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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Entertainment
August Brown

Kendrick Lamar returns with first new album in five years, 'Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers'

Kendrick Lamar's new album "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers" is both a return to form and the end of an era.

The LP, Lamar's fifth studio album, is his first new record after winning a Pulitzer Prize for 2017's "Damn." (though he gave nearly an album's worth of work to the "Black Panther" soundtrack). It comes four months after Lamar performed at the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, alongside his mentor Dr. Dre in a Compton-themed set.

But it's also the 14-time Grammy winner's final album with Top Dawg Entertainment, the L.A. hip-hop and R&B label that he helped turn from a regional underground favorite to a dominant global force. Lamar previously announced on his cryptic website, Oklama, that he will be starting a new company, pgLang, with former TDE executive Dave Free.

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