Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

| Kendrick Lamar

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Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is the fifth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, released on May 13, 2022, by PGLangTop Dawg Entertainment (TDE), Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. After four albums with the label, the double album serves as Lamar's final project with TDE, of which he was one of the flagship artists. -Wikipedia

Critic Reviews

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  • The Guardian

    The Pulitzer prize-winning rapper grapples with Black trauma and his own family’s struggles on this brave, electrifying fifth album.  

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  • Pitchfork

    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.  

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  • Atwood Magazine

    After more than a decade of music-making, Kendrick Lamar still has many more sides of himself to reveal, and he does so in utterly engrossing fashion all across his fifth studio album, ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.’  

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  • Rolling Stone

    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.  

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  • Paste Magazine

    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.  

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  • HipHop DX

    KENDRICK LAMAR 'MR. MORALE & THE BIG STEPPERS' EXAMINES THE UGLY SIDE OF A MODERN RAP SUPERSTAR.  

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  • The Young Folks

    But take away the rapping from Mr. Morale and you’d have very little left to celebrate, a couple of guest choruses and the string arrangements on “Auntie Diaries” and “Mirror” aside (the latter thanks to Bēkon). Which is a problem that most reviews of this album have skirted, tending largely to focus on the lyrics. The lyrics have many complications and problems worth addressing, as all of Kendrick’s projects have. But this could quickly have been forgiven with stronger, more memorable musical backing. 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.  

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  • Treblezine

    Mr. Morale is a masterclass in threading the needle between expectation and humanity, of dialing down the increasingly impossible expectations while still delivering the sharpest set of lyrics and flows over the richest set of beats in the genre today. The only thing it failed to do is deliver Kendrick from his position as the greatest rapper going. Maybe nothing will.  

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  • Louder Than War

    Those long pandemic months saw most of us dig deep into our souls as the world closed in and you can feel the claustrophobia and chaos of those long four wall months as he attempts to deal with the accelerating tensions of the world out there. The world was still as chaotic as ever and the tumultuous times and chaos of planet earth are dealt with by Kendrick Lamar whilst dealing with the chaos in his own soul in an ambitious and genius album that hopefully finds a redemption for the planet and the artist.  

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  • NME

    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.  

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  • PopSugar

    After a few listens, it's hard to resist praising Lamar's bravery for baring his soul on "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers." It's the most honest he's ever been about how he views the world. But despite the proclamation he makes about choosing himself on "Mirror," Lamar still has some issues he needs to work through. The album may not be perfect, but it's his brilliance on his terms. It's still too early to tell if "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers" will be labeled yet another classic for the hip-hop icon, but Lamar has given us a lot to ponder. 

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  • Crack Magazine

    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. After five years, what did we expect? Simple answers? Meanwhile, closer Mirror gives a tantalising glimpse at an artist newly unburdened from any such expectations.  

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  • PopMatters

    On Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, renowned rapper Kendrick Lamar observes the strife plaguing his kingdom and consciously abdicates the throne. 

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  • Sputnik Music

    If it were more cohesive, more palpably moving in a musical sense, had less fat to trim, I could see myself fawning over Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers in fanboyish frenzy. As it stands, I think that in another five years I'll be wading back through this flawed masterpiece like a pig in shit, smearing myself with the heart-on-sleeve imperfection that defines it in anticipation of an inevitably arresting next chapter.  

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  • The Musical Hype

    Kendrick Lamar brings the heat on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, an ambitious, complex, and ultimately, truly rewarding album.  

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  • Hot New HipHop

    Kendrick Lamar's "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers" offers unsettling insight into the rapper's otherwise sheltered personal life, exploring the dichotomy between Kendrick Lamar - the rapper, and Kendrick Lamar - the person.  

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  • Ball State Daily

    To put a bow on this review, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” is not Lamar’s magnum opus (that would be 2015’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”), but it’s easily the best album of 2022 so far and very well could be the best album of the decade so far. As stated earlier, Lamar is officially back with lyrics that are just as thematic, relatable and accessible as ever, while also providing his audience with new flows and different storytelling to show everyone how he has evolved over the last five years and further cemented himself as an all-time great.  

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  • Consequence

    With Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick Lamar Chooses Himself and Makes a Masterpiece. 

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  • Focus Hip Hop

    I don’t know that I’m ready to call this album of the year because Aethiopes hit me harder on my first listen, but I will say that this album definitely contains my song of the year for now. I think this project just further solidifies Kendrick Lamar as one of the greatest musicians of all time. This shit is dope af. I love it.  

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  • Our Culture

    Unfolding as a 73-minute therapy session, the album incorporates strokes of genius, blandness, and baffling misguidedness into a self-portrait equally moving and frustrating. Both deliberately and incidentally, Mr. Morale is a refutation of Kendrick’s purported immaculateness, capturing him as a flawed human and artist.  

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  • Beats Per Minute

    While the artist was previously known for perfecting his each and every move before making it, with this is album he’s tearing off in an entirely different direction. He’s willing to stumble, befuddle, and outright offend – it’s all part of its creator’s flawed self, which is all but stripped starkly naked in front of us. 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.  

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  • The Cardinal Times

    This album is bound to have a life into the future. I think like Kanye West’s project “Life of Pablo,” an originally disappointing release will be remembered as a stunning, decisive and clairvoyant piece of art. One who’s reception will only improve over time. 

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  • Slant Magazine

    Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers can be emotionally ugly, even unpleasant, but it never feels less than completely authentic. It’s thankfully levied with glimpses of joy and melodic hooks, as in the blissful duetting of “Purple Hearts” and the brief guitar interlude on “Worldwide Steppers.” Though the album isn’t Lamar’s most incisive work, it’s a gripping treatise on the codependent relationship between his inner turmoil and an ever-evolving cultural landscape, its bluntness a risky externalization of deep-rooted confusion spurned by political upheaval.  

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  • Medium

    It may not be filled with radio hits or chart toppers, but this album illuminates the real and visceral emotions of a black man, and that’s enough to make it beautiful. 

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  • Northern Transmissions

    This album is a man, a community, and a nation in as perfect alignment as you can get, with so much that is wounded and broken. With issues that are being dealt with with too much simplicity, too much division, too much doubt and hopelessness. “Cause critical thinking’ is a deal-breaker / Faith in one man is a ship sinking.” Kendrick continues to be a movement, much bigger than one man.  

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  • Everything is Noise

    I think Kendrick provides an album that manages to be enjoyable upon repeat listens while also revealing more layers each time. In terms of closing thoughts though, I think I’ll leave it to Kendrick and some lines that, at least to me, seem to sum up a lot of my feelings, and maybe Kendrick’s intentions, about the album: ‘It’s a real world outside / Take off your idols’. 

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  • Albumism

    Kendrick Lamar Excavates the Contours and Complexities of His Psyche on Revelatory ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’.  

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  • Gigwise

    Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is a lot, does a lot and wants a lot, and perhaps we need another 1,855 days to try to unpick it all. One thing is clear though, few storytellers, if any, are able to deliver a comment on society that is both as observative and introspective as Kendrick’s.  

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  • tastemakers

    Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is not exactly the genre defining, generational project some were hoping for. It is, however, an incredibly enthralling double album that grows more enjoyable with each listen and proves that Lamar is still willing to take huge risks in his music, this time risking his saint-like status among fans. Even though he’s embraced the mindset that he can’t please everybody with what he says or does, stripping away the narrative frills and opening himself up to this extent could’ve easily alienated his longtime audience and left new listeners confused. He masterfully avoids this by backing the message of denouncing his own saviorhood with the same high quality pen and production ever-present throughout his discography. Though he now leaves some in search of who their savior truly is, Kendrick Lamar can retreat back into reclusion with a little less pressure bearing down on him this time. 

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  • Mic Cheque

    On Mr. Morale, Kendrick confesses he’s not the social commentator that people want him to be. The saviour complex is gone, hammered away with the power of his pen that’s given his most revealing songs to date. Even through its chinks, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is the confirming piece for one of the best hip hop discographies of all time. Kendrick Lamar’s no saviour, but he’s sure saved himself.  

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  • Raw Side Hip Hop

    To summise, this is a great album. The quality of content is second to none and Kendrick Lamar is clearing one of the best artists on the planet. He takes his time to curate and craft a masterful work that should receive its plaudits and praise as they are well warranted. He also makes music that HE wants to make and there is always a huge level of respect for that, not selling his talents short for streams or sales. While ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’ isn’t easily accessible for the most part, and won’t be given as much airtime in the headphones or ride as some of the other dope releases from 2022, it is most definitely a special and unique opus for which Oklama should be applauded. 

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  • Cult MTL

    It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since good kid, M.A.A.D. city and tougher still to believe he has now twice topped 2015’s near-perfect To Pimp a Butterfly; once with DAMN and now again with a 17-song passion play that requires undivided attention in a world that is pulling its people in every direction. Secrets die in the light. Kendrick is the light.  

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  • Stereogum

    Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers actively resists interpretation, categorization, and canonization. I’m pretty sure it’s a great album, but I don’t know how it fits into the rap pantheon or even into Kendrick’s own discography. Right now, this moment, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers has already made me think and feel a whole lot. Maybe it’s done the same for you, too. Maybe that’s all we can ask it to do. 

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  • Music Xclusives

    Kendrick has done something masterful with this album, I really mean it. I don’t think any amount of words can really explain how good of a project it is. The best thing we can do is just listen to it and formulate our own thoughts. This album will go down as one of the greatest albums, not just hip hop, in music of the modern age. This is art.  

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  • Metro 50

    Kendrick Lamar is so far ahead it’s laughable – Mr Morale & the Big Steppers is jaw-dropping. 

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  • Mic

    Each topic is a worthy one, but conflating the two trivializes both. A person fresh from the spaceship or newly awoken from a coma would not naturally connect squabbles over heterodox ideas on a glorified message board with the difficult reparative work someone convicted of sexual abuse — or even someone who cheats on tour — has to do.  

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  • Music Matters Media

    In the past, it’s been possible to hide from the brutal truths of Lamar’s music in the music’s fantastic beats, arrangements, and Lamar’s speed-of-light delivery – which makes it easy to miss what he’s saying on casual listens. No such thing is possible here, with Lamar guided by little more than one repeating piano note. With Lamar sounding utterly alone at the microphone, there’s suddenly nowhere to hide and so instead of hiding, Lamar chooses to fight – battling his inner demons with disarming openness. 

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  • Impact

    Kendrick Lamar’s much-anticipated fifth studio album takes the listener on a very raw, complex journey, making this a highly personal piece of musical art.  

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  • Unleashed

    The record comes across as bold, personal, and risky, while also being refreshing and innovative. This is one of Kendrick Lamar’s rawest releases to date, and it just so happens to be very enjoyable. Another album from Kendrick that will leave a mark on the music industry forever. I personally loved this album and its meanings behind it and I’m sure the rap community will too. A definite listen and an early frontrunner for top album of 2022. 

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  • The Post

    Overall, Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers continues the storytelling and introspective lyricism you expect in a Kendrick Lamar album. While not filled with club bangers like its predecessors, this album wasn't his best work. Still, the stories of personal pain, collective trauma and abuse that let no one off the hook, its new ways of infusing jazz, pianos, strings and different styles of drum beats are what make Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers.  

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  • Forge Press

    It is still a wonderful album that deserves at least a few relistens. It just may never hold the place in fan’s hearts that the other albums do.  

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  • The Cougar Chronicle

    Kendrick shows he has not lost a step and delivered an album that his fans would love. He is expected to drop top tier music every time he drops, in large part because of his amazing storytelling and lyrical ability.  

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  • City Live

    This record is fantastic at displaying the importance of self-love. Kendricks showing his vulnerability is what makes this album so impactful. Part one was detailing his mental issues and part two was about coming to terms with his problems and his eagerness to change them. What makes a Kendrick Lamar album so special is that one listen just isn’t enough. Each song will have a hidden meaning under it, on top of its immaculate production, this album will just get better over time.  

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  • The Forum

    Personally, I think the album is marvelous. There are so many meaningful verses in this album, and when you listen closely to it, it’s clear that the album took time and detail to put together. The album is packed with Kendrick’s beliefs, praise for his friends and family, as well as grief. It explores his own problems and how he deals with them, with a side of good music. Even in the more upbeat songs, there is an honest message to his listeners and himself about his own journey and struggles. 

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  • Ratings Game Music

    In Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, I think that he does an outstanding job of touching on topics that are haunting the black community in ways that are painfully honest, a bit complex, and almost sideless. I didn’t spend most of my time nodding my head to the songs on this album; I spent most of my time internalizing Kendrick’s powerful lyrics.  

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  • Antiart

    The three albums before are all masterpieces, even DAMN., this one just simply isn’t. It has flaws, unnecessary features, generic beats and too much J Cole influence. It also includes a few of his best ever songs, his most personal bars of all time and incredible performances, it’s a balance. This is a good time for him to duck out and if this really is the last we hear of Kendrick the rapper, I have no qualms. Go in peace broski.  

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  • The Stanford Daily

    Kendrick Lamar is one of the most special artists to ever grace the world of music. Watching him develop as an artist and as a person has been truly special. Some music is so beautiful and powerful that it truly elevates the experience of being human: throughout his career, Lamar has consistently provided his listeners with that gift. We have to acknowledge the privilege of watching an all-time great change the world of music in real time. It was a critical work for him to deliver, with crucial stories for him to tell for his development as an artist and as a person. “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” is a masterpiece, and a beautiful cornerstone addition to a legendary discography.  

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  • The Forest Scout

    If you’re a Kendrick Lamar fan and want a quick summary of this album, it’s like DAMN. but more personal and experimental. Although it doesn’t beat his top albums like To Pimp a Butterfly or Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, it is easily the third best album that he has ever released. Releases like this make me excited to see what more an artist can do.  

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  • Montreal Rocks

    In my opinion, K-Dot outdid himself with this album. Is it easy listening? No. Does it matter? No. Will his fans love it the way they did his previous albums? Time will tell for this is an album to grow on and like Lamar has said in the past, “If a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?” In this case, I would.  

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  • Tongue Tied Magazine

    Kendrick may have chosen himself and his own therapeutic journey over pumping out 5 years worth of hits that his fans had grown accustomed to, but one thing’s for certain after listening to this record: we are all better off as a result of his own self-prioritization.  

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  • Brooklyn Vegan

    I can't wait to keep diving back to it; it's already exceeded the impossibly high expectations that are inevitable when an A-list artist takes a five-year break after three consecutive masterpieces. Even after one listen, it feels safe to assume this will be his fourth. 

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  • Far Out Magazine

    Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers is an emotional listening experience. Over 18 tracks, and 75 minutes, you understand who the real Kendrick Lamar is and see the conscious rapper in a vivid new light. While eyebrows were raised by some when he was announced as a Glastonbury headliner, this album confirms his superhuman literary gift. Glasto Kenny deserves every ounce of praise he receives.  

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  • Giglist

    For all its brazen offensiveness, the album stands out as one that is profoundly concerned with self-image. "Don’t judge me" he entreats on ‘Die Hard’, before the mellow piano parts of ‘Crown’ introduce layered vocal repetitions of "I can’t please everybody". In many ways, the album is the outcome of a two-year paralysis, resulting in a decision to ignore what other people think. Somehow, this feels like a good outcome, one that is at least more honest than the alternative.  

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  • The War Whoop

    Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers is not what people were expecting from Kendrick, however, it might be better than anything he has done before. This album is more than just music, it almost serves as a therapy for the listener, if they are willing to listen to what Kendrick is going through. Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers is definitely worth listening to at least once, and it will definitely go down as one of the best hip-hop/rap albums of all time. 

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  • The Banner

    You might not necessarily know exactly what he means this time around, and it might be harder to celebrate Lamar as the kind of agreeable, once-in-a-generation talent that we as a culture love to hold up. But if there’s one thing Kendrick Lamar has made clear on Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, it’s that he’s done bearing that cross for us. 

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  • Exclaim!

    Kendrick Lamar Delivers Game-Changing Vulnerability on 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers'.  

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  • Clash Magazine

    Such artistry essentially makes a mockery of the review process. Analysing this record would take a full academic tome, not a blog post. A rich, enriching experience, it’s made all the more remarkable for its place in his life. Other – lesser – artists would have cashed in by now, the endless Drake-style brand-building that has beset his peers. But Kendrick Lamar isn’t building a career, he’s crafting masterpieces, and make no mistake: ‘Mr Morale & 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.  

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  • Legends Will Never Die

    5 long years later & Kendrick is parting TDE with what I consider to be hip hop’s best double album since Big K.R.I.T. dropped 4eva’s a Mighty Long Time only 6 months after DAMN. came out. Hell, I find Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers to be superior to it’s predecessor because I really admire that he decided to come back after all this time to reflect on his life past & present over production mixing together it’s more trappy, poppier cuts with the politically charged jazz rap from the greatest hip hop album of the 2010s even down to the latter’s experimental, neo-soul undertones.  

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  • The Central Trend

    Kendrick Lamar will forever be a name in the rap game. Having been on a victorious streak, in terms of being the “GOAT,” Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and his past projects have left me with no more words left to write. No adjectives, no nothing; but now, I have to live with the heavy anticipation of new Kendrick. 

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  • Soul in Stereo

    It’s an unabashed, brutal honesty that has become a rarity in hip-hop, an honesty that makes Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers one of the best albums the genre has seen in years.  

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  • DIY Magazine

    His least straight-forward record, and his most confessional.  

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  • The Independent

    A tender opus from the defining poet of his generation.  

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  • SK Pop

    The album pairs jarring beats with orchestral splendor like it is the most natural occurrence in the world. It is a constant barrage of one tonal handshake to the next; it is futile to try and list them out. Frequent beat switches and piano clusters make some tracks feel like they're bursting at the seams with music. Just like his lyrics, Lamar's music is unhinged and unleashed. 

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  • The Weekly Coos

    Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers reestablishes Kendrick’s artistry at a cost, but he does so in his own right, even if we don’t see eye-to-eye with the way perpetuates these thoughts.  

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  • The Line of Best Fit

    Stridently independent, closing out with the phrase “I chose me I’m sorry” on “Mirror”, from scrappy upstart ready to swing his way to the top, to the concept albums reliving his early years, and the superstar laden album he followed with one of demos to prove simply that even the offcuts carry themselves, ultimately, a double album is the only way Lamar could’ve signalled the end of his Top Dawg tenure. And 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.  

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  • Why Now

    A Genius Weaves Another Masterpiece.  

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  • musicOMH

    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.  

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  • Song Bar

    It’s darkly hilarious and also disturbing. But the most raw and candid, and also delicate and rather telling, features Portishead’s Beth Gibbons – Mother I Sober links slavery and sexual abuse to issues of self-inadequacy and constantly trying to “chase manhood”. Overall, there are stronger and weaker tracks, ones of great originality, others of “bitch-and-ho” cliche, but on balance this is a work packed with confession and bite needs lots of time to digest. 

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  • Backseat Mafia

    Kendrick has officially stepped into a spot where, when he raps about his personal experiences, feels like he’s rapping about universal experiences. It puts the album in a weird spot, because it’s not always clear if it’s first, second, or third person - but the uncomfortable grey area has always been a good one.  

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  • The Washington Post

    Kendrick Lamar’s new album feels vulnerable and virtuosic. 

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  • AllMusic

    Lamar puts everything on the table with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, trying to get closer to his unfiltered personal truth, and creating some of his most challenging, expectation-defying work in the process. 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.  

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  • Owasso Rampage

    “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” is an absolute victory for Kendrick Lamar. Not only does he tackle a series of sensitive topics, but he continues to mesmerize listeners with his top-notch lyrical prowess. This album is rather lengthy for a good reason: it is well rounded, has a song for everyone and provides a platform for Kendrick Lamar to speak directly to the listeners, oftentimes calling them out.  

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  • Muse

    With that said, the contradictions of human nature, alongside the newfound ability to accept one’s failures, is at the heart of Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. Rather than perpetuating the saviourism of his past projects, Kendrick abandons his position as “Compton’s human sacrifice”, focusing on his responsibilities as a father and husband. Deep insecurities are shared without obfuscation, and so begins the process of healing. The album epitomises that famous Samuel Beckett line - “Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better” (Worstward Ho). For only in acknowledging failure, and therefore accepting his mortality, can Kendrick live free of others’ expectations. 

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  • Evening Standard

    Still light years ahead of the game.  

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  • The Arts Desk

    It might not be funtimes, but it is truly, compellingly brilliant.  

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  • The Talon

    Even if “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” is occasionally generic and mediocre by Lamar’s standards, it couldn’t have been made by anybody except him. While the project’s quality is somewhat variable, the album features Lamar’s characteristically amazing production and songwriting, and it feels like an honest reflection of Kendrick’s mentality in 2022, just as his previous albums did throughout the 2010s. “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” might be inconsistent, but it’s far from anonymous. 

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  • The Root

    Kendrick Lamar is Back and More Daring Than Ever on New Album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. 

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  • Read Dork

    The last 12 years have seen an incredible rise for Kendrick Lamar. ‘‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ sounds like the culmination of a journey. Maybe, as his final album for Top Dawg, it’s even a full stop altogether. “I chose me, I’m sorry,” he says mournfully as the last words on closing track ‘Mirror’. 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.  

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  • Impct Journal

    Overall, Mr. Morale & The Big-Steppers is a grower album – it's not like any of Kendrick's previous stuff nor does it follow a specific pattern, but it definitely does contain particular elements from all of them. A beautiful and precise blend of all of Lamar's earlier work, this record will hopefully land us in a new era of pgLang Kendrick and perhaps encourage upcoming rappers to start important conversations through their artistry and not shy away from the norm. Kendrick definitely gave us a lot to unpack after his 5-year long hiatus, which is also an excellent way to spend our time as we wait patiently for his next album and it might take even longer than this one to arrive. 

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  • Tinnitist

    The Compton rapper's long-awaited fifth release continues his artistic and emotional evolution, going deeper and getting personal with tracks about aging, grief & family. 

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  • The Sunday Times

    A complicated, troubled masterpiece.  

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  • Uproxx

    But some of these poignant, powerful observations and self-reflections could well be conversation pieces decades from now as listeners recount how they shook them out of their complacency, changed their viewpoints, or gave them permission to accept their own flaws and begin the work of healing. With his final TDE album, Kendrick appears to have finally figured out how to make one for all of us. 

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