Kendrick Lamar's 'Damn': Everything we know about his new album
Kendrick Lamar season has officially arrived.
The rapper's new album DAMN., the highly-anticipated follow-up to his 2015 release To Pimp A Butterfly, arrives on April 14. Considering the weighty subject material of Lamar's previous two full-length releases, from the masterfully constructed narrative arc of his 2012's good kid, m.A.A.d city to Butterfly's searing political messaging, fans can likely expect a similarly heavy-hitting release from Lamar on Friday.
Lamar teased the release of DAMN. by releasing two new tracks, The Heart Part 4 and Humble, with more potentially to come before the album's due date on Friday.
Here's what we know about K. Dot's latest project.
DAMN. drops April 14
After Lamar name-dropped "April 7" in his new track The Heart Part 4, many fans were expecting his album to arrive that day. Instead, the pre-order for DAMN. went live on April 7, with an official release date of April 14.
Lamar also shared the album's cover, featuring his likeness against a brick wall.
The project is a full-length album
Unlike his 2016 release untitled unmastered, which Lamar described as "demos from To Pimp A Butterfly," DAMN. is a 14-track album intended to stand on its own.
LeBron James shared previews on Instagram
Of the many ways fans expected to hear DAMN. before its official Friday release date, LeBron James' Instagram probably wasn't one of them. The Cavs star shared a series of videos of him dancing to DAMN. on his Instagram Stories Thursday, giving the world a first listen to select tracks in the process. From the the clips he played, there's a lot to be excited about on DAMN., with the songs incorporating soul samples and Instagram caption-ready catchphrases, sounding altogether ready for the radio.
The album's guests include Rihanna and U2
Lamar has appeared on many guest verses in the months since Butterfly's release, including Beyoncé, Maroon 5, Sia and the Weeknd. However, only two guest artists are listed on DAMN.s tracklist: a feature from Rihanna on a track titled Royalty, and more surprisingly, U2 on the song XXX.
Beyond the album's featured artists, Internet sleuths uncovered DAMN.'s composer credits tied to its iTunes pre-order. The list includes Mike WiLL-Made It, the producer behind Humble, in addition to and "J. Blake," who could potentially be James Blake.
Humble makes an appearance
Of the two tracks Lamar has released prior to DAMN.'s release, only one of them makes an appearance on the album. While Lamar's first new song, The Heart Part 4, does not appear on the tracklist, his most recent release Humble is listed.
Humble, which dropped on March 30 accompanied by a stirring music video, became Lamar's highest-charting single ever when it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, marking the rapper's first appearance as a solo artist on the chart's top 10. Based on the track's instant success, it's likely not his last.
Expect a less-political album than Butterfly
In an interview with the New York Times, Lamar called his new release "very urgent," while discussing how he recorded DAMN. in a different headspace than Butterfly.
“Been thinking about my little brothers. One little brother, he bigger than me, he’s 22. Another brother, he just turned 11. Family," he said. "I think now, how wayward things have gone within the past few months, my focus is ultimately going back to my community and the other communities around the world where they’re doing the groundwork. To Pimp a Butterfly was addressing the problem. I’m in a space now where I’m not addressing the problem anymore.”
Lamar also spoke about how his Christian faith is reflected in his new music. “We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God," he said. "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.”