TO claim that Kendrick Lamar felt an overwhelming sense of duty to surpass not only the heights of 2017’s DAMN., but also the expectations of fans and the hip hop world would be an understatement.
After a five year hiatus, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was dropped on May 13. The double album is the fifth studio release by Lamar, and the last to be released under the Top Dawg Entertainment label.
In the years following DAMN. – for which Lamar won a Pulitzer prize – speculation arose on the direction Lamar would take for his next album due to how dark the former was. Would the next album be more mainstream?
Prior to the release of the double album, Lamar released the single The Heart Part 5 and the music video of it, which partially answered the previous question.
The single provided a glimpse of what Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers would confront thematically, particularly with the line: “In the land where hurt people hurt more people”.
Introspection before healing
Split into two halves, both discs contain eight songs that thematically mirror each other.
Right from its first track, United in Grief, Lamar – through the voice of singer Sam Dew – hopes he finds some peace of mind in his life, before revealing that at some point in the last five years, the rapper began to see a therapist to work through his personal traumas.
The rest of the song – and first disc – has Lamar confronting his behaviour and thoughts, as he also attempts to piece together the behaviour of other hip hop musicians.
This includes Lamar and the greater hip hop world’s objectification of materialism, such as when he raps about himself by saying “Poverty was the case, But the money wipin’ the tears away” on United in Grief.
He then confronts others by rapping “Take off the Chanel, take off the Dolce, take off the Birkin bag, Take all that designer bull**** off, and what do you have?” on the catchy track N95 that features his cousin Baby Keem.
Lamar also questions the concept of “cancel culture” on several tracks, before claiming “[N-word]s killed freedom of speech, everyone sensitive” on Worldwide Steppers.
The biggest revelation that Lamar teases on the first disc is his struggle with sex addiction, which repeatedly led him to commit infidelity on his fiancee Whitney Alford, who he has two children with.
As a whole, the first disc doesn’t contain anything that can be considered “mainstream”, as in, these songs are not the kind of rap songs that will make rounds in clubs or radio airplay.
The highlights for the first half are the tracks Father Time and We Cry Together.
In the former, Lamar details how his father shaped him in shutting his emotions out, which the rapper claims is the same for many of the men in his community.
Despite its rich lyricism, Father Time is clunkily produced and is held up sonically due to Sampha’s soothing singing.
We Cry Together is an incendiary, expletive-laden, lightning in a bottle track that captures a very toxic fight between a couple, played by Lamar and actress Taylour Paige.
The album ramps up once more on Mother I Sober, as Lamar delves directly into the problems that are endemic to the Black community, particularly repeating cycles of physical and sexual violence that are passed on from one generation to the next.
Lamar does so by highlighting that his family believed his cousin had touched him inappropriately, which Lamar would deny, but became traumatised due to how often he was questioned.
He would also reveal that his mother never believed him, because she herself was sexually assaulted.
On the same song, Lamar lamented that while he has always been sober from alcohol and drugs, he was dependent on one vice to cope with his past and present; sex addiction, through infidelity.
Known for his use of different voices – heard prominently on DAMN.’s FEAR. – , Lamar uses his special voice on both songs to make sure that everyone listens.
Through uplifting melodies, an eclectic variety of beats, and amazing piano parts, the album is ultimately Lamar’s meditative journey that chronicles his personal battles, even if the production (and melodies) on certain tracks being very inconsistent.
He promised nothing with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, yet Lamar delivered the world something that is risky, uniquely different and antithetical to the hip hop industry.
