Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Overall, ‘Mr Morale & The Big Steppers’, Kendrick Lamar's highly anticipated fifth album, might exude a moodier, more melancholic sound than Kendrick’s previous albums, but there are pop gems on the record too. ‘Count Me Out’, for example, sees Lamar utilise his understated melodic rap tone over dark guitar gargles. Sometimes he splits the difference between the two moods: ‘Die Hard’ might be a redemptive track about it never being too late to right wrongs and chase your dreams, but the clinks of cowbells in the background remind you of chinking glasses in the summertime.

‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ is a record outlining the Black plight and is created for his community. In this sense, it’s one of the deepest cuts we’ve had from Kendrick. While ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ showed the world what it’s like to grow up as a kid in Compton, his fifth album serves up vignettes about what it’s like to be a Black adult whose trauma still haunts them. In laying his soul bare, he hopes we realise how we can set ourselves free from generational curses too. This album is as much about struggle as it is freedom, and what a beautiful sentiment that is. (NME)

180gm heavyweight Double Vinyl edition

Tracklist:

Big Steppers
A1 Kendrick Lamar – United In Grief
A2 Kendrick Lamar – N95
A3 Kendrick Lama r– Worldwide Steppers
A4 Kendrick Lamar, Blxst & Amanda Reifer – Die Hard
A5 Kendrick Lamar – Father Time
A6 Kendrick Lamar– Rich (Interlude)
A7 Kendrick Lamar– Rich Spirit
A8 Kendrick Lamar & Taylour Paige– We Cry Together
A9 Kendrick Lamar, Summer Walker & Ghostface Killah– Purple Hearts

Mr. Morale
B1 Kendrick Lamar – Count Me Out
B2 Kendrick Lamar – Crown
B3 Kendrick Lamar & Kodak Black – Silent Hil
B4 Kendrick Lamar – Savior (Interlude)
B5 Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem & Sam Dew – Savior
B6 Kendrick Lamar– Auntie Diaries
B7 Kendrick Lamar & Tanna Leone – Mr. Morale
B8 Kendrick Lamar – Mother I Sober
B9 Kendrick Lamar – Mirror 4:16