kendrick lamar - mr. morale & the big steppers (2022)

“this has nothing on the new quelle chris album” - imago, in two days

quelle chris is mad underpraised!! but this will probably be better, let's see lol

within seconds of release other parts of the internet will be picking apart lyrics for clues and easter eggs like it was a season one episode of True Detective

do people really think that?

― groovemaaan, Tuesday, May 10, 2022 10:55 PM

do people really not think that?

it's not that it's pretentious but more that it's vague, abstract, generalistic, missing the quotidian profundities that would make it fun and real

― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, May 11, 2022 5:30 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

the video helps–he's rapping from nipsey hussle's perspective and forgiving the man who killed him.

additionally, there's a ton of references to nipsey's neighborhood.

also it's funny to me-

(lifelong hiphop fan gets excited to hear highly anticipated new material by one of the music's acknowledged virtuosos.)

some of ya'll: ABSOLUTELY NOT

the collective listening experience is overvalued and if you've lost your enthusiasm for an event album like this, well . . . as a smarter person than myself once said: i can't do nothin' for ya, man.

He's verging on becoming Too Important. I miss the fun, a little.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, May 11, 2022 6:07 AM (seven hours ago)

i think this is the discourse suffocating the actual art a bit. damn had some fun moments! "loyalty" was a great pop single, "DNA" and "element" are banger type songs. i don't love "humble" but it's a pretty fun single. he's obviously a serious and ponderous artist at his core but there's always a balance w/ his albums, even to pimp a butterfly there's "king kunta," "alright," "hood politics" etc. i wouldn't necessarily take the new song as some sort of strong indicator of where the album is going to go

his guest verses on the baby keem album were definitely offbeat, and "range brothers" especially had lots of goofy moments ("top of da mornin'", k dot's ad-libs)

A crown or frickin’ thorns?

possibly the best rapper of all time is about to make his most important statement yet

Wait is this the Jack Harlow thread?

i like how the cover echoes good kid maad city. he was the baby then, the father now.

kinda cool this hasn't leaked (or if it has don't tell me)

we don't even have a track list & he only just revealed the cover art

i'm sure it'll leak whenever ufo and the rest of the aussies get it in full

Billy Woods has been my go to rapper since DAMN along with Ka. Very much looking forward to this, but indeed Kendrick is considered royalty, and the expectations had on this record and anything he drops is going to be up there with pre Yeezus Kanye or any other all timer you can name.

I mean the dude won a Pulitzer ffs

i'm sure it'll leak whenever ufo and the rest of the aussies get it in full

idk sometimes with these very big albums they hold them back for a worldwide release aligned with the usa

xps we’re not sharing

It’s one thing to come into an album thread after listening to it and saying “eh, I’m not feeling it” but the mad dash a couple of you are making to let everyone know how over this as-yet-unreleased album you are is virtuosic ass-showing

otm. also maybe kendrick is having tons of fun. sure sounds inspired on the new track.

Has Kendrick done anything to make people acknowledge key hostile to him? I get why people can be annoyed by fan’s love, but they are fans. They’re excited.

Omg, my autocorrect is a monster. I meant “has Kendrick done anything to have people low key hostile?” I apologize for the errors.

Afaik he has nailed it in every step he has made. Also compared to other artists (ahem, Kanye) I appreciate how private he is about his personal life. I wasn’t even aware he had two children until I saw the new album cover.

Only “controversial” bit I can remember is him threatening to leave Spotify if XXXtentacion music was removed.

many xps had not gotten the Nipsey Hussle references, that may open the song for me, thx

that baby keem song still sounds great to me - prefer it to the new heart song thing

idk sometimes with these very big albums they hold them back for a worldwide release aligned with the usa

It doesn't seem to be on Spotify in New Zealand yet.

Kendrick is so wild because he's the only rappity-rap-rap rapper that cool-kid discourse hasn't completely abandoned or deemed an anachronism

freddie gibbs? earl?

earl is kind of a avant-garde dude now but Gibbs is a good one

What about Tyler the Creator? Or does he not really fit in a box?

i think what you guys are forgetting is that kendrick's "rappity raps" are better than anybody else's.

it's like daryl dawkins breaking backboards; lots of folks have done it, nobody rained glass down on people like him tho.

Tyler did like a whole album with no rapping on it that won a Grammy

Pusha?

pathetic pusha t moments

Tyler did like a whole album with no rapping on it that won a Grammy

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, May 12, 2022 1:05 PM

tyler fucked lucy for a grammy.

yeah, but Pusha just got a 7.8 in p4k. Not sure if that's cool kid discourse anymore tho.

Tyler did like a whole album with no rapping on it that won a Grammy
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, May 12, 2022 1:05 PM

Yes, and then he put out an album last year that did have rapping on it, and also won a Grammy.

Unless, winning a Grammy disqualifies you from being part of the Cool Kid conversation, which is understandable. Grammys are for old out of touch folks.

kendrick has more grammys than tyler has albums.

should've made that a link to dawkins shattering the backboard.

not that grammys mean a fucking thing. but if that's the scoreboard we're going by . . .

not sure how legit this is.

Bad Bunny’s release followed that same schedule so it was a surprise release worldwide so I think it could be true.

can a mod lock this thread if anyone else mentions the grammy awards?

make me mod and i'll lock every thread except this one. literal #onethread now what?

LEVITATE
LEVITATE
LEVITATE

okay, i'll stop now.

his new song is really refreshing. i see what whiney is saying, and my thought is that rappity-rap-rap should come back in vogue.

How many rappity-rap-rappers must get dissed?

Kendrick is so wild because he's the only rappity-rap-rap rapper that cool-kid discourse hasn't completely abandoned or deemed an anachronism

doesn't that make him something of an anachronism anyway or just that the others have been deemed more explicitly retro-throwback acts etc.

Kendrick has never really seemed like a throwback though. When he did his Compton album it didn’t sound like gangsta rap, his jazzy album didn’t sound Soulquarian.

I guess this isn't the thread to admit that I think the album is mostly astonishing with a few significant flaws that I'm having a hard time dismissing as easily. Will wholeheartedly cosign the "we are lucky to be alive when a talent like Kendrick is around" part though, absolutely.

jon that's disappointing that you feel like it's not appropriate to discuss music on a music discussion board. sorry if i did anything to make you feel like that.

i.e. i would like to hear your criticisms and i welcome them with open ears. i like listening.

(also: yes, this album has some major problematic elements. that's part of what makes it so engaging.)

xp - no worries, I was being a little sarcastic wet to JCLC's line drawn on takes.

This guy's run right now is like Radiohead's run from The Bends up to Amnesiac.

Which reminds me - is Radiohead the biggest, most canonical band without a double album? Kendrick joined the club with Morale... might make a good thread.

No need to be insulting.

saying "we are lucky to be alive when a talent like Kendrick's is around but this album could be edited down a bit and be better" would fit with JCLC's parameters ha

true

oh yeah, i'm total fanboy for this album but skip certain tracks every time, for reasons.

however none of those tracks has ever been, is not now, nor will ever be "rich spirit", which i find to be just as delightfully classic presently as i did the instant i heard it. i suppose you could say it was an instant classic.

It’s a double album? 78 minutes is like a Redman CD in the late 90s

yo shoutout to redman, pioneer of longass albums😄

When Helen Mirren said "you texted me at two o'clock in the morning" there were a couple ways it coulda gone and honestly I wish it'd gone the other way.

"United in Grief" is such an an amazing song

it's nice to go back to these type of "event" albums and listen to them after all the discourse is over

seemed like the discourse was over with this one a few days after release

"Rich in Spirit" is still such a jam, one of his all-timers.

yeah that's great

"Father Time" sticks out to me more now, the way that jazzy beat keeps morphing is really cool

the Kodak Black part could still go though

Man did I sleep on this. Got this email at 10:30 am but didn't see it until now:

KENDRICK LAMAR LIVE & IN PERSON AT ROXY CINEMA, TONITE!

Kendrick Lamar will be joining us TONITE for a Q&A after an exclusive screening of his documentary THE BIG STEPPERS TOUR: LIVE FROM PARIS. Get your tickets now for what promises to be an unforgettable evening!