By Vincent Khan
Viewed by many as the best rapper over the past ten years, Kendrick Lamar’s resume is enough to put him amongst the best rappers of all time. “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” is Kendrick’s fifth studio album.
The album lacks the glamor and braggadocious acoustic nature which is more commonly associated with rap albums; instead, it leads with a more concise intimate tone. For those who are familiar with Kendrick’s prior music, this is nothing new.
It has been a whole five years since his last album. With time during the pandemic to help him sift through his thoughts, “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” comes with a very ugly, rough tone of consciousness and intimacy. You could call this album a diary because of how personal it gets.
The chorus of the first is a total of three words, “I grieve different.” He is letting listeners know that a lot of this album is about him admitting his mistakes, finding their roots, and fixing them.
The album deals with relatable topics such as therapy, the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, fame, LGBTQA+/transgender issues, and relationship issues with his spouse and father. Throughout the whole album, Mr. Lamar does not once preach to the listener how THEY should deal with those topics but only raps about how they have affected him.
With it being a personal album, the feel-good high points aren’t as frequent on this album compared to previous work. Songs such as “Die Hard” and “Father Time” have unique hooks and choruses.
At the beginning of almost every song, there are spoken words or hymns which mostly sound very ethereal or triumphant and help make it easier to dive into the world of each piece.
Kendrick is a wordsmith and would instead give the consumer an entire album with meaning and a theme versus just radio hits. Many times on the album, we get a cinematic and personal approach to bring more color to the songs.
The song “We Cry Together” has ten piano notes looped quickly to create the song’s beat. The piano notes are quiet and light, giving them a “tiptoeing” vibe over the track. The lyrics are a couple screaming and arguing about everyday things. This track was made to purposefully mock the petty arguments that couples have today and how ridiculous they sound in hindsight. At the end of the song, a voice comes in and says, “Stop tiptoeing around the conversation.” Immediately the song and piano notes end while simultaneously, the next song starts with very concise, loud punching drums that are very hard to ignore. These drums are doing the opposite of tiptoeing. The whole message of the next song being if you love someone enough, just shut up and listen to them speak.
The song “Aunty Diaries” is a standout track. The song’s first words are, “My aunty is a man now; I think I’m old enough to understand now.” Kendrick tells the story of how his aunt changed genders. Throughout the song, Kendrick tells the story of the disrespect his aunt went through. Disrespected by their shared family members and pastor at their church. He would later go on in the song to rap that the same aunt was the first person he had ever seen write and rap. This obviously influenced him into his profession today. At the song’s end, he compares how the gatekeeping of the words “faggot” and the “n-word” correlate. Kendrick exclaims to “truly understand love switch positions.”
With this being a two-disc, very personal album, I was looking for a conclusion. There aren’t many explanations for the album on the internet, but I’ve done my best to come up with one myself.
At the end of Disc #1 is the song “Purple Hearts.” The chorus repeats, “Shut the hell up when you hear love talking.” The last track on Disc #2 (Mirror) has a chorus that repeats, “I choose me, I’m sorry.”
Connecting these two choruses with the surrounding lyrics, root your motives with love. When you ask a loved one for answers, shut up and listen to them. They want what’s best for you because you impact them. The other half always chooses to bet on themselves and listen to themselves. “I choose me, I’m sorry” is to remind you never to stop listening to yourself.
You know what is best for you and if you want peace of mind. Listen to yourself.
