Kendrick Lamar can actually do everything: mainstream and message, musical experiment and hits, he is technically and lyrically brilliant. In May he released “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” with almost no promo – five years after “Damn”, in which he was mostly silent. Because Kendrick can also do that: afford something like that. And he had reasons. “I’ve been through a lot,” he says at the beginning and then reveals everything in a radical introspection: wounds, ugly truths, sex addiction, his own twisted views – and the decision to go to therapy.
There was always a lot of pain in his lyrics, it was about black trauma, gang violence, poverty, racism. He has always made himself vulnerable, a counterpoint to the often toxic masculinity in rap. But “Mr. Morale” goes further: “We Cry Together” describes a nasty relationship dispute, and “Mother I Sober” reflects on one’s own family trauma and on structurally grown sexualized violence – probably one of the most painful rap songs ever. And yet “Mr. Morale” is great at its best: opener “United in Grief”, Sampha’s hook in “Father Time”, the meme-like texted trap board “N95”, the sultry West Coast sound in “Rich Spirit “, the bass that subtly kicks in hard on “Savior”. Yes, it has borderline moments, but it has them deliberately. Kendrick doesn’t want to be a rap savior anymore, he’s a problematic man after all. At the same time he asks: Aren’t we all a bit problematic? “Mr. Morale” is complex, so is the world, the lines between right and wrong, black and white are not always as clear as we would like them to be. Kendrick says: Time we put up with this. But also: Time to work on ourselves!
Our annual charts were put together by the music critics of the “Freie Presse”. You can find all previous placements HERE.
www.freiepresse.de/alben22