“ Love .,” the four-time platinum single from Kendrick Lamar’ s Pulitzer Prize-winning opus Damn. , was made an inescapable earworm and a breath of fresh air with a timeless hook from Zacari .
At the time, the young singer was not yet signed to Kendrick’s label, Top Dawg Entertainment , but was managed by TDE co-president Moosa Tiffith. Back then, his discography had only consisted of a few tracks on SoundCloud. “I [was] still figuring out how even to record and what type of music I want to make when that happened,” he tells Rolling Stone .
More than seven years after that breakout hit, Zacari is releasing his debut album, Bliss , featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Isaiah Rashad, Doechii, Blxst, Ab-Soul , Beam, and James Fauntleroy. He’s been working on it all this time, but has also released a few projects — including an excellent EP, Run Wild, Run Free , plus guest spots on modern classics like Black Panther: The Album and SiR’s Chasing Summer . “Over these past few years, TDE [put] me in the position to always be in the studio, be around great artists, and see how they make their albums.
” Indeed, time isn’t always of the essence in a camp where their biggest superstar spent five years between her groundbreaking debut and monster sophomore album. Now, Zacari has something beautiful and personal on his hands with Bliss ; taking influence from Kanye West, Mike Dean, and Lil Uzi Vert, it’s trippy, boisterous, soft, and serious all at once. “Truth Is,” a sta.
