diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4c2d8ec655..e2c79c6378 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+## v2.0.0-rc.1 / 2021-03-26
+
+* [CHANGE] Rename --labels-metric-allow-list to --metric-labels-allowlist #1424
+* [CHANGE] Remove deprecated Kubernetes APIs #1423
+* [CHANGE] go.mod: Update Dependencies #1419
+* [CHANGE] Remove vendor folder #1419
+* [CHANGE] `k8s.gcr.io/kube-state-metrics/kube-state-metrics` becomes the authoritative registry
+Location on quay.io will not be updated anymore. Previously pushed images will be kept around to avoid breaking existing deployments.
+
 ## v2.0.0-rc.0 / 2021-03-04
 
 * [CHANGE] internal/store/pod.go: Only create waiting_reason series if pods are in waiting state #1378
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1c994064aa..5d89a654e9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -69,13 +69,13 @@ At most, 5 kube-state-metrics and 5 [kubernetes releases](https://github.com/kub
 | kube-state-metrics | **Kubernetes 1.16** |  **Kubernetes 1.17** |  **Kubernetes 1.18** |  **Kubernetes 1.19** |  **Kubernetes 1.20** |
 |--------------------|---------------------|---------------------|----------------------|----------------------|-----------------------|
 | **v1.8.0**         |         -           |          -           |          -           |          -           |          -           |
-| **v1.9.7**         |         ✓           |          -           |          -           |          -           |          -           |
-| **v2.0.0-rc.0**    |         -           |          -/✓         |         -/✓          |          ✓           |          ✓           |
+| **v1.9.8**         |         ✓           |          -           |          -           |          -           |          -           |
+| **v2.0.0-rc.1**    |         -           |          -/✓         |         -/✓          |          ✓           |          ✓           |
 | **master**         |         -           |          -/✓         |         -/✓          |          ✓           |          ✓           |
 - `✓` Fully supported version range.
 - `-` The Kubernetes cluster has features the client-go library can't use (additional API objects, deprecated APIs, etc).
 
-**Note:** The `v2.0.0-alpha.2+` and `master` releases of kube-state-metrics work on Kubernetes v1.17 and v1.18 excluding Ingress or CertificateSigningRequest resource metrics. If you require those metrics and are on an older Kubernetes version, use v2.0.0-alpha.1 or v1.9.7 kube-state-metrics release. 
+**Note:** The `v2.0.0-alpha.2+` and `master` releases of kube-state-metrics work on Kubernetes v1.17 and v1.18 excluding Ingress or CertificateSigningRequest resource metrics. If you require those metrics and are on an older Kubernetes version, use v2.0.0-alpha.1 or v1.9.8 kube-state-metrics release.
 
 #### Resource group version compatibility
 
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ release.
 #### Container Image
 
 The latest container image can be found at:
-* `k8s.gcr.io/kube-state-metrics/kube-state-metrics:v2.0.0-rc.0` (arch: `amd64`, `arm`, `arm64`, `ppc64le` and `s390x`)
+* `k8s.gcr.io/kube-state-metrics/kube-state-metrics:v2.0.0-rc.1` (arch: `amd64`, `arm`, `arm64`, `ppc64le` and `s390x`)
 
 ### Metrics Documentation
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 3fb13d4f5c..97041a78cf 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.0.0-rc.0
+2.0.0-rc.1
diff --git a/examples/autosharding/cluster-role-binding.yaml b/examples/autosharding/cluster-role-binding.yaml
index e2e8ee4602..07bf30c70d 100644
--- a/examples/autosharding/cluster-role-binding.yaml
+++ b/examples/autosharding/cluster-role-binding.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: ClusterRoleBinding
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
 roleRef:
   apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
diff --git a/examples/autosharding/cluster-role.yaml b/examples/autosharding/cluster-role.yaml
index ed55d79e57..8ff614e669 100644
--- a/examples/autosharding/cluster-role.yaml
+++ b/examples/autosharding/cluster-role.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: ClusterRole
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
 rules:
 - apiGroups:
diff --git a/examples/autosharding/role-binding.yaml b/examples/autosharding/role-binding.yaml
index 975f33c904..ad631ea03d 100644
--- a/examples/autosharding/role-binding.yaml
+++ b/examples/autosharding/role-binding.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: RoleBinding
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
 roleRef:
diff --git a/examples/autosharding/role.yaml b/examples/autosharding/role.yaml
index 740bf31f6a..fd4afa5f30 100644
--- a/examples/autosharding/role.yaml
+++ b/examples/autosharding/role.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: Role
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
 rules:
diff --git a/examples/autosharding/service-account.yaml b/examples/autosharding/service-account.yaml
index 294d0c4862..1708b4beac 100644
--- a/examples/autosharding/service-account.yaml
+++ b/examples/autosharding/service-account.yaml
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ kind: ServiceAccount
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
diff --git a/examples/autosharding/service.yaml b/examples/autosharding/service.yaml
index 38102736cd..9ef76c71d5 100644
--- a/examples/autosharding/service.yaml
+++ b/examples/autosharding/service.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: Service
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
 spec:
diff --git a/examples/autosharding/statefulset.yaml b/examples/autosharding/statefulset.yaml
index a83e323660..84bd633e8f 100644
--- a/examples/autosharding/statefulset.yaml
+++ b/examples/autosharding/statefulset.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: StatefulSet
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
 spec:
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ spec:
     metadata:
       labels:
         app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-        app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+        app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
     spec:
       containers:
       - args:
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ spec:
           valueFrom:
             fieldRef:
               fieldPath: metadata.namespace
-        image: k8s.gcr.io/kube-state-metrics/kube-state-metrics:v2.0.0-rc.0
+        image: k8s.gcr.io/kube-state-metrics/kube-state-metrics:v2.0.0-rc.1
         livenessProbe:
           httpGet:
             path: /healthz
diff --git a/examples/standard/cluster-role-binding.yaml b/examples/standard/cluster-role-binding.yaml
index e2e8ee4602..07bf30c70d 100644
--- a/examples/standard/cluster-role-binding.yaml
+++ b/examples/standard/cluster-role-binding.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: ClusterRoleBinding
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
 roleRef:
   apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
diff --git a/examples/standard/cluster-role.yaml b/examples/standard/cluster-role.yaml
index ed55d79e57..8ff614e669 100644
--- a/examples/standard/cluster-role.yaml
+++ b/examples/standard/cluster-role.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: ClusterRole
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
 rules:
 - apiGroups:
diff --git a/examples/standard/deployment.yaml b/examples/standard/deployment.yaml
index 497ead728d..1dd23935a0 100644
--- a/examples/standard/deployment.yaml
+++ b/examples/standard/deployment.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: Deployment
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
 spec:
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@ spec:
     metadata:
       labels:
         app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-        app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+        app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
     spec:
       containers:
-      - image: k8s.gcr.io/kube-state-metrics/kube-state-metrics:v2.0.0-rc.0
+      - image: k8s.gcr.io/kube-state-metrics/kube-state-metrics:v2.0.0-rc.1
         livenessProbe:
           httpGet:
             path: /healthz
diff --git a/examples/standard/service-account.yaml b/examples/standard/service-account.yaml
index 294d0c4862..1708b4beac 100644
--- a/examples/standard/service-account.yaml
+++ b/examples/standard/service-account.yaml
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ kind: ServiceAccount
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
diff --git a/examples/standard/service.yaml b/examples/standard/service.yaml
index 38102736cd..9ef76c71d5 100644
--- a/examples/standard/service.yaml
+++ b/examples/standard/service.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ kind: Service
 metadata:
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: kube-state-metrics
-    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.0
+    app.kubernetes.io/version: 2.0.0-rc.1
   name: kube-state-metrics
   namespace: kube-system
 spec: