Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (Discussion Thread)

[spliz]

4 year gap between Untitled to Life is Good
6 year gap between Life is Good to Nasir

There’s not a 4 year gap between Untitled and LIG. He had Distant Relatives within that time frame.

 

[Burned Verses]

 

[Ziggiy]

4 year gap between Untitled to Life is Good
6 year gap between Life is Good to Nasir

Distant relatives would like a word…

 

[breakfuss]

2006- HHID
2008- Untitled
2010- Distant Relatives
2012- Life Is Good



Thats literally a project every two years. I don’t see how that equates to an eternity especially when HHID and Untitled were heavily hyped/promoted and both were number 1 albums

U must mean untitled
1994
1996
1997-side
1999
1999
2000-side
2001
2002
2002-side
2004
2006
2008
2010-side
2012
2018
2019- side
2020
2021
2021

2012-2018 is the only real drought. Other than that he was active as hell

He dropped Untitled and Distant Relatives in that time span.

Fair enough. I wasn't counting Distant Relatives even though I enjoyed it. Can't say the same for Untitled.

 

[semicko82]

Barry Jenkins

 

[InstantKlassik]

Why do ya'll have to talk about Nas in every single fukking thread. GOT DAMN, SHUT THE fukk UP about dude.

 

[ineedsleep212]

AOTY frontrunner easily. This definitely better than Damn as well.

 

[breakfuss]

Barry Jenkins

Damn it bruh I meant to say him earlier but got distracted by the Nas talk. I would’ve gone Spike Lee as my first had he not put him on TPAB but Beale Street & Melancholy sorta give them same vibe so it works.

 

[wire28]

I’d say a few things


For Kendrick specifically, his lyrics are EXTREMELY personal in nature. He probably “feels” it more when he sings hooks and lyrics himself and can give you that level of emotion. I wouldn’t necessarily want to hear Jill Scott or D’angelo on a song like Mirrors because the emotion and feeling that he puts it into singing those words is a major part of what draws me to the song.


Probably cheaper and more cost effective to sing yourself then have to split publishing and pay feature fees when your fanbase isn’t complaining about you doing your own melodies


Also Kendrick is heavily influenced by Andre 3000, who literally made a career out of being one of the greatest rappers/decent singers of ALL time. He’s also influenced by Lil Wayne, who blew up using the same formula. Modern day artists like Drake, Childish Gambino, Big Krit, and Big Sean have done it to successful effect, so why not Kendrick?

I hear Andre every time I hear crown. And I agree. I don’t think Kendrick is thinking about touring when he’s making and waiting 5 years to release tracks like mirror. Same with big Sean, he can’t sing obviously but chooses to on more personal tracks for obvious reasons

 

[Abstract83]

TPAB
S80
GKMC

In that order are my favorite albums from Kendrick. I wasn't too crazy about DAMN honestly. With this new album I've only gave it 2 listens. I cant completely write it off as wack. All I can say is I think it could have been better. I think its average at best. I dont think I'll be coming back to it.

I do appreciate his honestly and meaning with each song. The effort he puts in with the topics he speaks on. I just feel like he really did this album for him. To get all this shyt off his chest. It seems more like a therapy session pouring out his inner most thoughts and feeling in the mirror. And we just happened to hear it.

I would have preferred more hard hitting tracks and him rapping more. People compare him to 3 stacks which is on point. But like someone said he should have got other singers to hold that part down. Just because everybody is a rapper turned singer doesn't mean everybody should or could do it. I appreciate the effort just not my cup of tea.

 

[Regular_P]

I'm just not feeling this album. It has some cuts here and there but this is just a much worse version of what Joe Budden's done a bunch of times.

 

[Ziggiy]

TPAB
S80
GKMC

In that order are my favorite albums from Kendrick. I wasn't too crazy about DAMN honestly. With this new album I've only gave it 2 listens. I cant completely write it off as wack. All I can say is I think it could have been better. I think its average at best. I dont think I'll be coming back to it.

I do appreciate his honestly and meaning with each song. The effort he puts in with the topics he speaks on. I just feel like he really did this album for him. To get all this shyt off his chest. It seems more like a therapy session pouring out his inner most thoughts and feeling in the mirror. And we just happened to hear it.

I would have preferred more hard hitting tracks and him rapping more. People compare him to 3 stacks which is on point. But like someone said he should have got other singers to hold that part down. Just because everybody is a rapper turned singer doesn't mean everybody should or could do it. I appreciate the effort just not my cup of tea.

He’s sung on literally EVERY album he’s ever released i’m not sure why some people are acting like this is a great departure for him. He literally sang the hook on his first big single (Swimming Pools) he sang hooks for J.Cole. He sung throughout TPAB. He sung on Loyalty off Damn which was a top 20 billboard hit.

 

[ineedsleep212]

I'm genuinely confused about a lot of the reception to this album.

First, people writing it off pretty quickly. Second, I don't get what's not hitting, there's vulnerability he showed on TPAB, has Damn sensitivity to like the current sound without sounding generic all the while giving you themes and content you simply aren't getting from any other rapper or at least with this much attention to songwriting rn. I get why people are mentioning Budden but it's nothing like Budden when it comes to how he's approaching songs and Budden hardly if ever shows any self awareness like Kendrick does on this.

Maybe people had certain expectations of something (I didn't have any really) but nothing threw me off or felt like a curveball about this album aside from his own growth (Auntie Diaries) and not him making the song but that development.

 

[John Mexico]

Fair enough. I wasn't counting Distant Relatives even though I enjoyed it. Can't say the same for Untitled.

90s and early 2000s was a different time everyone released ever year. Nas had a pretty standard release schedule but I do feel his goose was cooked creatively after a stellar LIG. until he found Hit. Just a retired legend. I dont count Distant Relatives even even I also liked it a lot. Same way I won't count Best of Both Worlds

And for those citing such a deviation from Kendrick that's just BS. Dudes always been melodic. Even his heavy shyt like TPAB was DRIVEN by melodies. Untitled Unmastered was kind of a BSides masterpiece and it was 3K levels of different.

Budden was right, no rapper since the ATL trap shyt of the mid aughts has been able to blow in the mainstream UNLESS they were heavily driven by the sing songy shyt

 

[Ziggiy]

90s and early 2000s was a different time everyone released ever year. Nas had a pretty standard release schedule but I do feel his goose was cooked creatively after a stellar LIG. until he found Hit. Just a retired legend. I dont count Distant Relatives even even I also liked it a lot. Same way I won't count Best of Both Worlds

And for those citing such a deviation from Kendrick that's just BS. Dudes always been melodic. Even his heavy shyt like TPAB was DRIVEN by melodies. Untitled Unmastered was kind of a BSides masterpiece and it was 3K levels of different.

Budden was right, no rapper since the ATL trap shyt of the mid aughts has been able to blow in the mainstream UNLESS they were heavily driven by the sing songy shyt

Jay Electronica?