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Kendrick Lamar proves he’s untouchable on ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’
Kendrick Lamar has now transcended hip-hop, and on Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers, the rapper stakes his claim for being the most critical voice in contemporary music. Often, artists don’t receive the flowers they deserve while alive, but we are truly fortunate to live in the same era as Pulitzer Kenny.
Lyrically, depth and nuance are bursting out of every pore of the rapper’s fifth album while Kendrick expertly travels in new territory on his most personal record. Rather than pointing the gun at society through his mercurial storytelling instincts, Kenny delivers a portion of himself on Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers and paints the full portrait of his three-dimensional character.
It’s an album that deserves your full attention and should be listened to in its entirety with no distractions. This is not a record made for background listening or Spotify playlists, but what Kendrick Lamar has been incrementally building towards for his whole career.
So far in his career, Lamar has been the voice of Black America on To Pimp A Butterfly, which was followed up with the boundary-pushing masterpiece, 2017’s DAMN. Naturally, there was a collective sense of intrigue as to where he would go next. By turning the microscope on himself, Kendrick has shown why every other rapper is insignificant in comparison.
From the opening track, ‘United In Grief’, it feels as though you’re overhearing a therapy session as Kendrick details his childhood trauma, touching on how all the luxury material possessions he’s been able to buy with his unfathomable riches but fails to compensate. On the track, he earnestly raps, “I bought a Rolex watch, I only wore it once, I bought infinity pools I never swimmed in, I watched Keem buy four cars in four months, You know the family dynamics on repeat, The insecurities locked down on PC.”
‘Father Time’, which features Sampha, sees Kendrick travel to a profound facet of his mind to offer a sense of clarity on life which very few others are capable of expressing so fluently. The rapper discusses how his daddy issues made him the person he is today. With a need to constantly seek approval, Kendrick suggests that a chip on his shoulder has fuelled him to greatness. “‘Cause everything he didn’t want was everything I was,” he poignantly remarks.
The first half of the record isn’t filled with uptempo moments with danceability. However, bouncy tracks like ‘Count Me Out’ and ‘Silent Hill’ offer this in the second half, if that’s what you’re looking for from Kenny. That said, it’s the moments when we get to understand the crucial moments that have constructed him. ‘Savior’ is a dosage of philosophical Kendrick, as he questions the world around him and the unwanted weight of expectation that rests upon his shoulders.
‘Mother I Sober’ features the calming vocals of Portishead’s Beth Gibbons as Kendrick delivers the most personal track of his career. It’s about acceptance, not allowing yourself to be crippled for life by his family’s tragedies, and most importantly, letting go.
Meanwhile, in ‘Auntie Diaries’, Kendrick sticks two fingers up to the transphobes by opening up about his “auntie”, who is now a trans man and also the first to realise he could rap. The heartfelt track is bursting with sincerity, and as well as making hip-hop history, it could perhaps alter the worldview of millions.
Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers is an emotional listening experience. Over 18 tracks, and 75 minutes, you understand who the real Kendrick Lamar is and see the conscious rapper in a vivid new light. While eyebrows were raised by some when he was announced as a Glastonbury headliner, this album confirms his superhuman literary gift. Glasto Kenny deserves every ounce of praise he receives.
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