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Kendrick Lamar · S7 E6
The Heart Part 5
A deepfake video, morphing faces, and the announcement that the silence is over
May 8, 2022. A video drops online and Kendrick Lamar's face morphs into OJ Simpson, then Kanye West, then Kobe Bryant, then Will Smith. The silence is over.
Kendrick Lamar, Mixtapes (short interview, from Kendrick's official channel). Kendrick reflects on his creative evolution from the mixtape era to now. Watch this knowing that the man speaking is about to release The Heart Part 5, the most technically ambitious music video of his career, and announce his return after five years of silence.
The Heart Part 5, Kendrick Lamar (2022)
Built on a sample of Marvin Gaye's "I Want You," the beat is smooth and seductive while the lyrics cut deep. Kendrick raps from the perspective of Nipsey Hussle, Kobe Bryant, OJ Simpson, and others, collapsing their stories into his own. The deepfake technology in the video makes his face physically transform into each person. Listen for the shift in vocal tone each time he becomes someone new.
Sources
Kendrick Lamar. "The Heart Part 5." pgLang / Aftermath / Interscope, 2022.
“I am. All of us.”
— Kendrick Lamar, The Heart Part 5, 2022
The Announcement
The Heart Part 5 was not just a single. It was a statement of return. Five years of silence, five years of therapy and fatherhood, and the first thing Kendrick gives the world is a song where he literally becomes other people. The message: empathy is harder than judgment, and nobody is just one thing.
Sources
Kendrick Lamar. "The Heart Part 5." pgLang / Aftermath / Interscope, 2022.
TAP TO REVEAL: Whose faces does Kendrick morph into in The Heart Part 5 video?
What Marvin Gaye song does The Heart Part 5 sample?
United in Grief, Kendrick Lamar (2022)
The opening track of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. If The Heart Part 5 announced Kendrick's return, this is the first thing you hear when you press play on the album itself. The beat accelerates from a slow piano into a frantic, cascading drum pattern as Kendrick processes five years of therapy in real time.
United in Grief, Kendrick Lamar (2022)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Kendrick opens the album by listing everything that happened during the silence: therapy, fatherhood, grief, growth. The delivery starts measured and gets faster as the dam breaks. By the end, the words are racing to keep up with the feelings.
The Heart Part 5
The Heart Part 5 opened the door. Five days later, Kendrick walks through it with a double album about healing that features Kodak Black, Eckhart Tolle, and the hardest mirror he's ever held up. Next: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
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