Anderson .Paak and Cordae are officially joining forces for a full-length collaborative album titled Heavy Is the Crown, bringing years of musical chemistry into one project.<\/p>\n
The duo announced the album on August 19, revealing that Heavy Is the Crown will be released on October 23, 2026, through APESHIT, Mass Appeal and EMPIRE.<\/p>\n
The project marks the first full-length collaboration between the two artists, who have built a strong creative relationship since first working together on Cordae\u2019s 2019 breakout single \u201cRNP.\u201d The song, produced by J. Cole, became one of the standout records from Cordae\u2019s debut album, The Lost Boy.<\/p>\n
Their chemistry continued with collaborations including \u201cTwo Tens\u201d and \u201cSummer Drop,\u201d giving fans several glimpses of what a full project from the pair could sound like. Heavy Is the Crown now takes that partnership to album length.<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s title reflects the weight that comes with success, responsibility and family, while the project\u2019s creative direction also highlights the friendship between the two artists. Its artwork pays homage to the cult 2008 comedy Step Brothers, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.<\/p>\n
Production on the project is expected to feature a strong lineup of hip-hop and contemporary producers, with reported credits including J. Cole, 9th Wonder, Conductor Williams and Swizz Beatz.<\/p>\n
For .Paak, the album arrives during a particularly active period in his career. The nine-time Grammy winner has continued moving between hip-hop, R&B, soul and funk, while also celebrating the 10th anniversary of his acclaimed album Malibu this year.<\/p>\n
Cordae, meanwhile, is returning from his 2024 solo album The Crossroads. A full project with .Paak gives the rapper an opportunity to explore a different musical environment, combining his sharp lyricism with .Paak\u2019s soulful musicianship and melodic approach.<\/p>\n
The physical rollout is also expected to be extensive, with multiple vinyl editions, retailer exclusives and a special animated zoetrope version planned alongside the digital release.<\/p>\n
After years of collaborations, performances and a friendship that has grown alongside their careers, Anderson .Paak and Cordae are finally giving fans a full album together.<\/p>\n
Heavy Is the Crown arrives October 23, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anderson .Paak and Cordae are officially joining forces for a full-length collaborative album titled Heavy Is the Crown, bringing years of musical chemistry into one project. The duo announced the album on August 19, revealing that Heavy Is the Crown will be released on October 23, 2026, through APESHIT, Mass Appeal and EMPIRE. The project […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[160],"class_list":["post-4012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","author-urbanafrica"],"authors":[{"term_id":160,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"urbanafrica","display_name":"URBANAFRICA","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg"},"author_category":"1","first_name":"Emmanuel","last_name":"I","user_url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/","job_title":"","description":"Top journalist covering music, entertainment, arts, and culture, delivering breaking stories and deep insights that shape the global conversation."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4014,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012\/revisions\/4014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4012"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}