Kendrick Lamar’s first solo single since April 2017 is titled The Heart Part 5, continuing the tradition of releasing the non-album promotional single series called “The Heart” in preparation for a soon-to-be released studio album. The fifth installment—The Heart Part 5—is accompanied by its official music video. Both audio and visual were released on May 8, 2022.
On The Heart Part 5, Kendrick Lamar brings his audience into his present state of mind, rapping on subject matter like his new perspective on life, emotional trauma, gang violence, crime, impact of fame both positive and negative and so on over a 5-minute long instrumental sampling the classic “I Want You” by Marvin Gaye.
In the music video, Kendrick morphs through deep-fake technology into six (6) famous Black personalities at intervals, using them to express his views and stance on some thought provoking topics in the society while drawing parallels in their (i.e the famous Black personalities) experiences to his personal life. These famous Black personalities are O.J Simpson, Kanye West, Justice Smollett, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle (in order of appearance in the music video for The Heart Part 5).
The fingers on the cover artwork represents the fingers of each Black personalities Kendrick morphs into the music video—the black glove (O.J Simpson), the bandaged one (Kobe Bryant), top right (Kanye West), the smallest one beside Kobe’s (Justice Smollett), the widest-strecthed finger on the bottom-left (Nipsey Hussle) and top-left (Will Smith).
Perspective… @kendricklamar pic.twitter.com/5yJsthiacn
— KENDRICK LAMAR BIBLE (@dakendrickbible) May 9, 2022
Fans and music lovers worldwide who have had to wait the entire 5-year hiatus of Kendrick Lamar are currently in a state of frenzy mixed with awe as they critically listen to and watch The Heart Part 5, reading in-between the lines and bringing new subtle meaning to the song and its visual as time passes by. For example, a tweep writes in relation to the music video, saying the burgundy red background literally represents the human art and in turn, Kendrick’s non-stop bumping or body movements in the music video stands for the constant beating per second of a conscious man.
Notice how Kendrick Lamar is placed slightly on the left of the video (similar to where The Heart is located in the human body) and his constant bounce representing The Heart beat. ART. pic.twitter.com/nlLNejWZZ5
— Joey2.0 (@joeysnice) May 9, 2022
Another subtle meaning or should I say conspiracy is the fact that the song runs for 5 minutes after being released 5 years to its predecessor which is coincidentally the 5th part of “The Heart Series”, keeping a notable 5 theme going which some say it is supported even on the cover artwork as every finger on each hand indicates the number 5 and not just any random figure from 1-4. Fans believe this is an intentional effort by Kendrick Lamar.
Kendrick really gave us a 5 minute video for The Heart Pt. 5, after a 5 year hiatus 😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/j7iFTt5x5S
— Dispute Settler (@MightNotBeOkay) May 9, 2022
Celebrities, fans and music lovers worldwide have already started pouring in their gratitude for the new Kendrick Lamar’s masterpiece. His fifth studio-album—Mr Morale & The Big Steppers—is expected to drop this Friday, May 13.