick and Dave Free, in which Kendrick raps the song in front of a red backdrop, and as the song goes on, his face morphs into O.J. Simpson, Kanye West, Kobe Bryant, Jussie Smollett, Will Smith, and Nipsey Hussle.
Kendrick has said Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers will be his last album for TDE. He and former TDE co-president Dave Free recently launched the new company pgLang, and this song is a co-release between TDE, pgLang, Aftermath, and Interscope.
Kendrick also recently posted a new teaser for the album featuring a photo of two CDs, one titled “Morale” and one titled “Steppers.” No word yet if this song will be on the album, but usually Kendrick releases his “The Heart” songs as non-album tracks shortly before the release of an album (except for “The Heart Pt. 2,” which was included on 2010’s Overly Dedicated)
