TDE has a long history of playing with the emotions of their listeners. Whether it’s cryptically posting drop dates using white boards with “John Does” or in the case of Kendrick’s recent stunt, casually mentioning an exact date, they continuously keep fans on their toes. Fans who were shattered last Friday after Kendrick’s long-awaited fourth studio album failed to materialize were elated to see that Kendrick has released official artwork and a tracklist for what we now know is called Damn. Initial reactions to the emotionally charged — yet purposely simple — artwork coupled with the less than creative use of typography had mixed reactions.
DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar. pic.twitter.com/ucQcg0PuzG
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) April 11, 2017
Kendrick looks tired AND fed up on the cover of #DAMN lol — Low (@LowKeyUHTN) April 11, 2017
Kendrick Lamar looks so pissed on his album cover so you already know by default that the album is about to be infinite flame emojis
— EverybodyHatesBdell (@Bdell1014) April 11, 2017
Kendrick’s album cover is SO ugly pic.twitter.com/lKj7OZLNyV — Yonnic (@YonKippur) April 11, 2017
Kendrick looks like he has some serious vitamins deficiency https://t.co/bCsLF2H0HE
— Big Daddy E (@Eiology) April 11, 2017
@kendricklamar this looks like it was made in paint tho fr what the fuck Kendrick lmao — where am i (@Bamanboi) April 11, 2017
Lack of any discernible Photoshop standards aside, one thing that wasn’t up for debate was the album itself. Although it does not sport the epic leaked tracklist that was floating around, it features Rihanna and U2. In particular, U2 seemed like a point of contemption for some.
Parsing this Kendrick tracklist and I see a U2 feature. pic.twitter.com/V2jX1bB4PA
— Jawan (@BLKFERRARIS) April 11, 2017
The only U2 track I will tolerate Apple forcibly importing into my iTunes. Bring it on, Kendrick. https://t.co/DDUXjFqaBj — Aaron Braun (@ac__braun) April 11, 2017
@kendricklamar RIHANNA. U2. pic.twitter.com/LamtR8lD22
— Barry O’Reilly (@Barry0Reilly) April 11, 2017
WE’RE GETTING A RIHANNA AND KENDRICK COLLAB ? pic.twitter.com/NmuIZhmKTJ — ? (@cvseyjvy) April 11, 2017
Kendrick Lamar, featuring U2, produced by Mike WiLL Made-It. What a time.
— William Ketchum III (@WEKetchum) April 11, 2017
If Kendrick gets me to like a song with U2 then he really is the goat. — Tim (@prvctice_) April 11, 2017
At least one user seemed to be grateful that one specific collaboration rumor had been debunked.
That rumor of nicki Minaj being on Kendrick album was a lie pic.twitter.com/CN9Ln98jFF
— Ti’Challa (@GroovyTi) April 11, 2017
One thing is for sure, “Humble.” was a strong indication that we’re in for a scorcher! One user summed it all up quite nicely.
@kendricklamar Don’t play… We waitin’…. pic.twitter.com/2Aivwxua6k — Colin Cole (@ColinCole91) April 11, 2017
In other Kendrick news, “Humble.” had the highest Hot 100 debut for a rap song since 2010.