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

more i read kate's posts, more i like the song.

obviously identify with it from one of the other sides. i knew i wasn't gay but i definitely wasn't sure i liked girls either. i liked slow jams, not all that rah rah shit. but the word still got used growing up. a lot. an ongoing theme in kendrick's music: you did it to fit in, not because you wanted to. i'm not ashamed to admit that because of my mental health issues, i have voices that use extremely offensive language in my head, constantly. at some point, it stops becoming about attacking someone because of who they might be and starts to become a form of establishing dominance.

(reminded here of the outstanding byron hurt doc hiphop: beyond beats and rhymes from maybe late 2000s? he talks about how it became more of a casual thing by using it / other lgbtq+ slurs interchangeably with "bitch." that becomes "bitch n___" and "bitch ass n___" and yeah. breaks it tf down. busta rhymes walks out of his interview. talks to gay rappers. interviews trans woman at a hiphop festival. makes a lot of people uncomfortable. highly recommended.)

was outside last night, doing the most middle aged white man thing to do on a friday evening: smoking a bowl and watching the sunset while listening to the new album. a group of teenage boys drove past, blaring "united in grief" and they were into it; waving their arms around, bobbing their heads out the window, being kids. i laughed and waved peace to them and my mind immediately went to that moment when they would hear that song.

i wish i had someone like kendrick at that age. instead i had common talkin`bout "in a circle of f___s yo name is mentioned!" just repeating the cycle.

i wish i had someone like kendrick at that age. instead i had common talkin`bout "in a circle of f___s yo name is mentioned!" just repeating the cycle.

Remember when there was repeated/constant discussion in the hip-hop press about The Gay Rapper? Like, there was a rumor there was one? I can't even remember who all was suspected of being The Gay Rapper (Q-Tip was mentioned for sure).

It's very interesting to observe the simultaneous "this is so much better than it was when I was a teenager" and "NOT GOOD ENOUGH" discourse taking place in so many different areas these days.

oh god the gay rapper! i just remember thinking "who cares i wanna hear the gay rapper's response record you he got dirty laundry on everybody"

byron hurt doc was 2006 watch it.

I wanted to wait a week for the fervor to die down, but my son insists I hear this now, so -

also thank you everyone for answering my initial question. this is exactly why i asked. i need to hear all perspectives. just because i am more in step with the narrator's pov in this scenario doesn't mean it's the most productive.

I’ve read some people justifying the improper pronouns he uses throughout the song as something usual in his style, where he writes from different povs and different timelines, and as he starts growing and learning his modern perspective starts using proper pronouns and understanding the f-word is not for him to use.

It’s still very messy and inconsistent, reading Kate’s and ufo’s pov is very enlightening for me.

yes, thanks for these insights, much better here than the kneejerk shit I read on twitter

thats kind of how i hear the pronouns thing, him speaking in character as someone who is having a series of realizations, not speaking with wisdom from the present but as an imperfect character within the story in the past. but idk, i could be being overly generous so i dont have to be bummed about it.

I agree with OEO’s take on it.

"n95" video.

Popping in to say “Crown” is quietly stunning

thats a wow video

Quality video as usual with him.

I think someone upthread (or was it an article?) mentioned there’s no discernable radio singles but “Rich Spirit” is super addictive.

“rich spirit” is probably the song on here that most resembles/is most influenced by current sounds in l.a. street rap

it's the album highlight for me.

X2

rhetorical question: is this what we meant when we used to say "keep it real"?

Heard it, still processing the words, but the production and beats are probably my favorite so far. This run he's on is pretty incredible - I am already on the side of this being a career highlight, but that just puts it on similar terrain as everything post Section.80

Duval Timothy is to MMATBS as Thundercat was on TPAB, right?

Can we have a version of "Purple Hearts" with only Ghostface

i think "purple hearts" as a whole is one of the highlights

otm. i was so happy when ghostface showed up

Summer Walker softens the track way too much for my taste.

"purple hearts" is good. feels like a classic "chipmunk soul" beat. definitely caters to vintage ghostface / wu-tang aesthetic.

also it can be added to everyone's favorite new playlist: songs that mention anilingus.

and Elohim.

Ok “Die Hard” also has hit single potential.

yep if there's any mainstream hits from this album, it's that or "mirror."

“n95” will likely have the highest chart peak, considering that video just came out

bizarro world chart action.

re: cry together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNpO4V57pWM

I feel like that song has a lot of antecedents in hip-hop but most reviews have acted like it's a skit

If this album had been the first three tracks, We Cry Together and the last four tracks it would have been so good. Maybe throw in one or two of the others from the middle. The big event tracks stand out so much from the others though imo

Both in terms of compelling lyrics and production

i straight up removed We Cry Together and Crown from my playlist

by far the worst thing on this album are the citations of that fraud Tolle

yeah those bits are pretty dumb

at least it wasn't Jordan Peterson

"We Cry Together" is the only misfire for me, everything else is interesting in some way. I couldn't recall many of the hooks yet, and I doubt I'll ultimately think this album as good as GKMC or Butterfly, but it has the same compelling quality those albums had. Need to listen more

we cry together is good imho

it, auntie diaries, mother i sober and mirror are the best things on here imo

purple hearts >>>

starting to come around on some of the ones i wasn't crazy about the first listen, like "savior" and "crown." "auntie diaries" and "worldwide steppers" are the only ones i'm still not feeling.

I love worldwide steppers now and auntie diaries might have been my favorite song first pass.

"It ain't love if you never eat my ass" that line still fucking keels me over when I hear it on Purple Hearts though lol

I’ve been listening to the album 4 or 5 song increments and “Crown” really jumped out at me when I listened this way. Easy to get lost amidst the bigger tracks but it’s become maybe my favorite thing here

That's how I've absorbed it too

We cry together is by far the worst thing on it, and for me will be skipped every time just like For Free was.

Tickets for the tour went on sale today. Barclays got cleaned out fast, wound up settling for the Long Island show, which was far easier to get into. Plenty of good seats available too.

Got some for Oakland. Missed out on the DAMN tour so looking forward to this

had to take a rest from this album. with some distance, i really do like it a lot more than DAMN. i love that his message to the audience is ultimately: "everyone needs to take a good, hard look at themselves." the magnified caricatures, the problematic kodak black feature, the blurred lines between is this a projection or his real feelings? — dense and summed up brilliantly in the intro on "we cry together": this is what the world sounds like. do you like what you hear?

and also the actual beats and music are fucking stellar. 4.5 mics. goat candidate status confirmed.

I know it's old news at this point, but holy shit at ticket prices.