"The Heart Part 4" is a song by American hip hop recording artist

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...

. It was released on March 23, 2017, by

Top Dawg Entertainment Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American independent record label founded in 2004, by CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. Terrence "Punch" Henderson is president of the label. There are currently eleven artists signed to the label: the label's f ...

. The track features uncredited vocals from American singer

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname.

. The song contains samples from "Don't Tell a Lie about Me and I Won't Tell the Truth on You" by James Brown and " I Love You" by

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American singer and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al ...

Background and release

On March 23, 2017, Lamar shared an Instagram post of the

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

"IV" after deleting his prior Instagram posts. That night, Lamar released the song through streaming services. This is the fourth installment in Lamar's "The Heart" song series. "The Heart Part 1" was released as a loose track in April 2010, while "Part 2" was featured on Lamar's ''

Overly Dedicated ''Overly Dedicated'' (sometimes stylized as ''O(verly) D(edicated)'' and shortened as ''OD'') is the fourth solo mixtape by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, released on September 14, 2010, via Top Dawg Entertainment. The album features guest appea ...

'' mixtape, released later that same year. "Part 3," featuring Ab-Soul and

Jay Rock Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1983), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Los Angeles. He signed to indie label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), in 2005. Under TDE, Rock secured a rec ...

, preceded the release of ''

good kid, m.A.A.d city ''Good Kid, M.A.A.D City'' (stylized as ''good kid, m.A.A.d city'') is the second studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Record ...

'' in 2012. In 2022, " The Heart Part 5" was released as a promotional single to promote his fifth studio album. He finishes the song with the line, "Y'all got til April the 7th to get y'all shit together", hinting at the release date for his fourth album (the date turned out to be the day pre-orders opened and the release date was announced to be April 14). The song mentions

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, while media outlets perceived it as a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (diss – abbr. from ''disrespect'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the ...

to rappers

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

and

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

. A portion of the instrumental, produced by

The Alchemist An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Books and stories * ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho * ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Be ...

, is used on the song "

Fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

" from Lamar's fourth album '' Damn'' (2017).

Critical reception

On the day of its release, ''Pitchfork'' named it Best New Track. For ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

''s Eric Renner Brown, Lamar "infuses his boasts of success and wealth with a degree of lyrical nuance that elevates the track."

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heart Part 2017 songs Kendrick Lamar songs Songs written by Kendrick Lamar Song recordings produced by the Alchemist (musician) Top Dawg Entertainment singles Sequel songs Songs about Donald Trump Songs written by Khalid (singer) Songs written by DJ Dahi Songs written by The Alchemist (musician)