Rapper delivers first new verse in over a year for updated Renaissance standout
Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé reunite for the first time in seven years on the surprise new remix for Renaissance’s “America Has a Problem,” which arrived with no warning late Friday.
In his first new verse in over a year, Lamar bounces from horoscopes and sudoku to CGI and AI (“Even AI gotta practice clonin’ Kendrick,” he boasts of his inimitable skills).
“Say B, yes, America got a problem / Geeked up, choosin’ love, or they chose violence,” Lamar raps in his opening verse. ““I’m an honorary Beyhive / Let’s see why them diamonds don’t be fly / They all CGI.”
It’s unclear what fans did to deserve the “America Has a Problem (Remix),” but the song has been surging on social media since the launch of Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour, where the track is among the concert’s many highlights.
The remix marks Lamar’s first appearance since the release of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers in May 2022, and the rapper’s first collaboration with Beyoncé since their Lemonade team-up “Freedom” in 2016, which the duo also performed at the 2016 BET Awards and the New Jersey stop of Beyoncé’s Formation Tour.
“She’s a perfectionist,” Lamar previously told Rolling Stone in 2017. “Think about the BET performance. She was very particular – the lighting, the camera blocking, the transition from the music to the dancing. It was confirmation of something I already knew.”