Mr. Morale

Thoughts of from the stepper himself.

“Love Thy Neighbor, and Love Thy Self,” are the lines I find when I listen to Kendricks's new album, “Mr. Moral & The Big Steppers.” The morality of this album gives many versions that represent who Kendrick has become as a man and as a rapper. Facing the past he reflects deeper into his childhood and family narratives through his songs from “Auntie Diaries, Mr. Morale, Savior, and many more.” This album comes off Kendricks's last compilation album “Black Panther album,” where he shares it with many of his co-artists within Top Dawg Entertainment.

Kendrick raps from a heart of loving and self-reflecting as a Black man faced with decisions that have left him differential as he writes out the changes he has felt within “Count me Out and Mirror.” He writes from redemption but faith within himself, not caring about what others have said or from who has looked down upon him. One of the many elements and huge themes that can be found in this album is the Homophobic thoughts that have come across Kendrick in his days since childhood. Phasing it through family members' freedom of choice to the ways the world points and choose what is right on a person’s choice. Kendrick voices his opinion that people should be free and have all right to be who they choose.

Not to mention throughout the album we hear from the rapper Kodak Black in the interlude, “Rich,” also in his feature Savior in the latter part of the album. We can feel the relish of a man standing next to Kendrick and coming to see how far he has come and as he quotes, “Whoever knew I thought I would be a Kodak.” His overcoming to be rich and not in chains as he mentions before shows the level that which a black man triumphs.

As Kendrick splits this album into two parts, we find the first half structured around the hard steppers and brash drums that give remissness back to the “Black Panther Album.” Songs like “Worldwide Steppers and Die Hard,” reflect such and comes through in the second part as well with the song, “Mr. Morale.” In this song, Kendrick raps from a state looking back at the impact that racist views and history have incorporated upon the black culture and within his own family. The tune song is then followed up when a heartfelt song about his history and pain on the track, “Mother I Sober.” Where Kendrick relations on the deep dark secrets he felt like a kid dealing with malicious touches on him and his mother.

Kendrick comes from a place of pure honesty and triumphs over pain, a long life felt through all his music and all his songs. Kendricks’s gift has been to stand over the pain, like songs of “I and U,” on his “To Pimp a Butterfly” album. His honesty and raw felt lyrics are what bring the truth from within his words, through every verse and line this album topples on such. What cannot go without missing his bridge for bringing his younger cousin and rapper, Baby Keem. He brings his brash raps and hard verses in reference just as Kendrick does in such cadence.

In a final take from a fresh face, Kendricks’s album feels heavy and rides long, he raps from many aspects, and with meaning the beats and deep interludes are versatile in the design that Kendricks’s art is one of a kind and beautiful. His poetry never stops and can be felt if you truly listen, one review can never be enough for his work and lyrics. Maybe not even a year within. Many more have deciphered his lyrics, his thoughts, and to each album and each take his adds this final album under the label Top Dawg Entertainment.” In the end, the album is amazing and is worth listening to alone or even with a close person to decipher for yourself. But what do you think of this album or what is your favorite track?