Kendrick Lamar revealed the creation of Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers was a difficult task for him. In fact, it almost didn’t happen.
During an interview with W Magazine, the Compton superstar discussed the making of his fourth studio album and shared the trials and tribulations that came along with it.
Lamar, 35, confessed that behind the scenes, there was an intense internal struggle as he conceived Mr. Morale. He also expressed to the outlet that he’s naturally “a private person,” so creating the brutally honest content was hard for him.
“I’m a private person; it was tough for me,” the Pulitzer Prize winner confessed. “I could have cut corners and got flashy with it and worded my words a certain way—nah, I had to be in the rawest, truest form I could possibly be in order for it to be freeing for me, in order for me to have a different outlook and the perspective on people I’m talking to.”
“I had to reap whatever consequences came behind that, and also be compassionate and show empathy if they were hurt by it.”
The “N95” rapper also disclosed that, without his kids, there probably wouldn’t have been a Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers as we know it.
“When I got to completion, and I said, ‘I may or may not put this out; I’m not going to put this out; it’s way too much,’ he expressed. “I thought about my children, I thought about when they turn 21, or they’re older in life, and when I got grandchildren, or if I’m long gone—this can be a prerequisite of how to cope. That’s the beauty of it for me.”
And as history would have it, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers arrived on May 13, 2022 — 5 years after his critically acclaimed album, DAMN.
His latest LP featured guest appearances from Blxst, Taylour Paige, Summer Walker, Baby Keem, Ghostface Killah, Kodak Black, and more. Since its release, the LP has amassed a billion streams on Spotify, becoming the first Hip-Hop album of 2022 to do so.
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