They had been waiting for him for 5 years. The link to the album just posted on youwitter by Kendrick Lamar that fans rushed to plug in their headphones and tune back into the streaming platforms they had been updating since midnight Friday. Because today is Friday, May 13, what is got out Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, the new album of the american rapper who had already given news at the beginning of the week with a confusing clip.
Drowned under the influx of thousands of users, the giants Apple Music and Spotify were victims of several crashes, preventing some rap lovers from discovering the double album. We have could listen to the entire project.
Conspiracy and war in Ukraine
Faithful to the rapper’s discography, this new album overflows with references to current events. Recognized for his sharp and subversive pen, Kendrick Lamar offers, as usual, the critique of a fragmented society. The rapper notably tackles the rise of conspiracy theories emanating from religious groups during the Covid-19 crisis. In Saviorhe drops: “Seen a Christian say the vaccine mark of the beast, then he caught Covid and prayed to Pfizer for relief”. Hear: “I saw a Christian say that the vaccine is a sign of the end of the world and of the Antichrist, then he caught the Covid and prayed to Pfizer for relief”.
The feather of Kendrick Lamar, pugnacious and brilliant, also denounces the behavior of political figures including Vladimir Putin, whom the rapper was already targeting in The Heart Part 4. In Mr Moral & The Big Steppers he returns to the charge by naming the Russian president by his first name: “Vladimir making nightmares“which can be translated as “Vladimir creates nightmares”. The artist denounces here the responsibility of the head of the Kremlin in the outbreak of the war in Ukraine at the end of February.
Denounce transphobia and homophobia
While we knew engaged against discrimination against the African-American community, poverty or even mental health, the wonder of Compton now adds transphobia and homophobia affecting the community to its chart LGBTQ+. Highlight of the album, the track Aunty Diaries looks back at the transition of his aunt into a man and his cousin into a woman. Above a minimalist instrumental,he artist whispers the trajectory of two of his relatives and the discrimination they suffered as black and transgender people. “He didn’t laugh as hard when the kids start joking ‘Faggot, faggot, faggot’. We ain’t know no better Middle school kids with no filter”sings the rapper reporting the episodes where his cousin was called “pedals” by her classmates.
The artist takes advantage of this toself-criticism, denouncing his own actions and prejudices: “Demetrius is Mary-Ann now. I mean he’s really Mary-Ann, even took things further, changed his gender before Bruce Jenner, was certain living his truth even if he meant see a surgeon. We didn’t talk for a while, he seemed more distant, wasn’t comfortable around me, everything was offensive”, or in French: “Demetrius is Mary-Ann now, I mean he really is Mary-Ann, he even took it a step further, changed his gender before Bruce Jenner, was sure he was living his truth even if it meant seeing a surgeon . We didn’t speak to each other for a while, he seemed more distant, wasn’t comfortable with me, everything was offensive”.
This title will certainly mark a turning point in the history of rap, this is the first track where a rapper as popular as Kendrick Lamar confesses his support for the community LGBTQ+.
The rapper confesses his deception
Kendrick’s confessions about very personal episodes of his life continue. In this new album, the artist confides having had an affair with a white woman while he was still with his fiancée, Whitney Alford, with whom he has just had his second child. The rapper says he even wondered if he was not in turn racist in cheating on his wife of African-American origin, with a white woman.
Un behavior which, according to him, would outrage his ancestors if they were still around: “I said maybe I’m racist. The ancestors watching me fuck it was like a punishment for me” (“Whitney asked did I have a problem. I said, “I might be racist”. Ancestors watchin’ me fuck was like retaliation”)he chants nervously in Worldwide Steppers.
The pair were recently spotted in Ghana, which may negate the rapper’s dreaded split at the time of writing the track.
A spirituality so present
Throughout the pieces, different voices are heard: that of the rappers Kodak Black and Baby Keem omnipresent in the project, of his companion Whitney Alfordfrom the rock band Florence and tea Machine, but also that ofEckhart Outcry. The writer, recognized as a spiritual coach today, was made famous for his work The power of the present moment, published in 1997.
HAS At the time, the book would remain in the shadows until it was a huge success with American stars who would makeEckhart Outcry their personal spiritual guide. Invited in the early 2000s by Oprah Winfrey who says she felt a revelation by reading the book, the author will gain worldwide popularity. We understand a little better why Kendrick Lamar granted him the role of narrator in several pieces crossed by the theme of spirituality in Mr. Moralethe second part of the album.
A family matter
Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, vsIt’s also a family affair. Beyond the texts that evoke the artist’s love and admiration for his children, his fiancée or even his mother, the rapper Kendrick Lamar also made a point of inviting his cousin Baby Keemrapper and producer who won no less than four trophies including “best new artist” and “best album of the year” at the last Grammys. Logic that we feel the influence of the young artist on certain pieces like N95where he otherwise appears as one of the producers.