Kendrick Lamar is back, and his music is bigger than ever! Fans are finally graced with a new record after not releasing a studio album in five years since "Damn" in 2017; here's what listeners should know about the rapper's new era.
According to NBC News, the musician dropped his new album titled "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers." He's popularly known for pushing artistic boundaries with his music, which earned him a whopping 14 Grammy nods for his catalog.
"Damn" was also the first non-jazz and non-classical record to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize for music four years ago.
Lamar's latest record is actually a double album. The physical copy is divided into two discs titled "BIG STEPPERS" and "MR. MORALE."
It has 18 new tracks with a total running time of an hour and 15 minutes.
The rapper tapped some of the most prominent artists in the industry to collaborate for his new project as he featured stars like Kodak Black, Sampha, Baby Keen, Summer Walker, Taylour Paige, Beth Gibbon, and Ghostface Killah.
Despite his album just getting released a few hours ago on online streaming platforms, some of his songs are already making headlines on the internet due to their deep meaning and his stance on the LGBTQIA+ community, specifically for trans folks.
In the song "Auntie Diaries," the rapper addressed that his auntie is "a man now," and he's old enough to understand what it means.
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He added, "Demetrius is Mary-Ann now. I mean he's really Mary-Ann, even took things further/Changed his gender before Bruce Jenner was certain/Living his truth even if it meant see a surgeon."
Many people are praising Lamar for his statement on transphobia as the song was deemed "powerful" by Variety.
Surprisingly enough, "The Heart Part 5" song is not included on the album. He dropped a controversial music video on Sunday, and many fans anticipated that it would be a part of his new record.
As of this writing, Lamar has not publicly addressed the matter.
Kendrick Lamar 'The Big Steppers Tour' 2022
Just a few hours after releasing his new album, fans are in for another surprise as the rapper also announced his North American, European, New Zealand, and Australian tour this year!
The Big Steppers Tour https://t.co/LgMFiWPbWT pic.twitter.com/2txiUEwM5g
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) May 13, 2022
According to Oklahoma's official website, the rapper will be joined by Baby Keem and Tanna Leone.
The tour will kick off on July 19 in Oklahoma City before visiting cities and countries across the world like Dallas, Austin, Miami for this year's Rolling Loud Festival, Tampa, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Long Island, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom for Glastonbury Festival, Melbourne and more.
His last show will be in Auckland, New Zealand, on December 16.
Tickets are available here.
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