Listen to Kendrick Lamar’s New Song “The Heart Part 5”
On Sunday, less than a week before the release of his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, Kendrick Lamar released his new song “The Heart Part 5,” along with a video to accompany it. On Friday, May 13, he releases his long-awaited fifth studio album, which will be his final for Top Dawg Entertainment.
Lamar sits in front of a dark red backdrop in the video for the song, which samples Marvin Gaye’s famous 1976 song “I Want You,” as his face switches with deep fakes of some of his colleagues, entertainers, and hip-hop superstars including Kanye West and Nipsey Hussle.
The quote “I am.” begins the shape-shifting image. “All of us,” according to oklama, a nickname the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper has started employing in recent months.
“As I get older, I learn life is about perspective, and my perspective may differ from yours,” Kendrick says at the start of the song. “I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who has come down with me. Everyone who has ever taught me a lesson, including my gorgeous fans. Everyone in my family.”
Throughout the video, Lamar’s face takes on the appearances of different celebs, and at 1:55, he spits the lyric “friends bipolar” as his visage swaps to that Kanye West. His features resemble those of OJ Simpson, Jussie Smollett, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Nipsey Hussle, among others. Kendrick spits the lyric “and Sam I be watching over you” when he raps from the perspective of the late rapper, then throws out an apparent dedication to his brother Samiel Asghedom, a.k.a. Blacc Sam, in the Nipsey segment of the video.
K-Dot raps “I’m in Argentina wiping tears full of uncertainty” at 2:05 in the video, which appears to be a reference to Nipsey’s death, considering that the MC performed at Lollapalooza Argentina on March 31, 2019, the day Nipsey was slain.
“The Heart Part 5” is the first solo K-Dot single to be classified as a pgLang release on streaming services, in collaboration with TDE. Kendrick said the upcoming album will be his final with TDE in August of last year, telling fans on his oklama website that he feels “pleasure to have been a part of such a cultural stamp after 17 years.”
“The Battles. He penned, “The Success.” “And, above all, the Brotherhood.” May the Most High continue to employ Top Dawg as a conduit for honest artists. As I continue to follow my life’s purpose.”
Take a look at the new video up below.
