Kendrick Lamar Will Be Featured On AZ Chike's New Album "No Rest For The Wicked"

BY Gabriel Bras Nevares
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Kendrick Lamar Feature AZ Chike New Album No Rest For The Wicked
Kendrick Lamar performs during the second day of Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. on Friday, Jun. 16, 2023. Jamar Coach / Jackson Sun / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
AZ Chike posted a few pictures of him and Kendrick Lamar in the studio together to promote his new album, which drops on September 18.

AZ Chike was one of the West Coast MCs who got a big look from featuring on the Kendrick Lamar album GNX almost two years ago. Now, he's going to fully capitalize on that hype by dropping his next project, No Rest For The Wicked, on September 18. It turns out K.Dot will be a feature on the tracklist, as Chike indicated via social media.

On Twitter, he posted a few pictures of him and Lamar in the studio while promoting the LP's release. While this isn't an explicit confirmation of a feature, previous teases of studio time have led to official results. For example, after AZ posted up with Tyler, The Creator, they eventually released their collaboration "Look Like My Mama."

As such, fans are hoping this really is an announcement rather than a vague tease just to flaunt a friendship. Maybe Kendrick was just giving Chike advice or contributing to other elements of No Rest For The Wicked. But that would disappoint fans who already went wild with this tease, along with being quite anticlimactic. In any case, a lot of fans are excited to dive into the album when it drops in just under two weeks.

AZ Chike & Kendrick Lamar

Elsewhere, Kendrick Lamar has dropped various 2026 features, including two appearances on Ca$ino by Baby Keem. "Good Flirts" with Momo Boyd was more of a tender and lovey-dovey performance, whereas "House Money" only featured a short, menacing hook from him.

With that in mind, fans are hoping this AZ Chike collab is more explosive and dexterous rap-wise by comparison. Kendrick Lamar's "How To Pray" feature on the new Dahi album Black Boy (Alternative) was also more breezy and reserved, even if fans still liked it. So hopefully we get a banger to contrast these offerings or something that shows a new side of both West Coast rappers.

They collaborated on the GNX track "peekaboo," and hopefully this new collab is even better. Still, this should be a bigger moment for AZ Chike than it is for the pgLang creative. After all, he already put in the work. It's been time for others to follow up.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.

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