Kendrick Lamar's long-awaited comeback to music with a brand new album, following up 2017's Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN, has been predicted for 2022, but the Compton native's first move of the new year finds him stretching out beyond rap.
According to Deadline, Kendrick will make his cinematic debut alongside his old manager Dave Free and South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who will co-produce an upcoming live-action comedy feature for Paramount Pictures.
The untitled film, written by Vernon Chatman, follows a young Black man interning as a slave reenactor at a living history museum who learns that his white girlfriend's ancestors once owned him.
“On behalf of Paramount Pictures and the wider ViacomCBS family, we look forward to ushering in the first theatrical collaboration from these creative visionaries, and galvanizing audiences worldwide around a powerful storytelling experience,” said Paramount Pictures’ President CEO, Brian Robbins.
Vernon Chatman is an Emmy-winning writer, director, producer, and voice actor most known for his work on Adult Swim's Wonder Showzen and Xavier: Renegade Angel, as well as portraying Towelie, the weed-smoking talking towel on South Park.
Chatman has past Hip Hop affiliations, having worked on Trigger Warning With Killer Mike and Doggie Fizzle Televizzle with Killer Mike and Snoop Dogg, respectively. He also contributed to The Chris Rock Show as a writer.
Matt Stone and Trey Parker are producing for Park County, while Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free are producing for their pgLang company, which they started in 2020. Although a director has yet to be appointed, production is expected to begin this spring.
The film is set to be released in theaters and streamed on Paramount+.
While this will be Kendrick Lamar's first film production credit, the 34-year-old rapper has prior expertise behind the camera, having co-directed many of his own music videos with Dave Free as part of the duo The Little Homies, including "HUMBLE.," "Alright," and "ELEMENT."
In 2018, K. Dot made his acting debut in one episode of 50 Cent's Starz series Power, in which he played a homeless drug user named Laces.
“[50] and Kendrick … were hanging out and Kendrick said, ‘I’d really like to be on the show,’” Power creator and producer Courtney Kemp said. “He’s very kind of quiet and thorough and methodical. He had prepared so much. He was ready.”
She added, “He’s really gifted, tremendously gifted. I mean it’s a total transformation. It is not a version of Kendrick Lamar that you’ve ever seen before.”
In other news, no word on when Kendrick Lamar's new album will be released, despite a recent Instagram post from his longtime producer Sounwave promising "new things on the way" further adding to the anticipation.
Kendrick's final release on Top Dawg Entertainment, the label where he's been since the beginning of his illustrious career.
