Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (New Album) May 13th.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Exitmusic, Apr 18, 2022.

  1. ghoulsurgery

    ghoulsurgery House Ghost

    Location:
    New Jersey
    The thing I’ve always loved about Kendrick is that he avoids trying to find easy answers. He admits to hypocrisy and contradictions in his life and the struggle comes from reconciling that with his ideals. No one communicates that conflict and feeling like he does
     
  2. Kevin j

    Kevin j The 5th 99

    Location:
    Seattle Area
    wow. what an album. this thing is dense, so i need to listen a few hundred more times, but he nailed it. hype lived up to.
     
    mschrist, Brendan K, OldSoul and 6 others like this.
  3. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    This album really living up to the hype! This album and & Big Thief's Dragon New... 2 80 minute albums that go in a breeze.
     
  4. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    You didn't have to hide your comments in a spoiler.
     
  5. stucksunsets

    stucksunsets Masculine Feminist

    Location:
    London
    Constantly refreshing my browser in the hope for that 8LP super deluxe bundle edition with that cover as a T-shirt.
    Kendrick, to me, is this generation's Prince, and Mr. Morale is his Sign o' the Times.
     
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  6. Saturns Pattern

    Saturns Pattern Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
  7. jfeldt

    jfeldt Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    Good to hear it's getting better, but jeez, did you all see the Rosalia on SNL thread a month ago or so?

    I've listened to this four times now, and agree with earlier comments that the time passes really quickly for a double album. For some reason, I have craving to make a cassette of this album for my truck, but maybe I'll just burn a CD-R. I think I can get it to fit one CD if I leave out We Cry Together.
     
    mschrist likes this.
  8. Saturns Pattern

    Saturns Pattern Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    It really does breeze by as a listen. Then again, for all its billing as a double album/album of two halves, it's still shorter than To Pimp a Butterfly.
     
    jfeldt and ghoulsurgery like this.
  9. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Why would you leave that one out? It's one of the best things on the album.
     
    steviej likes this.
  10. Vox78

    Vox78 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cork
    Would have been tolerable as a one minute skit…it offers little musically, and the lyrics are bereft of Lamar’s usual eloquence and wit. How anyone could possibly rate this as one of the best of the 18 tracks is beyond me.
     
  11. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Yea, it could've worked out more if it was at least 2 minutes, while it fades out hearing them continuously argue.
     
    Vox78 likes this.
  12. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    First, the music isn't the focus of this track, and second, it shows a real argument of an unhappy couple.
     
    I-OD likes this.
  13. Saturns Pattern

    Saturns Pattern Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I think "We Cry Together" is great and I certainly wouldn't have left it off the album at all. Upon first listen, it was one of those moments where I was sat there with my mouth open at what I was hearing and I was utterly speechless at the end of it simply because I was unsure as to how to react to it. Of course, the subject matter of the track is very serious with it being pretty much a window into a toxic relationship, but the twist at the end of the track (as well as a couple of choice lines in the song) were almost comical. Given that there's very little on Kendrick Lamar records that isn't deliberate, I'd say there is a reason and purpose for the track being on the record. Obviously, it ties in in a conceptual sense (as tracks on Kendrick Lamar albums tend to) but also I very much think it's there to make the listener uncomfortable and elicit a reaction, even if that reaction is confusion. It's not meant to be a pleasant listen.
     
  14. Saturns Pattern

    Saturns Pattern Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Also, it's unusual for me to hear Kendrick Lamar's voice in the context of a heated domestic argument. It's not really the sort of role I've heard Kendrick play on any of his records to date. It's obviously a fictionalised account, but hearing his voice in this sort of context - particularly given the personal nature of the album in general - makes me feel like I'm eavesdropping in a way, and it makes me feel a slight sense of awkwardness as well.
     
    ghoulsurgery, RockyRaccoon and jfeldt like this.
  15. Complier

    Complier Senior Member

    Location:
    Harrisburg, PA
    Any word if CDS/LPS are coming out?
     
    Timos and malfano like this.
  16. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Five years ago, that Rosalia thread would have been a 60-page hatefest. That's what the OP was aiming for, and he wasn't expecting it to be taken over by people going "What are you talking about, this is great!"
     
  17. ghoulsurgery

    ghoulsurgery House Ghost

    Location:
    New Jersey
  18. zombiemodernist

    zombiemodernist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeastern USA
    This album really opened up for me on second and third listen. I think this represents probably his smoothest conceptual work to date. Each of his albums has been thematically grounded by sketches, but each progressive album has distilled the sketches into more abstract thematic anchors. Listening to Section.80 you get pretty generic rap skits, but here on MMATBS you get short skit fragments swirling around the music, an avoided conversation about infidelity, new age spirituality, the scars of the past. All coalesing into an album that ultimately seems to be about being a better person.

    I'll still say this is probably not the Kendrick album for those who want beats & hooks, nor is it the album for those looking for an inventive soundscape like TPAB. It seems most beats have been consciously selected to let the lyrics shine, although the music sometimes gets really interesting, it's always vocal forward. If Kendrick's mission was to make this the lyrical album in his discography and I'd say he nailed the brief.
     
  19. aphexj

    aphexj Sound mind & body

    The whole thing — including that song AND "The Heart Part 5" — would fit on a single 80-minute disc. It's an artistic choice to divide the album into two halves, not a function of time constraints
     
  20. ghoulsurgery

    ghoulsurgery House Ghost

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I wonder if the CD release will actually split the discs up despite being able to fit on one disc. Vince Staples did that for his first album
     
    Timos likes this.
  21. jfeldt

    jfeldt Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    To make it fit on one CD, since I have had problems burning and playing CDs over 72 minutes or so in the past. I was able to burn this 73 minute and change block of music on one disc, I’ll see if it plays in my truck properly the next time I go on a drive.

    True, it is getting better, and I agree, a lot of how a thread progresses is the tone set in the OP.
     
  22. jfeldt

    jfeldt Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    I hope it is split. I like splits when they are thematically split. GKMC is 78 minutes and two discs. Also lessens the chance of any problems with particular CD players/drives.
     
    Timos and ghoulsurgery like this.
  23. jfeldt

    jfeldt Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    I wasn’t with the writer for a while, until they said “When Kendrick Lamar says dumb **** on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, that dumb **** has a purpose. Kendrick is being intentionally messy. He’s presenting a world with no heroes and no villains.”, and then I was with them.

    Maybe I’m a simpler person than that author but I think Kendrick was brave to bring up all the topics that he does, especially as a major rap star, where the mainstream rap game would normally induce and reward one on the opposite side with machismo and insensitivity.
     
  24. jfeldt

    jfeldt Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    Cool video, but does it feel weird to anyone else to see it presented as a banger outside of the context of the album? I want to find where that water fountain ramp is, looks cool.
     
  25. ghoulsurgery

    ghoulsurgery House Ghost

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I never actually knew that GKMC was two CDs. I only ever owned the vinyl (and I’m always kind of annoyed that it’s got the bonus tracks grouped with “Compton” on side D)
     
    jfeldt likes this.

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