"HiiiPoWeR" | ||||
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Single by Kendrick Lamar | ||||
from the album Section.80 | ||||
Released | April 12, 2011 | |||
Format | Digital download | |||
Recorded | 2010 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:41 | |||
Label | Top Dawg | |||
Writer(s) |
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Producer(s) | J. Cole | |||
Kendrick Lamar singles chronology | ||||
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"HiiiPoWeR" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar. It was released on April 12, 2011 as the lead single from his independent digital album Section.80 (2011). The conscious hip hop song was released as the first promotional single for the album. While the album itself garnered positive reviews (achieving a Metacritic score of 80 and an XL rating from XXL), "HiiiPoWeR" also drew significant acclaim for its lyricism and depth. HipHopDX gave it the Verse of the Year award and XXL called it "one of the finest tracks of the year".
The song, produced by fellow American rapper J. Cole, contains samples from Pharoahe Monch’s "Simon Says", Kanye West’s "So Appalled" and Sixtoo’s "Duration Project Part 9". Kendrick Lamar mentions that when he and J. Cole were creating "HiiiPoWeR", which was their first collaboration, he sat in for about 25 mixes of the song. Speaking on J. Cole's work on the song, Lamar says, "His production is crazy, man. The first time we locked in, he played about 10 beats. I wanted 11 of ‘em." The song features additional vocals from late singer-songwriter, Alori Joh.
Kendrick Lamar and his Black Hippy cohort Ab-Soul, describe "HiiiPoWeR" as a movement, adding that they treat it as if it were a religion. In an interview, Lamar claims that although it originated in Los Angeles, "HiiiPoWeR" is now “spreading like wildfire.” It is a response to the ever-increasing destructive nature of the culture in the US, both the mainstream culture and more importantly the hip hop culture, which some would say is wallowing at an all-time low since its birth in the 1970s. Lamar continues, to explain that the three ‘i’s in the word "HiiiPoWeR" stand for heart, honor and respect—the three main things that people should have and live by. In "Ab-Souls Outro", the penultimate track on Section.80, Ab-Soul explains that the purpose of the HiiiPoWeR movement is to help lift a generation in a society that they view as destructive.