Mr. Mirror and Shoe Steppers
The cultural nuance you need to understand about Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers
As I write this, Kendrick is on pace to score the biggest opening week of the year with this new release. It’s another prolific contribution to music and hip hop. Among the accolades, I have read and heard a lot of confusion and criticism about Kendrick’s choice to include the controversial rapper, Kodak Black on the album. . . . you know, being that Kendrick is supposed to be “conscious” and all. Kodak makes at least two appearances, one being his own track. I can’t say I was not surprised when I heard Kodak’s interlude, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t think it was cool.
First, Kodak Black does have talent. Within his standard rapper boasts and violent, misogynist tales of street life, he has always spoken about the same substantive things Kendrick fans applaud Kendrick for. He just does not color his brand with it. Kodak fans know and understand this. Despite his problematic behavior, Kodak retains a loyal and diverse fan base between the hits.
Second, within hip hop and Black culture, in particular, we are always adjacent to dysfunction and things that do not necessarily occur as positive or conscious. Systemic racism and redlining has forced our eclectic community of personalities and subcultures to often live together in very close proximity to one another. Unlike white communities, varying levels of income do not create the same amount of distance. You are always at least one cousin away from a completely different economic class or social group. The physical proximity of our varying social perspectives has allowed a level of cultural empathy that does not always exist with other ethnic communities.
Kendrick naturally gets this. The brilliance of his work and brand is how well he intimately presents this galvanizing understanding. We are all flawed, and we know it, so we love when our ideal and not-so-ideal selves can be addressed with mutual respect and acceptance. This embrace has always been at the core of Kendrick’s brand and how well it resonates. You can see it within the celebrated albums: good kid, m.A.Ad City, Damn and To Pimp a butterfly. It is what makes his work so compelling and adored across race and gender. By progressively confronting his own trauma, Kendrick challenges us to challenge our own bias, triggers, judgements and mental trauma.
On Mr. Morale, Kendrick takes it to a new level by being extremely open about his flaws. Kodak is featured because this album, in particular, is inviting us to deal with the things you are unwilling to confront before you look at faulting others. At least do it just for good house keeping. It’s hard to find what’s stinking up your house if you don’t take a shower first.
