Unbeknownst to the world until minutes ago, we find ourselves less than a month away from Kendrick Lamar’s fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, set to release on May 13.
The prolific rapper and pgLang co-founder tweeted out the album announcement in response to a February tweet from a user that read, “Kendrick Lamar is officially retired.” Lamar quoted the tweet with a link to his Oklama website, which is a blank webpage with two folders, one of which held a scan of a statement on pgLang letterhead. “The following statement was released today by oklama, through his company, pgLang at 11:00am PT in Los Angeles, CA,” it read.
Following innumerable false alarms about a K Dot album, the statement understandably went on to add, “All factual information for this release will come directly from this source only.” He also posted the announcement to Instagram.In August, Lamar announced his plans to leave TDE, under which all of his previous albums have been released
This will be his last album under the label, he said at the time.”As I produce my final TDE album, I feel joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years. The Struggles. The Success. And most importantly, the Brotherhood. May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life’s calling,” he wrote.Lamar’s last album was 2017’s “DAMN,” a hugely successful album that went triple platinum and received a Pulitzer Prize — the first rap album to win the coveted award.
