Rumours of a new Kendrick album have circulated since Polydor Records posted a (since deleted) Instagram story with Lamar listed as a 2019 planned release. Needless to say, we were left thoroughly disappointed, though in the years since DAMN there’ve been several collaborative projects and features—from the Black Panther soundtrack to James Blake’s ‘Kings Dead’—to carry us over. 

However, recent information has led us to believe the next project is dropping sooner than anticipated. Anthony Tiffith (the head of Kendrick’s label), better known as “Top Dawg”, informed us “king Kendrick will return soon” in an Instagram Live this past weekend.

Top Dawg promises Kendrick Lamar will return soon? pic.twitter.com/wPrDw3fOmo

— Hiiipower – TDE News (@hiiipowers) May 18, 2020

The project is set to have more heavily rock influenced sounds, as evidenced in a tweet from industry veteran Bill Werde:  

Did anyone not named Beyonce release better, more meaningful back-to-back albums last decade than Kendrick Lamar? Are you interested to know that I hear from several friends that recording on the new album may finally be done? And that he’s pulling in more rock sounds this time?

— Bill Werde (@BillWerde) January 11, 2020

Thundercat has previously stated “I think I worked on the new one a little bit. But not as much.” Of Lamar, he goes on to say “I feel like Kendrick will be a beacon of what it means to be one of the more creative artists of our generation.”

For those of us eagerly awaiting the content in quarantine, in dire need of the creative artistry Thundercat describes, the album could not arrive sooner. As the two have worked together on ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ and ‘DAMN’, we can only imagine the lyrical and rhythmic innovation to come next.