Artist : Kendrick Lamar

Album : “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Apple download link :

https://music.apple.com/us/album/mr-morale-the-big-steppers/1626195790

Spotify link : https://open.spotify.com/album/3OqPkYVDzHKistrI9exrjR?si=ha-Ln-_wSleWQa1Lo9MgMQ

YouTube : YouTubehttps://m.youtube.com › playlistMr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Who is Kendrick Lamar????? I can’t imagine this is worth answering in 2022, but he’s a good kid from a MAAD city (a.k.a Section 80) and he taught us how to pimp a butterfly while the whole world said DAMN to even his most untitled and unmastered hits. Do ya googles

As I get a little older (literally today is my birthday) I realize life is about perspective. That one word, changes how you and i give and receive information.

So my perspective is that i heard of Kendrick early. I can’t say exactly when. It was the infamous mixtape era for sure. But that time is honestly just a blur of datpiff cover arts and cigarillos minimally filled with weed hoping for a maximum high. I do remember downloading both of his mixtapes. Not on purpose hilariously enough, no i was a music junkie so anything that looked dope got downloaded in mass. It was the Kendrick Lamar Ep and Overly Dedicated. It just didn’t get played. When i finally did, to add more weirdness, i didn’t care for overly dedicated. I really don’t have to explain, i do think theres too much of that going on these days, but in this case i want to. I vaguely remember why i didn’t care for it, but it was mainly that the songs like Michael Jordan etc that i just wasn’t as into at the time. Not bad music by any stretch, but at that time i was super backpack. Im talking Ghostface Killah, Mos Def, Lupe, Mood Musik times. So it wasn’t often that i played more up tempo or even braggadocios music. I went to college somewhat knowing who he was, but still not really playing his music. I don’t think i ever played the Kendrick Lamar Ep, which truly makes me think things happen for a reason because if i had, he would have been one of my favorites from them.

In college i made one really good friend early. He was from California and we were in Kentucky where i was actually born. Somehow we just got each other more than most. The kind of friendship i never ask you do you have weed, only do you wanna smoke when i do. He actually brought up Kendrick again, BUT, and maybe I’m the only one that this has happened to, but he played some of the O.D mixtape in a different light and i loved it. Im not sure how but by the time i doubled back to the intro, i was in awe. Im not sure how i missed it, as the display of lyricism and content was enough for me to fully start to appreciate his music. In this same year span, he not only was featured on Mac Miller (another person who i didn’t like at first, but once he started talking about drugs and the life i lived i loved it), but Section 80 came out. So, perspective. Section 80 is my good kid MAAD city, if i had to vote for a perfect kendrick album it would be TPAB, and my favorite album to listen to by Kendrick as of now is Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. Ill explain

United in Grief is an interesting opener. While this is one of my favorite albums of the year, this record in particular may be my least favorite. When I FIRST heard the album I listened to every record no skips. There is no bad music on this album. But this album does introduce an interesting concept. Should music be forever? Pineapple Express is one of my favorite movies, I’ve seen it a thousand times and I can quote the entire movie if I wanted to. So by that definition is an amazing movie. But on the other hand, seven pounds changed my life. I have only seen it maybe 6 or 7 times because I love tragedy. But with such a deep impact, it’s also great. That is what Kendrick is introducing to music. He knew we would all tune into track one at least. So he said all of the things he felt he needed to in a run on sentence type fashion. A line that sticks out to me is “I grieve different”. I never really related to Kendrick. Loved his albums, have been a fan since around 2010, but I didn’t relate. This felt like one of those universal lines. Some people take off work and grieve. I bought more weed and cried on my way to work about my grandmother for a week. We ALL grieve different. While he was “quiet” through the pandemic, he like all of us learned something. In this case, this is the first time I’ve heard Kendrick talk about the other side of being who he is. So the statement hits extremely hard because you know Kendrick watched everything that happened, and one of the first thoughts he wanted to share with us when he came back is “I grieve different”.

N95 is my album opener. When I pull up this album, I’m clicking on this to start my run. I don’t listen to the entire album anymore, as I respect it as a piece of art that doesn’t need replay value. Yet another example of Kendrick being ahead of the curve. Art doesn’t have a singular definition, yet sometimes rap makes it seem like it does. Albums like Testing are crucified for straying too far away from the artist’s discography. I lived through Yeezus and let me tell you, nobody liked it originally. Don’t even get me started on 808s, I specifically recall being ridiculed for liking that “weird shit”. So in a world where most people are putting on so many different things to fit in, here Kendrick is saying take it off. Not one to waste a moment, the moment he’s told you to take off every single thing that you’ve put on without it really being you, he tells you “ughhh, you ugly as fuck”. Clearly he’s had enough time to analyze himself as well as the world 4 times over. It could easily be one of the deepest lines of the record if you think about it. Yes you’re ugly. So am I. That’s what makes us beautiful. You could surely take that line at face value and say the cool kid from the mad city is back on his bragging, but I disagree. This record may have more of the traditional Kendrick markers from his albums pre hiatus, but it seems like he’s bridging us to something new. Even with all his success in the first half of his career, he still changes and pushes boundaries. “Ohh you worried about a critic, that ain’t protocol” says it best. With lines like that, it’s clear to see that if Nas isn’t relevant, the kids are being raised wrong.

I told you that I didn’t really relate to Kendrick. He was always a cool kid to me, not just because of his music, but the way he’s been perceived as well. Ever single person from that era has had at least one negative narrative except Kendrick. I’ve spent hours arguing this exact thing with friends. J Cole was quote unquote boring. Big Sean was called corny. Childish was seen as soft. Not saying any of these are true, just proving my point. I’ve always debated Kendrick is a mastermind that watched the complaints his classmates received and did extra curricular work to be sure he was never the victim. I was unpopular so I related more to Childish. But when Kendrick said “ I don’t know how to feel, like the first time I fucked a white bitch” on Worldwide Steppers I was instantly transported back to that dorm room when i didn’t know how to feel. In was in college, which was the first time i had ever really interacted with white girls. Here i was, asking myself if this was worth the perception that would follow, if i was actually wrong for doing it, could i still be a black leader once people found out all crossed my mind before i even had the condom on. Most people will hear that and not think much of it. But to me, especially with the fact that kendrick had a exact recollection of each time he crossed that line, i believe he too sees it as somewhat of a traumatic event. Not the act itself, but the self questions and self blaming that comes with that for a black man isn’t something a wise man can just shrug off.

Die Hard would be the record that i originally started at after several, and i do mean plus 15 listens of the full album from the day prior to release on. Once digested, i started to pick my favorites and Die Hard just captures everything i didn’t know that i wanted from Kendrick. This is the first song I knew I’d be playing for the foreseeable future due to it containing mantras like “I hope I’m not too late, to set my demons straight/I know I made you wait, but how much can you take?”. For a person who has admittedly not achieved as much as I want in life, words like this are golden. Who can’t relate to wanting just a bit more time to get everything right? I’m 31 and I’m learning more from adopting two huskies at once than I can recall in most of my years of school. It’s becoming clear he has tapped into what could be seen as universal truths, whereas before you could argue Kendrick was speaking to a specific audience with each album, regardless of how well the album did. It’s like Jay-Z’s album Reasonable Doubt. If you judge by the lingo and the content on the album, you could argue it was only for high level players and very established drug dealers. Kind of like a memo among a company. But with this album, and maybe for the rest of his career, Kendrick isn’t just talking to Compton. Or to black people. Or to the youth of the lost age. He’s talking to the world, which to me, is another mark of his genius. “I hope you see the god in me, I hope you can see, and if it’s up stay down for me” isn’t a complex scheme, but as well all know you can be looked down upon for things you said or done. Here Kendrick is pleading for you to see the divine root in him despite human actions that take place daily. “I get emotional about life/the lost ones keeping me up at night/the world be reminding me it’s danger/I still risk it all for a stranger/if I told you who I was would you use it against me?/right or wrong, no stone, just love to send me” is extremely profound. I will not use extreme examples here as that could be too controversial and ultimately not worth the metaphor, but let’s take Dave Chappelle. As a member of his Reddit for a while I was proud to see how people didn’t let media narratives dictate who he was to them. Then the Elon musk incident happened. There were quite a few people who were quick to bash and denounce him because it “was cool to do” over a single joke he made they didn’t care for. Kendrick’s lyrics make me ask the same question again, is there no kind of system where we can properly account of the all the good deeds someone has done when we finally find a bad one? Will smith was safe. Like for a black guy safe lol. Up until that slap not one public incident or outburst. I think we can all recall how many “he should be in jail” phrases were thrown around. What is the point of telling people who you are if they’ll use it against you? When something happens most people quickly say how they never cared for you anyways. I’m not saying that you should blindly agree with things you don’t, and neither is Kendrick. No singular action makes you good, nor evil. It is the sum of all actions multiplied by your intentions. But even then, should we as humans be able to definitively say either way? Slink Johnson said it best, let ye WITHOUT sin cast the first stone. “I wonder when I lost my way/been waiting on your call all day/tell me you’re in my corner right now/when I fall short I’m leaning on you to cry out” further pushes this point. Maybe we all are just one phone call from a fan or loved one away from finding our path again.

With the opening of Father Time, I find myself chuckling. I’ve just never really known much of anything about Kendrick. More of an enigma. But for him to say what I’ve said to my (ex) girlfriends countless times was hilarious. It serves as yet another glimpse into situations he’s been in. “I got daddy issues, that’s on me” is a perfect example of the accountability that’s present all over the album. In reality, most of us have some issues with how our fathers did, or didn’t, raise us. Even though this is an old concept, if people like Kendrick don’t reiterate it, it’s usually lost from one generation to the next, even as far as him identifying to still have those problems at his age is on him. One of my absolute favorite lyrics from the album is “When Kanye got back with Drake, I was slightly confused/guess I’m not mature as I think, got some healing to do” and it’s for good reason. This was something I had only talked about with close homies and hadn’t heard too much publicly about. If my understand of that beef and the events that took place (like Drake allegedly sleeping with Ye’s mother in law as well as Ye saying he found Kim in the bed with Chris Paul and there being videos of Drake wearing his jersey shooting shots) I can’t understand why he would become “cool” with a guy like that. Drake literally said on his new album, “linking with the ops, bitch I did that shit for j prince/I did it for the mob ties/feels like seventeen, two Percs, frog eyes/and I’ve never been the one to go apologize/me I’d rather hit ‘em up one more time” so I was just as confused that anyone would allow someone who’s openly duplicitous in their friend circle. Maybe I’m not as mature as I should be either because after a beef like that, we don’t gotta be enemies. It’s enough people dying as it is. But we surely don’t have to be friends. And for Kendrick to touch on that it was a huge moment, the kind where you realize even in your most outlandish takes, you’re not alone.

I have not listened to Kodak Black, ever. If I’m not mistaken when he came out I wasn’t as musically accepting, as I was a backpack kid. As open as I am with music, I still have not downloaded a single album of his. So for someone like Kendrick to put his record Rich (interlude) on his platform, it’s major. I sat and listened to every bar of Kodaks at least 15 times, which is much more than I would have when left to my own devices. I think tracks like this are important, not just to expand horizons but also build more brotherhood in a business that we invented but do not control. It didn’t make me a fan, but it did make me realize he definitely has something to say, which I’d argue is more valuable. Fans have expectations but if I think you have something to say I may give you multiple chances to do that.

Rich Spirit is another example of what Kendrick brings this offering. A super catchy hook, with the new mind state courtesy of everything he’s been through as well as talks with his therapist. “Rich n***a, broke phone/tryna keep the balance, im staying strong” sounds like the words that got him thru the last 5 years of not releasing any music. It shouldn’t be undervalued to be the type of artist that can make music other artists will gravitate towards. Kendrick floats effortlessly all over this track, which is absolutely typical. I feel like some things are worth mentioning and some aren’t. In 2022, if you’re not aware of the typical things that Kendrick does, this review probably isn’t for you. I’m of the beliefs two type of people are coming to this review. People who want to see their favorite album of the year celebrated, or people who didn’t like it and want to see why others celebrated it. By the end I hope to answer both. This is the Kendrick that I will take with me for the rest of my life. Realistically this album covers a lot more themes and issues I’ll be dealing with moving forward, where as songs like Backseat Freestyle don’t hold as much weight as they did when I was in college. This is inevitable. Huge Jay Z fan growing up, but I play only 3-5 of his albums now. In my opinion there should be mutual growth. Human nature is to evolve. Rich spirit showcases some of what we can expect from Kendrick at this stage in his life, and content wise I believe this is as good as it gets. Personal confessions over minimal production will always have a warm place in my heart anyways so maybe I’m biased, but when someone is vulnerable and can show their flaws as well as their triumphs, I don’t think there’s anything better when it comes to music. The original purpose of music was to convey a message, so its great to see thats not lost here

We Cry Together has to be in the top 10 of all time for hip hop love songs. Yes, I said it. Let me be clear. Is this a toxic relationship on display? Absolutely. It’s hard to argue that saying “fuck you” constantly back and forth isn’t toxic. BUT. Who is really able to fully pass judgment? Romeo and Juliet is an amazing love story. But how many times have you seen a guy/girl willing to die rather than live without their love? Now how many love stories have you heard of like We Cry Together? Much more common. It reminds me of a 2pac line “they say Jesus is a kind man, but we should understand times in this crime land”. To me, there should always be a variable when you add up any equation that should represent how things change. So if you take away all the judgment, this song is beautiful. It’s on the list of songs that I don’t often play anymore, which throws back to my original point that Kendrick is introducing two different types of music here. The kind you’ll keep with you in your pocket, as well as a song you could hear once and it will change your life (Kim anyone?). The dialogue here is also TOP NOTCH. He didn’t just do a toxic love song, he did THE toxic love song that anybody could play and get a good glimpse of the gender relations of today. It’s even more appropriate that their “fuck yous” turn to “fuck mes” once the couple has vented all their negative emotions. Even with the title you have to respect his intelligence to take the typical phrase “we love together” or “we pray together” to one of its natural opposites. That’s the truth of life that not every artist touches on. To throw back to an earlier record, he’s just “tryna keep the balance” and i couldn’t appreciate it more

Im just gonna say this and leave it here. “Shut the fuck up when you hear love talking” is one of the best lines on the album. Hell, in the last 10 years of rap its one of the best rap lines. Why? Everybody remembers, “i am the beast, feed me rappers or feed me beats” right? To me, this line has an equal amount of staying power. Lil wayne was capturing a whole mixtape era with two sentences. So with Kendrick’s line, i feel like post pandemic, this is equally as important. Personally i think thats why subreddits like r/wholesome or r/brosbeingbros are flourishing. People want to sit silently and watch moments of humanity being as great as we can, because we have all watched the ugly side of humanity for at least the last two years. When i heard this song it instantly put me in such a good mood. Kendrick and summer and two vocals i wouldn’t have requested to be overlapped before, but now hearing their chemistry i can’t be the only one hoping summer doesn’t show up again, especially considering the days when Kendrick, or most of TDE showing up with Jhene or Sza are over. Ghostface showing up is everything to me. He delivers a very potent verse, but its more important to me that a kid from Compton recognizes one of the Wu Tang greats. While the first half of the CD definitely had some moments for me that made it worth the wait for Kendrick, in all honesty i was a little let down my first listen. Not because its bad music, not at all. I just by the highs. Die Hard, N95, Rich Spirit, and Purple Hearts are such high highs that in comparison every track didn’t match up to me. I know what you’re thinking, how on earth could this be one of his favorite albums of the year if he’s said he only really likes 40% of the first disc? Well…

In case you didn’t know, Count Me Out is one of the best intros in years. Not only that, but this is that record that your favorite, and your favorite, and his favorite all recognize as a kind of “hey, this is how well i rap” record. Its just top tier lyricism. The way the choir in the background just kind of ushers you down the aisle as Kendrick spills in-between claps feels like an opening to a Devil May Cry or an Elden Ring type game (if they knew how to pick rap music that is). This is one of the rare occasions where, even for Kendrick Lamar, someone who has always had a good flow on any song, showcases one of his best flows ever. @ somebody you want to debate that with as long as it isn’t me. Maybe its the way the bass hits underneath Kendrick saying “fuck it up”. Maybe its the song structure that sounds more like a two verses with a million bridges in-between. “i made a decision, never give you my feelings, fuck with you from..fuck with you from a distance” is a prime example. The way it feels, its like watching the million man march form person by person as Martin Luther King speaks slowly rising in tone until the entire town can hear him. But I’m a pot smoking imagineer don’t mind me lol. There is no wasted bar here period. “When you was at your lowest tell me where the hoes was at/when you was at your lowest tell me where the bros was at” is definitely not the typical statement from a rapper on top. This kind of self awareness is present all over the album, but not in the way that you feel you’ve attended a college lecture, but more like you met a wino who had 4:42 minutes of game from all the mistakes he’s made to give you. If you can play this record for day ones and “just heard him todays” then it his the universal chord. The same reason Micheal Jackson could reach the whole world with just his voice. Rich or poor, i doubt theres a single person who can’t relate to “you said id feel better if i just worked hard without lifting my head up/that left me fed up/you made me worry/i wanted my best version but you ignored me/then changed the story/then changed the story/“. Thats the beauty of a talent like Kendrick. Even i made the mistake of counting out Kendrick when my friend told me whenever he comes back the world will listen. This record made me realize i couldn’t have been more wrong.

One thing I’ve always been curious about, is how Kendrick sees himself. I know how the world does. Ive been a huge J Cole fan long enough to have had one or two conversations about who i think is doing the best from that class. Kendrick was more often than not peoples answer. Ive always had an affinity for risk takers and people who will do an entire project in such an artist fashion that people who don’t love music can’t enjoy it as much as someone like me. 4 Your Eyez Only comes to mind. You’ve heard it a million times. If ____ did that, it would have been the biggest thing the world. It seems like a digression, but its not, because this is why I’ve always wondered what does Kendrick think. Sure he did control. But does he really think he’s the best out? Or does he hear bars like Big Krits verse on “1 Train” and wish he could have did that? Crown kind of answers that. For better or worse, he acknowledges he wears a crown while saying things like “i can’t please everybody”. One of the more shocking statements from an artist who, to me, seems to have done exactly that thus far. Sure, there are people who don’t like this album or that album. But everybody has at least one Kendrick album they enjoy, unless they don’t enjoy him at all. They are in the minority. “They idolize and praise your name across the nation/tap they feet and nod their head for confirmation/promise that you’ll keep the music in rotation/thats what i call love” could be taken as a brag, but to me it sounds like he’s aware of the double standard. When you’re of a certain caliber, people love you. But their love comes with the condition that you produce in the same fashion that you have. Don’t believe me? Check out r/FrankOcean when you get a chance. Love without expectations isn’t something most people have ever received, let alone given. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown/to whom its given, much is required now” further cements my point. “One thing I’ve learned, love can change with the seasons” drills home that he overstands how love works, but he doesn’t sound fazed. One thing is for sure from this record, Kendrick sees himself as a king of the game, even if its a reluctant title

Silent Hill reminds me of his earlier works. Mainly the hook reminds me of the love hate relationship i have with similar hooks (Hood Politics was corny at first, but then i came to love it after so many listens). This one, however, i jumped straight to loving. The meticulously placed hard hitting bass might have helped, and maybe its Kendrick finding his pocket constantly in such an esthetically pleasing way, but somehow “pushing them all off me like hhuhhhhh” translates instantly even with the extreme animation. Honestly, even with how i initially receive records like this from, i still think its dope that he does it. This is the one glimpse of kendrick we have constantly gotten, and it goes further back than you’d think, Cut You Off being one of the earliest examples i can think of. The animated type hooks should be a signature of his and thats dope because its something he enjoys, not something he’s doing to make the most pop record ever. THIS Kodak verse did it for me, definitely one of my favorites. If it wasn’t for Baby Keems performance, this would have been my favorite feature even over the Ghostface because it came from someone i didn’t expect it. Speaking of Keen…

Savior (Interlude) is my favorite interlude. But its not fair at all, because The Melodic Blue was one of my favorite projects that year. So when i heard him going in, i was on board. Its lines like “the engineer dead if the drive don’t back up” and “my uncle had told me the shit in the movies could only be magic/this year i did 43 shows, and took it all home, to buy him a casket” that show exactly what i mean when i say I’m a fan of his. The former being a reference to the Atlanta episode (this isn’t confirmed but i don’t care lol it fits too well) when they were in the studio with the Clark county guy? His name escapes me but he made the yoohooo record. They sat as he recorded and as he did a freestyle type verse, the engineer said the computer crashed. Clark then proceeds to say “don’t crash it again” “if it crashes again, imma crash my foot in your ass”. Mind you, its definitely a technical issue, but thats the hilarity. The program ends up crashing again, where Clark takes a walk and his two goons say “y’all should go home” to Darius and PaperBoi which is the universal sign from one black person to another that some illegal shit is about to go down and y’all not gonna want to witness it. The second line is what makes Keem great in his own right, he has a different type of awareness thats just as potent as the one Kendrick has found on this album. The idea that a family member would basically tell you that all the stuff in the movies is make believe, only for you to go out on a world tour that would have made him a believer had he lived to see it. Profound perspective delivered in an entertaining way is Keem.

Savior is another high high undeniably. “Are you happy for me” became one of the questions everybody was asking post this album’s release, and rightfully so. He said it best, “Kendrick made you think about it, but he is not you savior” If you didn’t notice the cover art, he has a crown of thorns with is a well known reference to the story of Jesus’s crucifixion. “One protest for you, 365 for me” is the perfect way to say that if he stands up for something, thats his view now. Whereas a person can protest two opposite ideas and nobody says anything. “Smile in my face, but are you happy for me? I’m out the way, are you happy for me” sounds like the response to people who said Kendrick should have been front and center when the world “needed him”. “see the christians say the vaccine mark of the beast/then he caught COVID and prayed to pfizer for relief/then i caught COVID and started to question Kyrie/will i stay organic or hurt in this bed for two weeks?” is suchhhh a potent line. This is the duality of a lot of americans. I refuse to get political. So many people claimed it was this or that. But when their life was in need, their prayers are altered then and only then. Personally i don’t believe in this “opinion culture” where you’re asking basketball players about health policies and rappers about socialism as if thats the source of the best info. 9 times out of 10 you get the same answer you’d get if you asked a 40 year long teacher of math only about what happened april 1921 in oklahoma. A good guess, but its not his expertise. “The cat is out the bag, i am not your savior/i find it just as difficult to love thy neighbors” needs no explanation. “the struggle for the right side of history/independent thought is like an eternal enemy/capitalist posing as compassions be offending me/yeah suck my dick with authenticity” captures what i don’t think a lot of people understand. We are in a herd mentality time, where if you don’t agree with the herd, youre wrong. You’re either good or bad, no in-between. The second half of that line directly made me think back to the pandemic year, when crimes by the cops against minorities were at a high, and every company came out and said “we stand with you”. Mind you, they’re still supporting the people in power. Mind you, they aren’t actually throwing their weight around to ensure that black lives matter. No, its easier to say these things because you’re selling a product and you want to SEEM progressive. Seem being the operative word as most American companies either have blood or racism all over their hands, or both. Its just hard to trust statements from these companies knowing full well when things die down its back to business as usual. My favorite line from this song is “and they like to wonder where I’ve been/protecting my soul, in the valley of silence”

Auntie Diaries is probably one of the most divisive records on the album, if not the most. In the times we are in, everybody is sensitive and nothing can be said. I don’t really see how we can ever progress as humanity, if every time somebody does a singular thing we don’t like, we shut down and ignore them completely. There was a Dave Chappelle joke about the LBGTQ movement on one of his specials where he compared it to people on a car ride. I won’t butcher the joke, but it was brilliant. It even spoke to what some may see as tension with african americans and the LGBTQ movement, but again I’m paraphrasing “We aren’t mad at your movement, we admire it because you’ve gotten so much further than we have in a short time”. It basically highlights that whatever movement white people are apart of, gets more traction while we are still fighting for equal treatment across the board. I brought this up to hopefully highlight, even with the best intentions, people can still get offended. This is what I’ve found to be the case on this record, as i heard many people shaming him for “mixing pronouns” or the past tense way he spoke, or even phrases like “my auntie is a man now”, while clearly rooted in him explaining he understands the problems the community faces, as well as taking accountability. While its not pleasing for everybody to hear, there was a period where saying somebody was “gay” was an insult and people used “f*****” constantly for a number of different reasons. This happened. As much as american loves the “my hands are clean now” approach, the fact still remains a lot of those things were not that long ago. I loved this record because it was an honest discussion on how we saw it from his point of view, and how he’s changed. But the world sees records like this as tone deaf. Makes me think back to a coment I made recently. If we censor the Dave Chappelles, what can we expect from further generations but more Kevin Hart?

Mr. Morale contains my second favorite flow for the entire album. The records where Kendrick’s rapping ability overshadows what he talked about are almost non existent on this album, which while thats refreshing, i also appreciate a silent hill or mr morale existing on such a heavy album. “shit on my mind and its heavy/tell you in pieces cuz its way too heavy” captures that idea exactly. When you add in lines like “transformation, i must had a thousand lives and like 3 thousand wives” the picture is clear. Honestly, that could have been the tag line for the entire album, because as this is still the Kendrick we have come to know from a distance over the years, this is the first up close view of his life. It would seem that in the years in-between he went through some hyperbolic time chamber to exponentially increase all his stats in a small amount of time. While he does touch on subjects that are lesser known, the next track is a much more concise journal of those

Mother I Sober is probably the one track that captures everything that Kendrick has been through both before fame, during, and after DAMN. I would basically have to paste every lyric to really capture the depth here, but lines like “you haven’t felt grief until you felt it sober” and then the flip “you haven’t felt guilt until you felt it sober” punctuate the verses they come from. Truly not a song to be spoiled until you hear the way Kendrick delivers it, it’s the ultimate example of a song changing your life and perspective even if it’s just heard once. I, on the other hand gravitate to this album because I’ve had so many similar experiences, this song is like a silent last course for an album completely based in being food for thought. “I wish I was somebody, anybody but myself” could not resonate more with me. Kendrick did what he hasn’t before with this album to me, and after I discuss mirror I’ll explain

Mirror is my favorite record. It’s the first record I ever wanted to replay, from literally my first listen I doubled back a few times before hearing the album. “I choose me” is undeniably one of the most powerful lyrics. I can only speak from experience, and after battling depression and dealing with never truly wanting to be who I was, I finally learned that I had to choose me. I had to make an effort to maintain my sanity above all else. You can be super giving, but you have to know when you’re on 5% and don’t have any battery to share. The hook is the most simple of the entire album outside of Silent Hill, yet for the purpose of a hook being something you’d want to repeat, “I choose me I’m sorry” is the highest on the list for me. I found myself grooving in traffic multiple times like I was at a jazz concert with the green incense burning. With some of the final bars of the album, Kendrick doesn’t miss saying “I can’t live in the matrix/rather fall short of your graces/this time I won’t trade places/not about who’s right who’s wrong/evolve the only known/ask me when I’m coming home/blink twice and then I’m gone”. This hits hard for me because to me Kendrick has always did music from someone else’s perspective. He’s aware of it, and saying this time I can’t do that. I choose me. “You won’t grow old waiting on me” is another direct response to people demanding his time and presence. Not one to miss the moment, he even has choice words for hip hop herself when he says “She told me she need me the most, I didn’t believe her/she even called me names on the post, the world can see it/jokes and gaslightin’/mad at me ’cause she didn’t get my vote, she say I’m trifflin’/disregardin’ the way that I cope with my own vices/maybe, it’s time to break it off/runaway from the culture to follow my heart.” It’s especially profound that someone would come off a hiatus, to put people back on notice that you just might not be as into it as you were. He’s not saying flat out he’s gonna stop, and most likely he has a couple more albums in him before he stops, but it’s one of the most interesting things said on on the album. It makes you wonder was Kendrick on a break because of x, y or z, or was he testing the waters with stopping all together?

So one of my original points was that I related to this album more than any other Kendrick album. I touched on why randomly here and there, but the main point is that before, all of his albums felt like they were about something or for specific people. You never truly got a view into Kendrick’s inner workings outside of a bar here or there, or songs like “u”, so he always had this mystique. If I met Kendrick then, I’d probably have referred to him as k. dot or something informal. That’s not to say I didn’t like his albums, quite the contrary. TPAB is perfection. But, for me, when I hear an artist being vulnerable and baring all, that’s what I relate to the most. Not Jay Z “Dirt Off Your Shoulders”, but “Song Cry” or “Regrets”. I don’t have to agree with your every take. For me it’s just like when you meet somebody. I’m not that invested. But once you tell me you’re into Star Wars we can have a whole conversation before I realize it’s been a couple hours. So to me, that makes this the number one album in his discography. If I saw him at the airport, I’ll probably say yoooo Kendrick you killed that album! Lol because it feels like he let me into his Tuesday and Thursday therapy session. Which means Kendrick took the pressure, and still found a way to add more layers without disappointing. Which is honestly all we can ask after a long hiatus right? Growth

Questions

Where is this on Kendrick’s discography for you? How much of the album do you still play at this point? All or select few? And why? Regardless of the quality of music, what did you want from Kendrick’s return? Were you satisfied? Do you agree with people like Kendrick and Chappelle for trying to bridge the gap or do you think we should all just never mention anything that doesn’t directly concern us? Who’s the best rapper in the game right now? (Bonus) What are your 5 favorite albums from Kendrick’s freshmen class (Kendrick, Meek, Mac Miller, Big KRIT, Yelawolf, Cyhi, Lil Twist, Lil B, Diggy Simmons, Fred The Godson, and YG were all in this photo but for the purposes of this question add in J Cole, Big Sean, Wale, and Drake)