Part 2 of Listening to Mr. Morale & and the Big Steppers
The second LP is better than the first. And hot damn did Kendrick reveal himself!
This is part 2 of my breakdown of the newest Kendrick Lamar album, Mr Morale & The Big Steppers. For the record I prefer this half to the last one but they’re both so good yet perhaps slightly incomparable in terms of flow and lyrical content.
This article includes Purple Hearts as well since I was lazy and forgot to include it yesterday. Tee hee.
So we’re all creaming our ears over the newest Kendrick album and I see why. This record changed my life. I liked hip hop but didn’t see the storytelling potential.
Silly me.
I did some reading and there’s some strong Thundercat influence on this record hence the funky bass lines you’ll hear. I’m a big Thundercat fan and was actually quite surprised by how popular a bass player could be. Like when was the last time a bassist got so popular in American pop culture? Maybe Jaco Pastorius but that was long before my time. If you don’t know Weather Report, then you don’t know what probably influenced Thundercat, so I strongly recommend you check that artist out, specifically the song, “Elegant People”.
Back to the record. Let’s start with the song I neglected to include last night.
Purple Hearts
Nice funk flair here with strong bass lines. Featuring two guest artists, Summer Walker (who is new to me) and Ghostface Killa (I knew the name but not any songs) this tune is smooth and has a nice chorus being sung by Lamar. The introduction of the chick singing with Lamar is great in terms of harmonization. Real chill and gives you a feminine-masculine dynamic as it transitions between the perspective of Lamar and Walker. She totally reminds me of some singer and I don’t know who and it’s bugging me. But I’ll definitely listen to her more.
