Rapper Kendrick Lamar released his fourth studio album late Thursday night, a 14-track compilation titled Damn. The album follows 2015's To Pimp a Butterfly and last year's untitled unmastered, a collection of unreleased demos.
Like Lamar's previous offerings, Damn features heavily political lyrics: The song "DNA" samples a rant from Fox News' Geraldo Rivera criticizing Lamar, while the songs "Yah" and "XXX" both mention Fox News. The ninth track, "Lust", chronicles the aftermath of last year's presidential election. Esquire transcribed the relevant lines:
We all woke up tryin' tune to the daily news / Looking for confirmation hoping election wasn't true / All of us worried, all of us buried, and the feeling's deep / None of us married to his proposal, make us feel cheap / Stealed and sad, distraught and mad, tell the neighbor about it / Think they agree, parade the streets with your voice profit / Time passin', things change / Reverting back to our daily programs / Stuck in our ways / Drones
Some sharp-eyed observers speculate Lamar will release another album Sunday, based on clues in Damn's lyrics and on his social media accounts. You can read more about that at The Verge, or listen to Damn on Spotify here.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Groypers: the alt-right group pulled into the foregroundThe Explainer The network is led by alt-right activist Nick Fuentes
-
10 concert tours to see this upcoming fallThe Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
How to put student loan payments on pauseThe Explainer If you are starting to worry about missing payments, deferment and forbearance can help
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
