Kendrick Lamar is back with a new single, "The Heart Part 5", and a music video featuring deepfakes of Will Smith, Kanye West, Kobe Bryant, and other famous Black men.
The acclaimed rapper first solo single in nearly four years, "The Heart Part 5," was released on Sunday evening, less than a week before the release of his highly anticipated fifth studio album "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers."
The video, co-directed by Lamar and Dave Free, appears simple at first glance. It begins with a quote attributed to Oklama, a moniker used by Lamar in recent months. "Yes, I am. "All of us" appears on a black screen before Lamar begins rapping in front of a red wall while wearing a white T-shirt and a black bandana around his neck.
"As I get older, I realise life is perspective, and my perspective may differ from yours," the Pulitzer Prize winner says at the song beginning. "I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me. Everyone who has ever taught me a lesson, including my beautiful fans. "All of my people."
As the song progresses, Lamar's face takes on the appearances of other Black men who have made headlines, including Smith, West, and Bryant, as well as OJ Simpson, Nipsey Hussle, and Jussie Smollett. According to Complex, the face shifts are timed to specific lyrics, such as West's at "ain't no photoshoppin'/friends bipolar" and Hussle's at "I'm in Argentina wiping tears full of confusion," referring to where the late rapper was performing when he died in 2019.
The video can be watch at the end of this post.
Deep Voodoo, the studio founded by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is credited with the video's deepfake technology. In late 2020, the company released the viral video series "Sassy Justice," which starred a character named Fred Sassy, who was a doppelgänger for Donald Trump created with deepfake technology. Sassy, played by their collaborator Peter Serafinowicz, interacts with figures who bear striking resemblances to Al Gore and Mark Zuckerberg, among others, while sounding the alarm about the dangers of deepfake technology.
Deep Voodoo team of technicians and artists has now contributed to the many startlingly realistic face swaps in "The Heart Part 5."
Lamar recently won his 14th Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance for the song "Family Ties" with Baby Keem. The first episode of "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers" will air on May 13.
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