Kendrick Lamar: what is new single The Heart Part 5 from new album - is Will Smith in the music video?

Rapper Kendrick Lamar has officially dropped the first single from his upcoming album Mr Morale and the Big Steppers, as well as a music video to go with it as well.

While the video may look like it features cameos from the likes of Will Smith and Kanye West, that’s not actually the case thanks to modern technology called deepfake.

This is everything you need to know.

What is new song The Heart Part 5?

Kendrick Lamar has shared the first single from his upcoming album Mr Morale and the Big Steppers, titled The Heart Part 5.

The song is Lamar’s first solo single since his 2018 song All The Stars which featured SZA and also served as the lead single from the rapper’s Black Panther soundtrack.

The Heart Part 5 is the latest in a series of tracks that Lamar has released throughout the course of his career - parts one and two were both released in 2010, part three in 2012 and part four in 2017.

Is Will Smith in the music video?

Alongside the new single, Lamar also dropped the music video for The Heart Part 5.

While at first glance it may look like a number of celebrities feature in the music video, like Will Smith, for example, this is actually achieved through deepfake technology, which morphs Lamar’s face into that of other celebrities.

As well as Smith, Lamar is transformed into the likes of OJ Simpson, Kanye West, Jussie Smollett, Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle throughout the video.

The face swapping visuals begin with the quote: “I am. All of us.”

In the video, Lamar’s face changes on cue in regards to specific lyrics - he becomes Kanye West when he says “friends bipolar” and then Nipsey Hussle during the line “I’m in Argentina wiping tears full of confusion”, which references where Lamar was performing when Hussle died in 2019.

The video gives special thanks to “Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and DEEP VOODOO”.

Deep Voodoo is a studio founded by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker which specialises in deepfake visuals.

The video was released on Lamar’s official YouTube channel on Monday 9 May, but after amassing over five million views, it has been made unavailable, with comments turned off as well.

When is Kendrick Lamar’s new album out?

The Heart Part 5 is the first single from Lamar’s upcoming album Mr Morale and the Big Steppers, which is set to be released on Friday 13 May.

He announced his fifth studio album on 18 April after tweeting out a new link to his Oklama website which revealed the album’s title and release date.

The link leads to a white screen with two old-style file icons, with one containing the announcement.

In a statement stored in the second file on the Oklama website, Lamar said he felt “joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years”.

He also said he had been living a quiet life, spending most of his days with “fleeting thoughts. Writing. Listening. And collecting old Beach cruisers”.

“Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family”, he added.

“While the world around me evolves, I reflect on what matters the most. The life in which my words will land next.”

On the site, Lamar also says that Mr Morale and the Big Steppers will be his “final [Top Dawg Entertainment] album”.