On Thursday, Kendrick Lamar wiped his Instagram account and posted a lone, cryptic photo on of the Roman numeral IV on a black background. This, of course, prompted immediate fan speculation that the rapper had a new release forthcoming, especially given that he has released three previous albums, his latest being 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to ponder this mystery for long, as Kendrick has now deleted his original post after dropping a new single, “The Heart Part 4.” You can listen to the new track here:
Lamar has spoken about his next record in a recent interview with T magazine. “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,” he said, calling the new project “urgent.” Some of the lyrics are certainly timely:
Niggas is fake rich, bitches is fake bad
Blacks that act white, whites that do the dab
Donald Trump is a chump, know how we feel, punk
Tell ’em that God comin’ and Russia need a replay button, y’all up to somethin’
Electorial votes look like memorial votes
But America’s truth ain’t ignorin’ the votes.
The track also mentions Lamar’s next album and teases, “Y’all got ‘til April 7 to get y’all shit together.” As far as clues go, that one doesn’t seem nearly as cryptic.
