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

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Why would you leave that one out? It's one of the best things on the album.

 

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.

 

Yea, it could've worked out more if it was at least 2 minutes, while it fades out hearing them continuously argue.

 

First, the music isn't the focus of this track, and second, it shows a real argument of an unhappy couple.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Any word if CDS/LPS are coming out?

 

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!"

 

I really liked this Stereogum write up

Premature Evaluation: Kendrick Lamar 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers'

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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)