May 2022 was another slow month for music, but three projects really grabbed my attention. The atmospheric A Light for Attracting Attention from Radiohead’s side-project The Smile delivers some of the best art rock of the year, while post-hardcore legends Gospel return with their first album in seventeen years with the manic The Loser. The best album of the month, though, was undoubtedly Kendrick Lamar’s introspective conscious hip-hop opus, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is an impressive and surprising left-turn for Kendrick, coalescing the sonic landscapes of his past albums to form a tapestry of experimental hip-hop, jazz rap, and trap. From the jazzstep-inspired beat of opener “United in Grief” to the Portishead-esque art pop of “Mother I Sober,” it is endlessly interesting from a purely musical perspective. But the true draw of a Kendrick album, for me at least, is the thematic exploration. Since 2011’s Section.80, Kendrick has built a discography marked by ambitious concept albums and a cohesive narrative centered around his desire to improve himself and the world around him.

Section.80 established Kendrick’s background, with songs like “Tammy’s Song” and “Poe Mans Dreams” telling the stories of those he grew up with and “HiiiPower” declaring his intention to improve his hometown neighborhood of Compton. 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city tells a more direct story of Kendrick’s conversion to Christianity to both cope with the gang violence he faced growing up and to utilize empathy and prayer to connect with adversaries. In “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst,” Kendrick  simultaneously continues to unpack the experiences of those around him, rapping from their perspectives while also expressing his intent to improve the world more explicitly.

Kendrick fully embodies this mission on 2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly. From “Institutionalized” to “Complexion,” Butterfly explores a multitude of aspects of the black experience in America, with Kendrick taking the metaphorical torch from conscious rappers of the past, like Tupac Shakur, in closing track “Mortal Man.” The album was also intensely personal, following Kendrick’s journey from survivor’s guilt and self-hatred to viewing himself as a prophet-esque figure for the underprivileged. The personal focus continued on 2017’s DAMN., where Kendrick sorted through the pressures and responsibilities coming with fame along with his personal demons of coinciding hubris and self-doubt. The album ends with “DUCKWORTH.,” where Kendrick narrates a complex story of coincidences and tremendous luck that allowed him to become the world-renowned artist he is today.

I focus so heavily on the narratives of Kendrick’s past albums to emphasize how much of a left-turn Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is for Kendrick. Having fully embodied his self-imposed role as spokesperson for the underprivileged, even going so far as to rap “I’m not a trending topic, I’m a prophet/I answer to Metatron and Gabriel” on Baby Keem-collab single “Family Ties” in 2021. With the current chaos of the world and the shifting political landscape since Kendrick’s last full-length LP in 2017, one would expect Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers to be an era-defining statement filled with revelations and grand political statements. Kendrick knows this expectation – he addresses his absence in his opening lines, stating over stabbing piano chords, “I’ve been going through something/One-thousand eight hundred and fifty-five days/I’ve been going through something.” 1,855 days is the exact time between the release dates of DAMN and Mr. Morale. His opening lines set the tone for the album; since the release of DAMN., he hasn’t been figuring out how to improve the state of the world—he’s been working through his own issues and unresolved trauma. From working through his sex addiction on “Worldwide Steppers” to his fear of vulnerability on “Father Time,” from toxic relationships on “Count Me Out” to shedding his own transphobia on “Auntie Diaries,” Kendrick is unflinchingly honest on Mr. Morale, dissecting nearly every aspect of himself. 

Throughout the album, one might notice that there are surprisingly few political references, and this is fully explained in the final track, “Mirror,” which may be Kendrick Lamar’s best song of his career. From the opening lines of the song, it’s clear that Kendrick’s approach to music is changing: “The pressure’s taking over me, it’s beginning to loom/Better if I spare your feelings and tell you the truth/Lately, I redirected my point of view.” From the introspection of the rest of the album, it’s clear that Kendrick’s criticism has shifted almost entirely inwards. This truth only becomes more evident when Kendrick launches into the chorus, repeatedly singing, “I choose me, I’m sorry.” He realizes that he’s only human like the rest of us and accepts that he won’t be able to fix the world if he’s still broken himself. In the song’s bridge, he crystallizes this realization: “Sorry I didn’t save the world, my friend/I was too busy building mine again.”

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is Kendrick Lamar’s final album on his longtime label, Top Dawg Entertainment, and it could not be a better conclusion to this chapter of his career. Drawing the thematic strands of his past albums together, Kendrick concludes his narrative with an affirmation that he will always be dedicated to helping himself and his family over the external world. While this message could potentially come across as selfish, Kendrick has already done so much to improve the world that his resolution is wholly earned. As he raps on “The Heart Part 5,” “Look what I done for you.” If Mr. Morale were to be Kendrick’s last album, he would still be the greatest rapper of all time in my eyes. To think that he might release music and further build upon this narrative under his new pgLang label… there’s no limit to Kendrick’s progression as an artist from this point forward.

Sources:

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers – Wikipedia