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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Lamar is that far ahead of everyone else in the game.
100
Make no mistake: ‘Mr Morales & The Big Steppers’ is one of his most profound, complex, revelatory statements yet, a double album fuelled by sonic ambition, the will to communicate, and Kendrick’s staunch refusal to walk the easy path.
100
Kendrick Lamar’s work has always been introspective, but Mr Morale and the Big Steppers ... has a delicacy and tenderness to it that is unprecedented for the 34-year-old father of two from Compton, California.
100
It being one so vulnerable and exposing (including using his family for the artwork), stripping the skin down to the bone, is bold, beautiful, but most importantly, a reminder that an artist like Kendrick Lamar is once in a generation.
100
After a five-year hiatus, the Pulitzer winner returns with an exhilarating epic that ties personal pain to collective trauma – and lets no one off the hook.
100
The rapper's first album in five years sees him overcome "writer's block" to triumph with a collection on which his observational skills go into overdrive.
100
If it does mark the end of something – or simply offers a postscript to an incredible chapter in a career that might take a new direction – then it stands as another stunning landmark for a once-in-a-lifetime artist.
100
Kendrick continues to be a movement, much bigger than one man.
100
It’s his emotional terrain, especially on the revealing second disc, that’s likely to perpetuate a reputation that already transcends the genre.
95
This album, like many of his albums, (notably the jazz masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly,) dabbles in rap form with all sorts of modern music, including classical, funk, pop, and underground.
90
On Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, renowned rapper Kendrick Lamar observes the strife plaguing his kingdom and consciously abdicates the throne.
90
Kendrick Lamar lets it all out, and even if it's the last time we hear from him in this form, he's metaphorically put his whole heart on the table, with yet another body of work worthy of multiple spins and endless dissection.
90
One thing is clear ... few storytellers, if any, are able to deliver a comment on society that is both as observative and introspective as Kendrick’s.
88
It’s far too complex, far too searching to be wrangled in a simple review. I know this much: we’ll be talking about this one for a long, long time.
84
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers paints a gripping portrait of how trauma and therapy have morphed the 34-year-old artist beyond recognition.
81
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers rejects conformity and leaves its flaws in on purpose, featuring some of Kendrick’s best and worst songs of his career.
80
The Pulitzer prize-winning rapper grapples with Black trauma and his own family’s struggles on this brave, electrifying fifth album.
80
With lyrics as erudite as ever, this remarkably detailed self-portrait offers a surprising glimpse behind the curtain – and should be applauded for its intimacy.
80
The double-helping provided seems to be a heady feast that some might better digest in smaller portions. But rest assured, there’s more than enough top-shelf material and meticulously managed art here to show us Kendrick, already reserving an extended stay in the cultural zeitgeist longer than most of your all-time favorites, has still got it.
80
There’s no doubt that Mr. Morale is an album to unravel over time, and where loosening one thread will likely pull you deeper into its world.
80
His least straight-forward record, and his most confessional.
80
The album is a remarkable series of disruptive transformations.
11mo
80
Raw and resonant, its substance, and solemn reach for transcendence, is commendable.
11mo
80
While not always an easy listen, the album shows more of its intention as it goes, and ultimately makes sense as the next logical step forward in Lamar’s increasingly multi-dimensional artistic evolution.
80
The album is a gripping treatise on the relationship between Lamar’s inner turmoil and the cultural landscape.
80
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is a record that reaches out halfway and asks you to do the rest of the work, and it’s deeply rewarding as a result.
80
After years of holding a mirror to the world, to show us structural racism and the widening cracks in civic society, Lamar now turns the looking glass on himself.
76
On his fifth album, Kendrick retreats from the limelight and turns to himself, highlighting his insecurities and beliefs. It’s ambitious, impressive, and a bit unwieldy.
75
Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers is an incredibly ambitious, messy, heavy, daunting record that ultimately ends with our protagonist coming out on the other side as a better person, though still not a perfect person.
11mo
70
The Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper spends much of his fifth studio album deconstructing his own mythology. The result is at moments brilliant but on the whole, frustratingly uneven.
66
The listening experience is defined by languorous stretches between big moments, and becomes more of an exercise in patience than an engaging and enlivening journey.
60
Really the trap beat mode has worn a bit thin with Kendrick – it’s hard not to wish that he would focus on deepening his music, rather than minimalizing it and pushing it to the background in order to highlight how “personal” his rapping has become.
The Heart Part 5 set extremely high expectations, but once you get settled into this project, it's a great continuation of Kendrick's growth as an artist, and a Mortal Man.
Edit (85 -> 91): Damn was a strong experience, but I can’t say I really loved any individual moments outside of the record that much. This album however is a display of Kendrick’s most vulnerable sides, as ugly as that can be, and it leaves about as much of an impression as his classics. This album is a ... read more
Listening to this in the bathroom because i shat myself when the first note of the first song played
edit: I broke my toilet :/
Favourite: Auntie Diaries
Worst: We Cry Together
1. United in Grief - 10
[Lyrically just fantastic, production so unique and creates this wonderful experience. You can hear the emotion in his voice and the Piano at the end sets up for an insane album]
2. N95 - 9
[Damn this hits really hard, funny chorus sounds kind of like Baby Keem lol. Lyrically though this is great though]
3. Worldwide Steppers. - 10
[Really enjoy the storytelling on this, Kendrick you can hear goes really deep on this. ... read more
This album is definitely a step up from Damn and is on par with every other Kendrick album. I also wouldn’t be surprised if this turned out to be his last. It’s pretty heavy and feels like a worthy finish for him.
My second favourite Kendrick album, don't @ me.
yall underrate the interludes way too much, Kodak and Keem are fantastic on them. I'm really looking forward to Kendrick's next album.
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Track List
Disc 1
| 1 | United In Grief 4:15 | 93 |
| 2 | N95 3:15 | 91 |
| 3 | Worldwide Steppers 3:23 | 85 |
| 4 | Die Hard 3:59 with Blxst, Amanda Reifer | 85 |
| 5 | Father Time 3:42 feat. Sampha | 93 |
| 6 | Rich (Interlude) 1:43 | 75 |
| 7 | Rich Spirit 3:22 | 81 |
| 8 | We Cry Together 5:41 with Taylour Paige | 89 |
| 9 | Purple Hearts 5:29 | 82 |
Disc 2
| 1 | Count Me Out 4:43 | 89 |
| 2 | Crown 4:24 | 83 |
| 3 | Silent Hill 3:40 with Kodak Black | 82 |
| 4 | Savior (Interlude) 2:32 | 83 |
| 5 | Savior 3:44 | 90 |
| 6 | Auntie Diaries 4:41 | 89 |
| 7 | Mr. Morale 3:30 with Tanna Leone | 88 |
| 8 | Mother I Sober 6:46 feat. Beth Gibbons | 94 |
| 9 | Mirror 4:16 | 91 |
Total Length: 1 hour, 13 minutes
Year End Lists
| #1 | / | BBC Radio 6 Music |
| #1 | / | Complex |
| #1 | / | KCRW |
| #2 | / | Albumism |
| #2 | / | Hot Press |
| #2 | / | The Guardian |
| #3 | / | Dazed |
| #3 | / | Double J |
| #3 | / | Les Inrocks |
| #3 | / | MondoSonoro |
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2w
"Objectified so many bitches, I killed their confidence" always make me chuckle because of how out of pocket it is lol
Added on: April 18, 2022