Hip-hop’s oracle returns in a crown of thorns for his latest prophecy: a surprising meditation on fatherhood, family and friendship. Kendrick Lamar’s work has always been introspective, but Mr Morale and the Big Steppers – with guest spots from artists including Florence Welch, Beth Gibbons, Summer Walker and Sampha – has a delicacy and tenderness to it that is unprecedented for the father of two from Compton, California.
Because of this, Mr Morale and The Big Steppers is most redolent of Lamar’s second album good kid, m.A.A.d city, which remains one of his most personal records. Lamar’s calling card is conscious hip-hop: introspective, politically astute, with smart wordplay and often jazz-inflected musicianship. He is an artist of contrasts, peppering reflective poetry with brutal putdowns. Mr Morale calls to mind 2013’s “Cartoons and Cereal” – a leaked cut that never made it onto any of Lamar’s albums because of sample clearance issues, yet remains one of his most touching (and loved) songs. In it, Lamar’s dissociated delivery observes a kid watching cartoons while chaos unfolds around him.
