"Make it Look Sexy"

One of the defining aspects of hip-hop in 2019, was the distinct lack of starpower on display. For the most part, all of the genres biggest names stayed home with almost no album releases and very few significant singles. With the exception of J. Cole who would release “Middle Child” in January and eventually lead the way on Dreamville’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III” in July. It was an erringly quite year for the genre’s leaders.

Hov, Cole, Kanye, Drake, Pusha T, even Travis, (although he would finish the year strong with "JackBoys"), those who typically sit at the forefront of hip-hop had a surprisingly quite 12 months. However, as we approach the end of 2020’s 1st quarter, it feels like this trend is about to come to an abrupt halt. Of course, we're still expecting “The Fall Off” album which J. Cole promised for early this year, and Drake has been periodically and systematically leaking singles a lot over the first few months of this year.

But in addition to this, just two weeks ago, we got a big sign that one of musics biggest stars is gearing up for a release. Kendrick Lamar took the bold step of clearing his Instagram feed and then proceeded to release promotional material for his new service company, pg-lang. Now, bar a small 30 second cameo by Jorja Smith in one of these promotional videos, there is little to nothing that explicitly suggests that new music is coming. However, it has been enough to spark a lot of rumors and speculation. Thus, in line with this, I thought I’d come forward and preview what I envision a Kendrick Lamar album in 2020 will sound like.

One of Kendrick’s greatest, GREATEST, qualities is his ability to revamp his style and sound for each album. No two Kendrick Lamar albums sound alike. “Section.80” doesn’t sound like “good kid, m.A.A.d city”, which in itself sound nothing like “To Pimp a Butterfly”. K.Dot, is different from Kendrick Lamar, who is in turn different from Kung-Fu Kenny. With that being the case, it is hard to predict or envision what a new Kendrick album would sound like. However, Kendrick has always expressed his intent to make a rock-infused album. And thus, I would not be surprised to see him shift in this manner.

Additionally, from the song “XXX” from his 2017 album “DAMN.” we do get some idea of what a rock-influenced Kendrick Lamar album would sound like. Unlike artist such as Tyler the Creator or Kanye West, who shift genres and almost completely void their art of any hip-hop elements. I view Kendrick as too much of a hip-hop head and hip-hop historian to do such a thing. Rather, if Kendrick is seriously planning to deliver an album influenced by and centered in rock and roll and that sound, I would anticipate an album strongly in the vain of the aforementioned “XXX”. I would still expect K.Dot to be as lyrical as ever, deliver the same high-quality, thought-provoking and insightful content which has made him so revered worldwide. And ultimately, I would still expect this album to be just as strong and as solid as all his previous works.

Ultimately, this is an exciting time to be a hip-hop fan. We just, this weekend were blessed with a Jay Electronica’s first album “A Written Testimony”, where a 50-year-old JAY Z, completely stole the show. Between “Life is Good”, “Desires” and “Chicago Freestyle”, its abundantly clear that Drake is loading up to come and dominate the summer as he does so well, hopefully he really raps this time and actually provides quality content. And there remains the looming projects we expect from J. Cole, Big Sean and Meek Mill in the near future. And now with Kendrick posting on IG, even though it has little to nothing to do with music, and Nas posting a picture of the two rappers, which is atypical of Kendrick Lamar. There is a great deal of excitement brewing within hip-hop and since COVID-19 is seemingly going to be keeping a lot of us indoors for a while, there is really no better time for these artists to FINALLY drop some new music. (you too Isaiah Rashad).