What Kendrick Lamar's The Heart series reveals about his evolution as a hip-hop artist

Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner has been releasing songs under the title for 12 years

Kendrick Lamar has evolved from a promising young artist to one of foremost voices of his generation. AFP

In the aftermath of one of the most intense hip-hop feuds in recent memory – when Kendrick Lamar was widely recognised to have triumphed over Drake – the bruised Canadian rapper can claim a minor victory.

Over the course of several antagonising tracks, in which both rappers took aim at each other’s career and personal lives, the battle royale compelled Lamar to make a subtle adjustment to the title of a central song from his new album GNX.

Titled Heart Pt 6, Lamar revisits his celebrated series of songs released over the past 14 years. The latest instalment features a slightly abbreviated title compared to its predecessors. This adjustment stems from Drake appropriating the original title, The Heart Part 6, for his final salvo against Lamar earlier this year.

Nonetheless, the song – regardless of its presentation – is in the true spirit of the series, with Lamar offering personal meditations on topics ranging from family and society to the state of the music industry.

Serving as an artistic road map, the songs are a window into Lamar’s evolution, from an unassuming, hungry and promising young artist from Los Angeles to a world-renowned Pulitzer Prize winner and one of foremost voices of his generation.

Lamar delved into his upbringing in The Heart Part 1. Released a year before his 2011 scene-buzzing mixtape Section. 80, it was produced by introspective rapper Yasiin Bey (also known as Mos Def) and David Kennedy. The sparse, almost improvisational, jazzy backdrop – featuring piano and shuffling production – perfectly complements Lamar's free-flowing, stream-of-consciousness-style raps. This was the sound of an artist coming to terms with his craft while offering an early glimpse into the values he aspired to embody throughout his career.

Those who thought Lamar made his play for the rap crown with his pile-driving and rival-baiting verse as part of Big Sean's 2013 single Control weren't paying attention. Even when the industry and masses weren't fully tuned in, Lamar stated his ambitions clearly in The Heart Part 1, saying, “I ain't a star yet but I'm gettin' close to 'em.”

Lamar also realised that the path to success wouldn't come through imitation of peers but through digging deep within: “Back with a vengeance, back with my heart and I'm venting.” The path forward, he concluded, was through integrity and the sheer grit and tenacity of a “born author.”

Part 1 also showcased some of the growing social consciousness that would come to full bloom in Lamar's Grammy Award-winning 2015 opus To Pimp a Butterfly, as he confronts the systemic neglect of African-American communities, stating how it’s “hot where I'm from, the newscasters don't come”.

That tension intensifies in the song The Heart Part 2, released a few months later as part of the 2010 mixtape O (verly) D (edicated). Lamar's narratives are more vivid as he, once again, gives himself space to offer unfiltered thoughts on his childhood. Over the sumptuous instrumental backdrop of A Peace of Light by The Roots, Lamar paints a picture of himself in the studio, writing whatever comes to mind. He speaks of life growing up in the uncompromising streets of Compton – a “school of hard knocks” where his generation were “the first ones in attendance.” This meant learning to mind your business and maintaining a tough exterior. The cost, he notes, is a community riddled with anxiety and youth desperate to get out.

However, Lamar once again reaffirms his stance that success won’t come at the cost of his artistic integrity: “I pray these bars get farther than Compton/ And if our record never breaks, I still won’t break my promise. I promise to keep it honest.”

While that level of clarity marked Lamar as a singular talent worthy of mentorship from hip-hop stalwart Dr Dre, it also unearthed a flurry of insecurities as he grappled with his rapid career ascent and being hailed as the next Tupac Shakur. Lamar gives voice to these anxieties in The Heart Part 3, released just days before the critically acclaimed Good Kid, M.A.A.D City dropped in 2012.

“When the whole world see you as 'Pac reincarnated, that's enough pressure to live your whole life sedated,” he declares at the outset over a minimalist and melancholy piano loop. “Find the tallest building in Vegas and jump off it. But I could never rewrite history in a coffin, so I'm talking to God: 'Can you wash all these demons off me?'”

The track also finds Lamar more at ease with his evolving role as a spokesperson for his community, a responsibility he would embrace with increasing confidence in subsequent albums: “As I lay in this four-corner room, staring at candles, thinking, 'How can I make an example for this generation of Compton?'”

This perspective tempers the raw ambition expressed in earlier tracks. Standing on the cusp of monumental success, Lamar reflects on its ultimate purpose, recognising that success without a meaningful legacy feels hollow: “I put my life in these twelve songs, my fight in these twelve songs. The fight to ignite any wrong and right that I prolong.”

Part 4 continued Lamar’s tradition of releasing instalments as preludes to significant projects. The Heart Part 4 served as a precursor to his Pulitzer Prize-winning album Damn in 2017, marking a turning point in his artistic and personal narrative. Here, the insecurity of earlier chapters gives way to supreme confidence, as Lamar crowns himself hip-hop’s new leader, throwing down the gauntlet to anyone challenging his status. The dynamic productions with its variations of moods and metre also reaffirms Lamar’s mastery on the microphone, as he declares himself as the “difference between accomplishments and astonishments”.

In The Heart Part 5, Lamar transitions to a more reflective and sanguine space. With rivals vanquished, a slew of Grammy wins, and sold-out arena tours behind him, the focus shifts to maturity and healing. Sampling Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, the song examines the state of African-American culture, weaving narratives of overworked and underpaid parents striving to provide for their children, and the resilience required to navigate systemic challenges.

“Our foundation was trained to accept whatever follows,” he states. “Dehumanised, insensitive. Scrutinise the way we live for you and I. Enemies shook my hand, I can promise I'll meet you in the land where no equal is your equal.”

With the latest Heart Pt 6, Lamar uses the opportunity to give fans confirmation that the much touted supergroup Black Hippy – alongside Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul – is no longer going ahead due to his dedication to build on his solo success.

Over Use Your Heart by nineties RnB girl group SWV, Lamar once again recalls his youth trying to make it and the desire to make a greater impact on his community. This is summed up best in a line that could harbour the next phase of his career: “sacrifice personal gain over everything just to see the next generation better than ours.”