On the night of 24 March, Kendrick Lamar released the unexpected new song "The Heart Part 4." In it, he says, "Y'all got till April the 7th to get y'all shit together." In the same song that he declared himself the best rapper alive, it sounded like both a warning and an announcement. All other rappers better prepare themselves, because his album would be out on 7 April.
Well, here we are on 7 April, and there's no new Kendrick album. He must have decided the competition would need another week, because an untitled new album appeared on iTunes for pre-order with a release date of April 14. That's next Friday—two days before he headlines the first weekend of Coachella.
As of now, it's just titled ALBUM and the cover is a black square. It's 14 tracks, and the only one we've heard so far is "Humble", which he released last week along with a stunning music video. It would appear that "The Heart Part 4" isn't on the album, which would make it something of a scratch track (perhaps that might explain the incorrect date?).
While details are scarce, Complex claims to have found a way to pre-order the album and see the list of composers, which includes DJ Dahi, the Alchemist, Mike Will Made-It, Cardo, and 9th Wonder. Most interesting, though, is that U2, James Blake, and BADBADNOTGOOD are listed with writing credits. While James Blake and BADBADNOTGOOD have proven to be excellent collaborators with hip-hop artists, U2 sounds like a questionable choice. But if anyone make it work, it's Kendrick Lamar. We'll find out next week.
