By Nisha Bhilave

SAN JOSE, CALIF. – World-renowned rapper Kendrick Lamar has just announced his fifth studio album, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” is set to release on May 13, 2022. 

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American rapper born and raised in Compton, California. Lamar is seen as one of the most influential rappers of all time. Lamar started writing and producing music as a teenager under the name K.Dot, and released his first mixtape in 2003. This mixtape quickly gained local attention and Lamar was able to sign to the official label TDE. In 2010 he released his first single, “Overly Dedicated”, and produced his first studio album the next year, called “Section.80”. By then Lamar had gained an enormous online fanbase for his music.

Lamar has won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album titled “Damn”, and helped in the making of the famous “Black Panther” soundtrack. He has also headlined Coachella, won several Grammys, has been nominated for an Oscar, and performed at the superbowl. 

After a 5 year hiatus, the rapper announced the release of his new album through a tweet which linked a website sharing a press release on his new album. He states, “all factual information for this release will come directly from this source only”, and “Appreciate your patience”. On April 19, Lamar updated the site with a picture of a folder in the middle titled, “important’, teasing the release.

Additionally, the musician posted a picture of a file labeled “nu thoughts” on instagram, and captioned it “oklama.com”. If fans visit the site, they are led to the same file as well as a letter by Lamar, pictured below.

With these teasers, Lamar’s fans are anticipating the drop of the new album, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.”