TDE Teases New Kendrick Lamar Album For September Release

Kendrick Lamar‘s third album may be coming in September, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) founder Anthony Tiffith said to Billboardin a new cover story on the Los Angeles label. Details are forthcoming, aside from the fact that Lamar’s new album will be one of several TDE releases this year. By the time Schoolboy Q released Oxymoron on February 25, the label had also planned to drop records by rapper Isaiah Rashad and singer SZA, plus a debut by supergroup Black Hippy (Lamar, Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul).

“This is our proving ground to show the world that wasn’t a fluke – that TDE isn’t just one artist. Kendrick isn’t the only one in our stable that’s going to blow up,” co-president Dave Free said.

For now, Lamar’s certainly the only TDE artist to talk the Grammy. Lamar earned seven nominations but didn’t win any awards this year for the critically acclaimed good kid, m.A.A.d city. Notably, he lost in major rap categories to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis‘s The Heist, which prompted Macklemore to apologize via text (“You got robbed. I wanted to you to win”). While Drake scoffed at the gesture (“That shit was wack as fuck“), Lamar offered a kinder response to Billboard.

“That text surprised me, but Macklemore is a genuine dude,” Lamar says. “However it panned out, I wish him much success. He touched people’s souls, and no one can take that away. Really, the whole Grammy moment was incredible. Not everyone gets that shot.”

Read the rest of the TDE cover story at Billboard.