Kendrick Lamar has announced his newest LP via his website oklama.com. The album is titled Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and drops on May 13. The album, the follow-up to 2017’s Pulitzer award-winning Damn. will be his first LP in five years.
Lamar responded to a Tweet made earlier today facetiously stating that he was “retired, with the Oklama URL. The website, created in August of last year, is sparse, to say the least, but the rapper did use it to tease his upcoming LP recently, referring to it as his “final TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment) album.”
Lamar first teased the album on the Oklama website in August of 2021, stating:
“As I produce my final TDE album, I feel joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years. The Struggles. The Success. And most importantly, the Brotherhood. May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life’s calling.”
-Oklama
Lamar signed the statement “Oklama,” which, in addition to being the name of his website, appears to be a new pseudonym for the rapper himself.
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers has big shoes to sep into. Damn., Lamar’s 2017 effort, took top honors in nearly every hip hop awards category that year and won multiple best album titles as well, including Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork’s number one ranking for the year. Damn. also took BET’s album of the year and won the Best Rap Album at the Grammys.
Lamar hasn’t exactly lain fallow in the intervening years, either. Lamar helmed the soundtrack for 2018’s Black Panther, headlined Coachella, featured on multiple recordings by other artists, including Busta Rhymes, Raphael Saadiq, Baby Keem, and 2 Chainz. And, of course, he was one of a number of hip hop legends that performed at this year’s Super Bowl.
