Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers review
Music, Sounds

Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers: REVIEW

by Darcy MacDonald

“Lamar has yet to offer the world anything less than an exercise in musical cohesion. Mr. Morale raises that bar, again.”

Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers review

Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope)

An acknowledgment that Kendrick Lamar is among the most important modern musical talents alive is a necessary preamble to anything a critic can say about this fourth major label excursion from the Compton star. There’s little to be gained from picking apart this opus. And in fact, listening to it piecemeal or trying to identify obvious hits or standout songs is a fool’s errand. Lamar has yet to offer the world anything less than an exercise in musical cohesion. Mr. Morale raises that bar, again. 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. (10/10) Trial Track: “Father Time” ft. Sampha

“Father Time” by Kendrick Lamar, from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

This review was originally published in the June issue of Cult MTL.

For more on Kendrick Lamar, please visit his website.

For more music coverage, please visit the Music section.

Posted in Music, Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.