On March 23, 2017, Lamar shared an Instagram post of the Roman numeral "IV" after deleting his prior Instagram posts.[5] That night, Lamar released the song through streaming services.
This is the fourth installment in Lamar's "The Heart" song series. "The Heart Part 1" was released as a loose track in April 2010, while "Part 2" was featured on Lamar's Overly Dedicated mixtape, released later that same year. "Part 3," featuring Ab-Soul and Jay Rock, preceded the release of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City in 2012. In 2022, "The Heart Part 5" was released as a promotional single to promote Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.[6]
He finishes the song with the line, "Y'all got til April the 7th to get y'all shit together", hinting at the release date for his fourth album (the date turned out to be the day pre-orders opened and the release date was announced to be April 14).[7] The song mentions Donald Trump, while media outlets perceived it as a diss track to rappers Drake and Big Sean.[8]
A portion of the instrumental, produced by The Alchemist, is used on the song "Fear" from Lamar's fourth album Damn (2017).
Critical reception
On the day of its release, Pitchfork named it Best New Track.[9] For Entertainment Weekly's Eric Renner Brown, Lamar "infuses his boasts of success and wealth with a degree of lyrical nuance that elevates the track."[10]