Hit-Boy released his latest single, “Back in Traffic,” last week as part of Apple Music’s Juneteeth: Freedom Songs collection, and buried in the credits is a famous name: Kendrick Lamar. The Compton rapper has a writing credit on the track, with Hit-Boy explaining on Instagram that Kendrick penned the song’s melody and lyrics.
On the chorus and post-chorus, Hit-Boy and KIRBY team up:
Prayin' I don’t crash while I’m flyin' down the coast
Trauma from the past, that shit livin' inside my soul
Know some gangstas and some hustlers and a few n-ggas who boast
Would they love me if it fell apart? Sh-t, who know
But don’t get back and fall again
I’m right on time for calls, my friends
The lanes have changed but the trust, it never ends, ends
Never ends
It’s not Hit-Boy and Kendrick’s first time linking up; the TDE rapper’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city cut “Backseat Freestyle” is produced by Hit-Boy, as are the beats for his features on A$AP Rocky’s “1Train” and Jay Rock’s “Wow Freestyle.”
“Back in Traffic” represents the first new material from Kendrick Lamar since his feature on Busta Rhymes‘ “Look Over Your Shoulder” last October. The Game recently made headlines for claiming a new Kendrick album was coming “real soon,” although there’s still no timeline on his DAMN. follow-up. His new writing credit is sure to once again stoke speculation about what he could be working on next.
Read all the lyrics to Hit-Boy’s “Back in Traffic” on Genius now.
