"
HiiiPoWeR" is a song by American
hip hop recording artist
Kendrick Lamar, released 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 Magazine), "HiiiPoWeR" also drew significant acclaim for its lyricism and depth.
HipHopDX gave it the Verse of the Year award and XXL Magazine 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 created "HiiiPoWeR", which was their first collaboration, he sat in for about twenty-five
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 all of ‘em." The song features vocals from late
singer-songwriter Alori Joh.