Kendrick Lamar announces Mr Morale & The Big Steppers – his first album in five years

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Kendrick Lamar will be releasing his long-awaited fifth album next month.

The LA rapper thrilled fans by announcing a 13 May release date for Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, his fifth studio LP, which is in just three weeks time.

News of the follow-up to 2017’s Damn, was announced via PGLang, the multi-disciplinary media company which Lamar and his business partner Dave Free founded in 2020.

Lamar shared the announcement himself via Twitter, responding to a fan’s comment which suggested the rapper had “officially retired”.

Instead of making a direct statement on the social media platform, Lamar quote tweeted the retirement comment and then shared a link to the press release for the record.

He also shared the announcement on Instagram.

Fans quickly took to social media to express their excitement at the news, with one commenting: “He returns, tears in my eyes.” “We ready!” said another.

Lamar has kept a relatively low profile since the release of 2017’s Damn, with notable exceptions for the 2018 Black Panther soundtrack and an appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year, alongside Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Mary J Blige.

It was revealed earlier this year that Lamar is currently working as a producer on a live-action comedy film alongside South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. According to Variety, the film will show “the past and present coming to a head when a young Black man, who is interning as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum, discovers that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his.”

Lamar released his debut album, Section.80, in 2011, following it with the acclaimed Good Kid, MAAD City a year later.