Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers Review

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As self-examining as it is bold, Kendrick Lamar’s latest work should be no surprise for those that know his quality. To Pimp a Butterfly saw Lamar hit his groove for personally moved and intricate album set pieces, displaying a strong, storytelling momentum that appears to have carried over to here. Mr Morale & The Big Steppers is a new direction for the now-seasoned artist, whose spread through West Coast Hip-Hop has provided a new layer of clarity. There is confident scope oozing from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, a lengthy piece that has a lyrical defiance typical to the sound Lamar often projects, but with a new range of mode and meaning.

United in Grief is a stunning opener. There is no way of mounting the raw build of hope in those opening bars. Incredibly well-mixed with lyrics that take aim at the culture of fame and the rap scene around Lamar, the humbling of once explosive gluttony thrown under the bus by a stunning opening track. That interpersonal reflection, that inspiringly raw clarity that comes through Mr Morale & The Big Steppers’ opening track is found, naturally, throughout the entire piece. N95 holds that thematic urgency firm, with a disassociation with the designer clothes and delicate lifestyle of those that make it big. A rejection of that is found throughout Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, and it keeps Lamar’s meteoric rise in line with a desire to stay grounded and within the roots of the genre.

Those roots are expanded on with the instrumental and technical powerhouses littered throughout the album. Die Hard is a clear exploration of that mixing quality. There is not an inch of Mr Morale & The Big Steppers that allows for any sort of boastful styling from Lamar, whose lyrics are both aware of his success and almost resentful of it. Father Time shows insight into that, the conditioned style Lamar was raised in, and how it affects his music disclosed so precisely. Something like We Cry Together feels more akin to that of an argument that gives Mr Morale & The Big Steppers that layer of storytelling, rather than something of lyrical clarity. It is the effective simplicity of it as a piece of art, rather than entertainment, that may divide the room on that track and those that follow.

Intensity and defiance mix well on Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, a piece that holds the key to unlocking that next step for Lamar. Exceptional scale found on Count for Me, interpersonal dynamics attended to with sincerity and clarity on Purple Hearts, it all comes together so well. Defiantly, exceptionally brilliant. But was there any less expectation over Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and the placement it immediately found itself? Deeply personal, far greater than those that came before it and a real statement of artistic intent. Lamar explores his own life as well as that of the future in a hefty double LP that cements itself as a defining moment in hip hop.