Kendrick Lamar dropped his first new solo single in nearly four years on Sunday night, called “The Heart Part 5.” The song arrives just days before the long-awaited release of his fifth solo album, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” on May 13.

The song’s video begins with Lamar rapping by himself in front of a red screen, but occasionally has the faces of other rappers and controversial public figures photoshopped over his: Kanye West, Nipsey Hussle, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, OJ Simpson and Jussie Smollett are six that we noticed after a couple of viewings.

The song’s lyrics blaze by quickly — check Genius.com for in-depth analysis — but the faces seem to have connections to the lyrics: West’s appears during a reference to a “friend’s bipolar,” Simpson’s references a “bulletproof rover,” and Hussle’s takes the form of a long soliloquy that closes out the song, apparently from his perspective: “To my brother, to my kids I’m in heaven … To the killer that sped up my demise: I forgive you, just know your soul’s in question/ I seen the pain in your pupil when that trigger had squeezed/ And though you did me gruesome, I was surely relieved/ I completed my mission, wasn’t ready to leave/ But fulfilled my days, my Creator was pleased … To my neighborhood, let the good prevail … I can’t blame the hood the day that I was killed.”

source: Kendrick Lamar Drops New Song, 'The Heart Part 5' - Variety