Fighting in the streets, protests against police violence and racism, but the most vocal remained silent. His song “Alright” had become the anthem of the new civil rights movement, between calls of “I Can’t Breathe” and “Black Lives Matter” Kendrick Lamar’s hook was sung: “We gon’ be alright!”
But he himself, the powerful chronicler of Afro-American life, the most important rapper in the world, avoided the public during the charged time, let the longest break between new projects ever longer.
is that a weapon
Now, today, after five years, finally, a new album. “Mr. Morales & the Big Steppers”. On the cover, a humble family scene: Kendrick stands with a toddler in her arms in front of a bed on which lies a woman holding a baby to her breast. Kendrick wears a crown of thorns. What does she mean? The down-to-earth nature of the scene – the brown paint on the walls is peeling off, a radiator hangs brittlely next to the bed – runs counter to any Yeezus megalomania.
But what’s in his belt, half hidden between his pants and shirt? is that a weapon The peacefulness of the biblical image is gone. The wall paint has peeled off in four places. Four bullet holes? One for each person. These are not thorns on his crown, but bullets. His days are numbered.
A great critical introspection
The most articulate speaks again: “United in Grief.” This is how the album begins, which is very good again, maybe his best so far, time will tell. An outstanding album, both musically and lyrically. A 73-minute psychoanalysis, Kendrick directs his perceptive gaze in the mirror, confesses and recounts the things that made up his ego, talks about his daddy issues and his fear of attachment, his narcissism and need for approval, his macho masculinity, among which most of all women had to suffer. Can he break the curse, the trauma passed down through generations, rooted in the experience of slavery?
The production is excellent. So much happens on this rich album, the piano as the dominant instrument combines virtuously with the polyrhythmic beats, the clicking and clicking, the stepping, the drum machines, the hard trap, the warm samples. There are many voices, a lot of singing, Kendrick is closer to gospel than ever before, the religious dimension of the therapy session, its closeness to the confessional, is reflected in the music.
“I hope you find some peace of mind in this lifetime,” sings a sacred voice at the very beginning. I hope your troubled mind finds rest. And still in this life. He’s not interested in the rest of the world. Because it is the here and now in which he raises his children. “The money wiping the tears away,” but that’s not flex. Admittedly, prosperity can dry the tears. But there are always some. “Take off the Chanel, take off the Dolce, take off the Birkin bag,” he raps on the next track. ”Take all that designer bullshit off, and what do you have?”
Sometimes hard to bear
The woman on the album cover is his wife, the children on the album cover are his children. The intimacy of the album is hard to bear at times, the marital strife on “We Cry Together,” starring actress Taylour Paige, culminates in a “Fuck you! Fuck you!” line that sounds like a very real argument.
“I bare my soul, and now we’re free”, it says at the end of the album. It’s only by opening everything up that I can truly become free, transcend the trauma, break the family curse. “Heavy is the head that chose to wear the crown,” he raps. King Kendrick knows what he’s talking about.