The singles are from the artist’s recently released album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
Kendrick Lamar’s third stint as Saturday Night Live’s musical guest saw the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper perform the single “Father Time” off of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, his fifth studio album.
Lamar just wrapped up the North American leg of his tour promoting the May release of the album, in which “the ever jazz-influenced artist is diligent in the sonic progression through his subconscious,” as Rolling Stone’s Jeff Ihaza wrote in a review.
The album also includes singles “Mother I Sober,” “Auntie Diaries,” “Savior” and “N95.” The latter was nominated for Best Hip-Hop at this year’s MTV VMAs, one of a handful of nominations for Lamar. He performed that song as well on Saturday.
The last time Lamar was SNL’s musical guest was in 2014, when he performed “i,” the Grammy Award-winning lead single from 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly, which holds the 19th spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. His most recent appearance on the late night show came four years ago when he had a cameo during Anderson .Paak’s “Tints.”
Lamar is next scheduled to tour Europe, beginning October 7 and 8 in Amsterdam.