Kendrick Lamar doesn’t need new albums to cement his cultural dominance. Between 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city and 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly, he set the rap world ablaze with his scene-stealing verse on Big Sean’s “Control (HOF).” And that was when not gracefully responding to getting Macklemored at the Grammys, or teaming up memorably with everyone from TDE labelmate Schoolboy Q and fellow Compton rapper YG to Miguel, Flying Lotus, and Tame Impala.

Now, a little more than two years after TPAB and one year after its companion LP untitled unmastered., Lamar has been teasing what seems to be a new album, seemingly slated for April 7. His pace over the last two years, however, has not exactly slowed. In addition to a smattering of guest verses, memorable TV performances, and Reebok ads, Lamar has also emerged as an avatar for the Black Lives Matter movement:* TPAB*’s “Alright” became a recurring chant at political protests, and Kendrick forged a bond with President Obama.

While we await more new music, here’s a rundown on the state of Kendrick Lamar.

March 24, 2015: To celebrate To Pimp a Butterfly’s early arrival, Lamar performs a surprise concert on a moving truck, as later seen in a Reebok-sponsored clip. A proper sneaker commercial follows a few weeks later. It’s in the context of selling shoes that some of Lamar’s subsequent pop crossovers may make more sense: He’s as canny about commerce as art.

May 17, 2015: TPAB‘s official release date was scarcely past before new Kendrick verses started materializing, including on a never-officially-released Kanye West remix as well as on a Glasses Malone single. Not many collaborations could be bigger, though, than Lamar’s collision course with Taylor Swift, who had talked up “Backseat Freestyle” the previous fall in her 1989 rollout. Lamar reciprocated by freestyling over “Shake It Off” before going full Swift, via two verses in her shade-throwing “Bad Blood” remix and a role (as “Welvin Da Great,” whatever that means) in the song’s explosion-filled action video. Lamar’s abbreviation-filled barbs on an apparent hater, complete with a “Backseat Freestyle” callback, aren’t his most striking, but presumably he’ll scoop up a few pennies from the clip’s billion-plus YouTube views.

June 22, 2015: As listeners continue to digest the momentous sprawl of TPAB, Lamar keeps up his steady pace as a guest star, including a blistering performance on Bilal’s R&B opus “Money Over Love.” Closer to ubiquitous is his goofy boastfulness on this remix of Jidenna’s “Classic Man,” which both lends credibility to Janelle Monáe's Wondaland Records signee and anchors K.Dot to a Top 40 hit. Remarkably enough, the remix also ends up reinforcing Lamar’s connection to Moonlight.

June 28, 2015: At the BET Awards, Lamar performs TPAB’s triumphant protest anthem “Alright” while standing on a vandalized police car. FOX News pundits troll in their usual way, where it’s hard to tell if they’re truly this ignorant or just getting paid a lot of money to behave like despicable cartoon villains. Lamar’s response—”How can you take a song that's about hope and turn it into hatred?”—is beautiful. So is the song’s video, by director Colin Tilley.

July 7, 2015: Lamar’s Reebok designs, with colors symbolizing peace between Los Angeles’ warring Bloods and Crips gangs, surface.