REVIEW- Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (2022)
Kendrick Lamar released his last studio album, DAMN., when I was in seventh grade. In the 1855 days since then, I have grown up. I went to high school. I learned that I loved to speak. I started dating a girl. I am going to college. And the world has changed too. Economies collapsed. Cities burned and were invaded. Social media is more pervasive than ever, and polarization is worse than ever. Everything has gotten more complicated, which places a heavy burden on Kendrick, as someone who must now juggle being a 34-year-old with a fiancee and two kids with discussing a range of societal issues in his work. But luckily, Kendrick delivers, remaining just as introspective and forward-thinking as he always is. His albums have always raised the stakes by complicating the topics they bring up—you never finish a Kendrick Lamar album feeling any sense of clarity, only more uncertainty from the additional perspectives you hear from. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is no different: