Ugh, we weren’t planning on writing anything tonight, but I guess we have to, because Kendrick Lamar has just shared a new single. The track is titled “The Heart Part 4,” which explains the mysterious “IV” image posted on his Instagram account. While the medical community speculated that Kendrick was nodding to the infusion of liquid substances through the vein, and Pokémon Go fans thought it might be a sly reference to the hidden internal value stat for each Pokémon, turns out it’s the Roman numeral IV. Mystery solved. Though, still can’t believe it wasn’t about Pokémon.
Anyway, the track follows recent comments from Kendrick that he’s working on a new music that’s “very urgent.” As he said recently to T Magazine, “To Pimp a Butterfly was addressing the problem. I’m in a space now where I’m not addressing the problem anymore. We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God.”
“The Heart Part 4” is the fourth in a continuing series of “Heart” tracks, whose first installment appeared way back on the KDot Drops mixtape from 2010. Oddly, the third “Heart” track was released before the second, which was kinda confusing. Just kidding. That’d be weird. Not sure why I said that. And now for an awkward transition to the iTunes link for “The Heart Part 4.”