It’s been an interesting past few weeks for Kendrick Lamar, who proved that there’s no such thing as consistency in album release cycles anymore. On March 24, he released a new track called “The Heart Part 4,” and one of the lyrics was, “Y’all got till April 7 to get y’all s— together.” That seemed to suggest a new album would drop on that date, but come April 7, all we got was a release date: April 14. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s today, and Lamar’s new album, DAMN., is now available. Here’s the front and back album artwork:
DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar. pic.twitter.com/ucQcg0PuzG
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) April 11, 2017
It’s definitely peculiar, and that’s exactly what designer Vlad Sepetov was going for, writing in a series of tweets:
“it’s interesting to see people talk about ‘bad’ design. but i’m incredibly proud of this cover. i sort of bucked a lot of what my teachers taught me. i wanted to make something loud and abrasive. and maybe some won’t see that, but i’m glad that [Top Dawg Entertainment co-president Dave ‘Miyatola’ Free] and dot [Lamar] saw the value in making something that didn’t fit the mold.”
The album features contributions from Rihanna, James Blake, BADBADNOTGOOD, and others, perhaps the most interesting of which is U2, who guest on the track “XXX.” Lamar’s always been an innovator, though, so we’d expect nothing less.Stream the album below, via Spotify or Apple Music, and give us a shout on Twitter and let us know what your favorite track is.
Featured image: Top Dawg Entertainment
