Kendrick Lamar receives the Grammy for the Best Rap Album with DAMN. during the 60th Annual Grammy Awards show on January 28, 2018, in New York. / AFP PHOTO / Timothy A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Kendrick Lamar will seemingly continue his reign of pop culture dominance by producing an original film with Dave Free.
Kendrick Lamar has been riding high. The rapper has dominated the Billboard charts over the past year. He was showered with awards at the Grammy ceremony, and performed the most-viewed Halftime Show of all time during the Super Bowl. Kendrick Lamar is a pop culture phenomenon a decade and a half into his career. And now, he’s shifting to film. The rapper is linking up with South Park co-creator Trey Parker for a comedy due out this summer.
Kendrick Lamar’s comedy film will be titled Whitney Springs. Paramount confirmed the title of the film on Wednesday, and revealed some details about its premise. “A black man interning as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum finds out that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his,” the Paramount + synopsis read. The streaming platform also confirmed that Whitney Springs will be released July 11. Fans have debated whether Lamar will appear in the film or simply produce. The poster image that came out with Paramount’s announcement did list the rapper alongside stars Chloe East and Celeste Octavia.
Kendrick Lamar Acting Career
Kendrick Lamar has proven to be a capable actor in the past. The rapper made his small screen debut on the 2018 Power episode “Happy Birthday.” He played Laces, a homeless drug addict, and fans generally agreed that he showed real charisma onscreen. Lamar has proven to have screen presence in his music videos over the years. He isn’t the only TDE alum who will dabble in feature films in 2025. SZA, who will be touring with Lamar when Whitney Springs is released, recently starred in the film One of Them Days. It co-starred Keke Palmer, and took in an impressive $47 million at the box office.
Trey Parker told Bloomberg that he’s excited to show the fans what him, Lamar, and co-producer Dave Free have come up with. “We’re doing a movie with Kendrick, with Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free and their company,” he asserted in October 2024. “And we’re working on it and hopefully come out July 4 weekend opposite Jurassic Park, which is pretty funny.” Parker also praised the duo of Lamar and Free for their hands on involvement with the film. “[Kendrick Lamar is] very involved. And Dave Free is very involved,” he asserted. “Every day they are working on it.”
