Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” is a masterclass in non-preachy urgency
11.05.2022 - 00:29
/ thefader.com
Kendrick Lamar isn’t like other rappers. Let every other artist competing for rap’s throne jockey for position via social media campaigns, mixtapes, cheap co-branding, and market-tested singles: King Kunta floats above it all like a hip-hop mystic, descending from his mountain a couple of times a decade to bless the masses with scripture.
It’s not that he won’t tie a single to the NBA Finals or drop a quick EP of leftovers to keep the fans fed — it’s that even these pragmatic moves have a weight to them. The man can try to bring ‘top of the morning’ back into popular parlance, rap in a Hulk Hogan voice, and midwife an entire Baby Keem project, but cultural commentators will still dissect every bar for hidden meanings and impact on the discourse.
“The Heart Part 5,” the latest entry in Kendrick’s series of pre-album, state-of-the-union mission statements, leans into the near messianic fervor that surrounds his music, while subtly deconstructing it. Built on a sleek, modern reconstruction of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” by duo Beach Noise, the track is, above all, red meat for rap fans — a torrent of rapid-fire rhyming meant to remind everyone from Black Twitter to academia to hoods worldwide that Kendrick is the best rapper alive.
It’s also an indictment of the toxicity fueling contemporary culture, and a letter from one great Angelo rapper to another. None of this is new territory for Kendrick, but it remains an extremely potent brew, as no other artist, from the deepest underground emcee to the flightiest major label plant, has been able to match his combination of fiery bars, meaningful commentary, and spiritual energy.
Read Next: Kendrick Lamar becomes O.J. Simpson, Kanye West, Jussie Smollett, and more in “The Heart
.