Kendrick Lamar's "The Heart Pt. 5" Cover Art Explained

Kendrick Lamar debuted his new single, “The Heart Pt. 5” on Sunday night.

It is officially Kendrick Lamar season. After a flub on Spotify’s part, Kendrick Lamar’s fifth installment in “The Heart” series arrived on Sunday night along with a new visual that K. Dot co-directed alongside Dave Free. The visuals have been at the center of discourse for over 12 hours. With help from South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Kendrick Lamar utilized deep fake technology to transform into Will Smith, Jussie Smollett, Kobe Bryant, Nipsey Hussle, OJ Simpson, and Kanye West. As he’s deepfaking these individuals, he’s also rapping from their perspective.

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The cover art for “The Heart Part 5” carries the video’s theme, as well. The six hands on the cover art belong to the six individuals Kendrick deepfakes in the video. The gloved hand in the far right belongs to OJ Simpson from his infamous trial. The hand to the left of OJ’s belongs to Kobe Bryant.

Kendrick Lamar‘s new single kicks off the campaign for his upcoming studio album, Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers. The album is rumored to be a double-disc, though Kendrick hasn’t confirmed it. The album is due out on Friday, May 13th, and will likely have a grip on the Billboard 200 for the weeks to come. K. Dot’s new album is already projected to move 350,000 equivalent units in its first week, which will certainly serve as the largest debut of the year so far.

Check out the cover art breakdown below.

[Via]