Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers - Kendrick Lamar

This was one of the most emotionally complex pieces that I've ever encountered. I entered this knowing very little about Kendrick Lamar outside of To Pimp A Butterfly, and that was plenty enough for me to have my expectations real high already for this one. And oh my God it did not fail to meet them at all.

It's a really similar album to TPAB actually, in many different ways, the more raw and personal approach on a lot of songs and the sort of narrative that it has throughout the 2 discs that it encompasses, but while TPOAB looked mainly into the bigger picture of society and how it connected to Kendrick's personal struggle, and this one does that a bit too, but it's so much more personal, and that's amazing.

It really feels like the type of project and artist does for themselves, being driven only by the impulse of self expression, where every sound, word, and creative decision is what feels best to the artist, not what would "work better" in a technical sense, and when it's done by an artist with the sheer talent of Kendrick Lamar, even then you're sure you're up for a great ride.

This, however, makes for a record that it's not that consistent in rythm and tone, making it a more challenging listening experience as a listener. But I don't think that's really a bad thing at all.

If everything, i think that making a record that it's not that consistent and doesn't really care about being accessible is completely congruent with the powerful cathartic message of self acceptance and self-healing that is specially highlighted in the "Mr. Morale" side of the record.

Wich takes me to the other thing that I absolutely loved about this record, and that's it's overall message, and I think the concept and how it is explored through the lyrics really is what makes this album such an emotionally complex art piece.

The album is, essentially, the story of someone who really hurt someone they loved without the intention to do it, and after that went into a really deep self reflexion to find the loads of deep imbued trauma that was behind that initial pain they caused to others, and how this someone is determined to be better and grow out of the trauma that made them dangerous in the first place. And it delivers the message masterfully.

It's a message and a story that really resonates with me on a deep level, and gives me a lot of strength and hope in my belief that people, even after hurting others, can learn, change and be better and how the power to do that  lies deep in everybody. And it's just so important and valuable that such s big artist as Kendrick is able to do something so deeply and undoubtedly good, not in a quality sense but rather in one that's ethical and out of pure goodness.

The album inspired me as much as superhero stories do, it gave me hope for everybody, for the world and most importantly, it gave me hope and understanding for myself. It's just amazing.