“I grieve different!”

Consistent brilliance is uncommon. I am not just talking about music, but in this particular art, it is quite hard for an artist, act, or band to maintain itself operating at a high level, while also reaching for ambitious goals and suceeding every time. But how it is maintained? If you analyze acclaimed discographies throughout the history of music you will find different contexts, a middle or late downfall, short living acts, varied and widespread motivations and themes; the dissection appears exhausting.

Honestly, I think Kendrick Lamar is brilliant. And not only his discography has no bad record, every time he puts out an album he’s proved that it is bound to be, at the very least, interesting and solid. Since the release of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, discussions throughout the internet abound of how the new record compares to his past works. There’s general consensus, particularly among music critics, and this creates a scenario where some opinions may seem outrageous (good kid, M.A.A.D. City his worst album? Seriously?), but despite the open (and sometimes rude) discussion Twitter may help to bloom, in my opinion, Lamar’s discography is one hard to rank. Consistently brilliant.

My first impression was utter astonishment, with how Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is excellent. Detailed and thorough subsequent listens reveal its mechanics and internal tissue, which Lamar paints like a Renaissance artist, and even its flaws come out, but the cohesiveness and thematic interconnection, additional to the artist’s deeply personal expression make it a relevant release. The music is outstanding, rarely a track is similar to the last, with varied and excellently produced instruments framing memorably each of Kendrick Lamar’s attempts to, with his characteristic verse-crafting, dissect his own life.

“I got daddy issues, that’s on me.”

What does someone do when they want to come to terms with themselves? Lamar has, in the past, described his up-brining, his experiences being a Black person in the US and his role in and views of his surroundings. Today, he is also extremely famous and by extension, very rich. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers shows the Compton-born rapper dealing with this evolution in his life, yuxtaposed with his addictions, personal relationships, his identity and his parenthood. The album has passages with narratives of self-sabotage, infidelity, abuse and even racism and with these, Kendrick creates a two sided record that serves as an integrated work, where he literally finds himself.

He starts the album with ‘United in Grief’, discussing his own fortune, the material benefits of it, and and, like trying to counterpoint himnself, mentions his problems with his S.O., entering therapy because of mental health issues, and addiction. The changing rhythm and accelerated beat serve the track well, and it turns out to be an excellent introduction. Next, in ‘N95’, referencing the now inescapable masks, Lamar somehow disses the people that have superficially dealt with grief, probably during the pandemic, and that use superflous coping mechanisms. “Tell me what you would do for aesthetic/Would you sell your soul on credit? (Let’s go)” he asks visciously. This is one of my favorite songs on the record, with a perfectly arranged and enormous-sounding beat propulsing it with ease.

On ‘Worldwide Steppers’, with a gloomy bassline and a more subdued delivery as background, Lamar gives some insight in his normally reclusve personal life. He mentions sexual encounters with white women and frames them as a challenge to his ancestry, implying also that this were acts of infidelity. He poses questions to his own person while gently condemning societal problems, a tool that he repeatedly uses throught the album. Mr. Morale is not always confronting, as in the following track ‘Die Hard’, which is one of the most straightforward in the record. It is very inviting, with its sultry rhythm and on point features of Blxst and Amanda Reifer. The reflection Lamar does this time, is more of his struggles on romantic relationship, related to past traumas.

“I love when you count me out!”

Before the first half of the album it’s done, Kendrick gives us one of the most intense and cathartic tracks of the whole record, and the year probably: ‘We Cry Together’ is an acted and rapped interaction between a couple that is clearly in a deteriorating and degrading relationship. Leaving the constant swearing aside, the dialogue and accusations that are interchanged between Kendrick and actress Taylour Paige (in an utterly impressive debut rapping performance) clearly have an underlying deeper meaning. The track, as several others throughout the record, puts in question what Lamar views on contemporary issues are, in this case feminism specifically. He’s always been vocal about racism, injustice and class struggles, but Mr. Morale never sets his position in any subject clearly. This is probably a consequence of the record’s intention, as he is constantly questioning his life decisions, actions and thoughts.

The second half leaves the questioning aside for a bit, and showcases Lamar describing different traumatic events and how he’s dealt with them and reached a more emotionally stable phase in his life. It starts with ‘Count Me Out’, a catchy hip-hop cut that finds Kendrick calling out a past relationship and how he is now in a better place after stopping his attempts to fix it when it wasn’t worth it. ‘Savior’ is a broad criticism of important people and their role in a broken society, even Kendrick and his peers, establishing that they are only humans and not ‘saviors’. Furthermore, he criticizes capitalists and people that say that are ‘for the people’ when they only care about themselves.

On ‘Auntie Diaries’, he describes and reflects upon two close persons that are transgender. He uses the narrative to criticize his and society’s views on the LGBTQ+ comunity. I like a lot how the instrumentation builds up finishing abruptly on Kendrick stating a thought that resulted from the discussion on the song: using a slur to refer to homosexual people as a heterosexual man, is equivalent to white people using the “N-word”. The open usage of said slur on the song has been critiqued, as it could be interpreted as Kendrick perpetuating its usage instead of condemning it. Again, the uncertainty of Lamar’s real intention leaves the discussion open. The track as a whole, nonetheless, is intoxicating.

“Are you happy for me?”

In my favorite song of the record, ‘Mother I Sober’, the passionate voice of Beth Gibbons from Portishead (an outstanding feature) gently sings: “I wish I was somebody/Anybody but myself”. This lines, which are repeated throughout, come as the chorus of a song where he describes abuse he suffered as a child and his sex addiction as an adult, and how difficult was for him to cope with these things and transform after that. The chorus is probably a recurring thought during while enduring this personal conflicts. The track is haunting and works very well as a piano ballad with Kendrick’s delivery sounding the most heartfelt in the album. Nevertheless, in the end, after also mentioning the abuse Black people has suffered for centuries, he sets free the things he can’t or shouldn’t control, reaching a deserved relief.

It is hard to point at Kendrick and claim certain assesment of his person as absolute truth, based on his past releases and this one. We know that nowadays a heated Twitter debate can sprung out of anything an artist like him creates and this becomes a lot more delicate as we live in the era of ‘cancel culture’ (something he also tackles on the album). Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, as this writer sees it, is not here to letting us know outright who Kendrick is or wants to be; it is an unfinished portrait. A deeply rooted and introspective expression of how he feels about himself, his personal interactions, his role in society. He confronts his demons, deals with trauma and depression, dismisses demeaning behaviours and tries to paint the picture of his present, coming to terms with what life has taken from and gifted to him.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is a great inclusion to the aforementioned, almost peerless catalogue of Kendrick Lamar. In my opinion, it works better than DAMN, but most importantly, it closes with significance a stage of the artist’s musical journey to this point, as this is his final album with TDE. It is one of the great releases of the year also, and although it comes with its flaws, it keeps Lamar’s consistency intact and is another chapter of one of contemporary music’s most striking narrations.

Before I go in fast asleep, love me for me, I bare my soul and now we’re free.