Rapper Kendrick Lamar said his long-awaited new album will be released next month.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning musician shared to Instagram that his upcoming fifth studio album, titled Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, will be released on May 13.
The 34-year-old’s most recent studio album was 2017’s Damn, which won the Pulitzer Prize for music, becoming the first non-jazz or classical work to do so.
His other albums include 2011’s Section.80, 2012’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and 2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly.
The multiple Grammy winner revealed the news in a letter under his moniker Oklama shared on letterhead from his media company pgLang, which he founded with his business partner Dave Free in 2020.
He also shared the news on Twitter in a cryptic manner by sharing a tweet which said “Kendrick Lamar is officially retired” and adding a link to his website oklama.com.
The link goes to a white screen with two old-style file icons, with one containing the announcement.
Lamar previously announced that his next album will be his last with Top Dawg Entertainment, the label he has been signed to since the start of his career.
The rapper shared the news in August in a statement stored in the second file on the oklama.com website, where he said he felt “joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years”.
He also said he had been living a quiet life, spending most of his days with “fleeting thoughts. Writing. Listening. And collecting old Beach cruisers”.
“Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family”, he added.
“While the world around me evolves, I reflect on what matters the most. The life in which my words will land next.”
The rapper is due to make his Glastonbury Festival debut this summer as he headlines the closing proceedings on the Sunday.