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 and a pandemic raged. Cities burned and were invaded. Social media is more pervasive than ever, and polarization is worse than ever. The world 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 and introducing additional perspectives—you never finish a Kendrick Lamar album feeling a sense of clarity, only more uncertainty. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is no