Ahead of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in February, rumors were circling that he’d have some new music to share before the show. And while that didn’t end up being the case, there have definitely been some recent advancements that gave us a clearer picture of when the highly-anticipated follow-up to DAMN was coming. In fact, the picture is clear as day now as Kendrick made the announcement himself: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is officially set for release on May 13. Here’s what we know so far about the new Kendrick Lamar album.
Everything We Know About Kendrick Lamar’s Next Album
Kendrick Lamar hasn’t put out an album since 2017, when DAMN. debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. In August of last year, the “Humble” rapper issued a statement on his oklama.com website indicating that his next album would be “my final TDE album” and that he was indeed in the process of producing it. Then in October, his Spotify avatar changed for the first time since 2017, when DAMN came out and fans were chomping at the bit. Then in November, as he was wrapping up his set at the Day N Vegas music festival, Lamar said “Vegas till next time! And when I say next time I mean very soon.” The plot thickens…
During Super Bowl Week, radio host Ebro Darden and his Rap Life Review co-hosts read a report that new music from the Compton raper was coming before the big game. And while it didn’t, a week later, the Milano Summer Festival in Italy announced that Kendrick Lamar would be performing and that he “will play the pieces of the new album, long-awaited by the fans.” Surely Lamar and his camp approved of that message. And if you need any further proof, last September, eleven new ASCAP song registrations popped up crediting “Kendrick Lamar” as the songwriter.
Perhaps the album had been done since September and Kendrick was biding his time leading up to a big summer splash? Seems like that is the case, as Kendrick tweeted out a link to his oklama.com website again on April 18th. Clicking the new folder icon on his website leads to a statement on official pgLang letterhead (his company/label with Dave Free) where he announces an official release date for his new album: “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers Release date: 5/13/2022.”
