- (React) You are going to react to Kendrick Lamar's new album.
- Yes!
- (React) Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers.
- Didn't even know he dropped an album.
My black card has just been. (clicks tongue)
- Ooh. - ♪ I hope you find ♪
♪ Some peace of mind ♪ ♪ In this lifetime ♪
- Yo.
- Ah, it's angelic.
- ♪ Tell them ♪ - Tell them.
- ♪ Tell them the truth ♪ ♪ I hope you find ♪
- Okay! - ♪ Some paradise ♪
- The harmonies bro!
- Okay harmony.
- ♪ Tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em ♪
- It's so cinematic.
- ♪ I've been going ♪ ♪ Through something ♪
- You can almost see him on stage delivering this.
- ♪ 1,855 days ♪
♪ I've been going ♪ ♪ Through something ♪
♪ Be afraid ♪ - Ha, be afraid!
(laughs) Uh oh.
- ♪ A man in his feelings ♪ ♪ With bitter nerve ♪
♪ What is a woman ♪ ♪ That really hurt ♪
♪ A demon, you're better off ♪ ♪ Killing her ♪
- Hold on, no, I need more. (laughs)
- He literally could sneeze on a track,
and I'd be like fire.
- United In Grief? Damn!
Donda who? I'm sorry Kanye, no.
That was, the arrangement! The back and forth, the piano.
Oh, add it to playlist just from that part there!
- I love the fact that he starts it with hey,
I've been going through some stuff that's what this is going to be about.
Get prepared for what it is.
- It kinda reminded me of the beginning of like a musical.
- It's so cinematic, like he, within that little clip,
he just took me to like three different places.
- In the lyrics, you can just tell it's not, this isn't just a rego song.
Like he put a lot of time and energy and effort
into what he's trying to say,
and I think that's really important as an artist to articulate.
- ♪ Hello new world ♪ ♪ All the boys and girls ♪
♪ I got some true stories to tell ♪
♪ You're back outside ♪ ♪ But they still lied ♪
- That's another one of the things that I love about Kendrick
is that he tells true stories.
- ♪ Take off the foo-foo ♪ ♪ Take off the clout chase ♪
♪ Take off the WiFi ♪ - Take off the WiFi.
- ♪ Take off the money phone ♪ ♪ Take off the car loan ♪
- Ugh! (sighs)
What is wrong with this man? Oh, big Gemini energy.
Yes.
- ♪ Take off your idols ♪ - Ooh!
- Ugh!
- ♪ Five day stay ♪ ♪ Take a quarter mil, Hell if I know ♪
- Woah! Lyricism! Check, check, check, check, check!
Yo! Kendrick!
- The repeated line of take off the,
what it sounds like is he's just asking people to take off
all of the lies and fake stuff that they talk about.
He says take off your idols.
That means like chains, crosses, those are things that people idolize,
and things that you idolize yourself. Take it off.
- Take off the weight loss, take off the mumble,
take off the, you know what I mean? Like yes, take it off.
Let's shed this false [censored].
Go back to authenticity.
Just hearing someone who has a platform so big
and what he's choosing to say on his music and what he's releasing,
is just so refreshing in this climate.
- And then this is track 2 of 18? Nah.
- ♪ I'm a killer, he's a killer ♪ ♪ She's a killer [censored] ♪
♪ We some killers, walking zombies ♪ ♪ Tryna scratch that itch ♪
♪ Germaphobic, hetero ♪ ♪ I am not for the faint of heart ♪
♪ My genetic build can build ♪ ♪ Multi-universes ♪
♪ The man of God ♪
♪ Playing Baby Shark ♪ ♪ With my daughter ♪
♪ Watching for sharks outside ♪ ♪ At the same time ♪
♪ Life as a protective father ♪ ♪ I'd kill for her ♪
♪ My son Enoch is the part two ♪
♪ When I expire, my children ♪ ♪ Will make higher valleys ♪
♪ In this present moment ♪ ♪ I saw that through ♪
♪ Ask Whitney about ♪ ♪ My lust addiction ♪
♪ Text messaging [censored] ♪ ♪ Got my thumbs hurt ♪
♪ Set precedent for ♪ ♪ A new sacreligion ♪
♪ Writer's block for two years ♪ ♪ Nothing moved me ♪
♪ Asked God to speak through me ♪ - Oh yeah.
- ♪ That's what you're hearing now ♪ ♪ The voice of yours truly ♪
- Asked God to speak...
Wow, I am at a loss for words.
Had writer's block for two years, nothing was speaking to me.
Asked God to speak through me,
that's what you're hearing, yours truly.
Yo!
I feel him!
Like you don't just wanna put out lackluster [censored],
just to be putting out, just to stay relevant,
like tell me, what am I supposed to say?
What am I supposed to say to these people as a leader?
Where am I supposed to lead them? You know what I mean?
I'm very spiritual, so, like tapped in, like wow!
- Writer's block for two years. I wonder why?
Pandemic, BLM, the list continues.
- It's kind of stressful,
listening to all these problems that he has,
and like dealing with his kids and his wife,
and all these things.
It's just kind of relentless.
- Kendrick been MIA, but he's been taking care of kids,
and we didn't even know,
like he just popped up with these children,
and I never heard the father version of Kendrick.
I didn't get that before, through the past Kendrick,
so I think it's sweet.
- ♪ I learned in trappin' ♪ ♪ And in business ♪
♪ Smart people making ♪ ♪ Horrible decisions, you know ♪
♪ Rich [censored] ♪ ♪ After the show ♪
- Hot. - ♪ I ain't gonna lie we were poor ♪
♪ A bunch of lost souls ♪ ♪ In survival mode ♪
♪ It wasn't no way for us ♪ ♪ Unless we find our own ♪
♪ Running in stores kicking in doors ♪ ♪ [Censored] Give me my glory ♪
♪ Play with me ♪
♪ He ain't gonna live ♪ ♪ To tell the story ♪
♪ You know, this the type ♪ ♪ [Censored] we glorify ♪
♪ Everybody gang, gang ♪
♪ Most of the people ♪ ♪ That you grew up with ♪
♪ Man, in chain gang ♪ ♪ In the box gettin' pink ♪
♪ [Censored] where you sleep ♪ ♪ [Censored] where you eat ♪
♪ Who'da ever knew that ♪ ♪ I'd become a [censored] Kodak ♪
♪ Rap money good ♪
♪ But I'm still pumping gas ♪ ♪ Through the hood ♪
♪ Droppin' off plates ♪ ♪ To the fam like Thanksgiving ♪
- The piano is almost like overpowering the vocals a little bit.
And it's just sort of sweeping, and it's just almost like a-melodic
at first, and then it just sort of rolls.
There's all these things about being rich,
or being poor, like, and then it sort of evolves
into a picture of what he is and what he's become.
- It makes you see him as a human,
like he literally just said like yeah, I got rap money,
but I still be in the hood, I still get my guys from the hood.
I still go drop plates off to my family.
That's human stuff.
You gotta go to work, but you still gotta show up.
I never witnessed Kodak be so poetic.
- When it comes to Kodak and the music that he usually makes,
it's very different from something like this.
This is kind of out of his lane, but also he's letting you know in this
hey, real quick,
don't act like I don't know what I'm doing.
♪ (soft guitar music) ♪
- ♪ One of these lives ♪ ♪ I'ma make things right ♪
♪ With the wrongs I've done ♪ ♪ That's one of you now ♪
♪ With the father, son ♪ ♪ 'Til then I fight ♪
- Loves it. - ♪ Rain on me, put the blame on me ♪
♪ Got guilt, got hurt ♪ ♪ Got shame on me ♪
♪ Got six magazines ♪ ♪ That's aimed at me ♪
♪ Done every magazine ♪ ♪ What's fame to me ♪
♪ It's a game to me ♪ ♪ Where the bedroom at ♪
♪ Sleep, I ain't never had ♪ ♪ Affairs with that ♪
♪ What's fair when the hearts ♪ ♪ And the words don't reach ♪
♪ What's fair when the money ♪ ♪ Don't take things back ♪
♪ It's rare when somebody ♪ ♪ Take your dreams back ♪
♪ I care too much ♪ ♪ Wanna share too much ♪
♪ In my head too much ♪ ♪ I shut down too ♪
- Ooh, I like the chorus in the background!
- ♪ So they layered me up ♪ ♪ Then broke me down ♪
♪ And morality's dust ♪ ♪ I lack in trust ♪
- ♪ And I'm tripping and falling ♪ - ♪ This time around, I trust myself ♪
♪ Please everybody else ♪ ♪ But myself ♪
♪ All else fails, I was myself ♪ ♪ Outdone fear, outdone myself ♪
- Oh, the build, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
- (sighs) This song is me! This song,
if you wanna know who I really am, my personality,
this song is me, just that first part.
So many things, I'm a complex soul.
Wanna please other people, this year, I'ma trust me.
Like wow!
- If they don't make this into a jukebox musical,
I'm gonna riot.
There are too many stories to be told in just this album alone,
it would be the, not the easiest thing in the world,
but it would be so easy to just take this
and translate it into a musical format.
- I think he does a really good job of sort of painting the picture.
He said faced six magazines, been on the face of six magazines.
I think he's talking about a weapon,
and then he's also talking about the covers of magazines.
- These build ups that he's been giving me,
in all these songs goes stupid.
Like, I can't even like, that was beautiful.
He's like chopping and going hard, like really sharp with his words,
but then the beat is always like smoother, warmer,
like angelic, and that was another one of those tracks.
And I appreciate this album way more, like breaking it down like this,
'cause geez, like, this man is crazy.
- I feel like this is gonna be up for some Grammys.
This is so personal, and so vulnerable.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪ (George gasps)
- I know why TikTok picked this up.
- ♪ Push these [censored] off me ♪ ♪ Like huh ♪
Push these [censored] off me ♪ ♪ Like huh ♪
♪ I'm pushin' the snakes ♪ ♪ I'm pushin' the fakes ♪
♪ I'm pushin' them all off me ♪ ♪ Like huh ♪
♪ Pushin 'em all off me ♪ ♪ Like huh ♪
- It's one of those! (laughs)
Yeah!
- ♪ They want to assume ♪ ♪ And [censored] ♪
- Oh, I'm doing a TikTok.
- Because I'm so caught up in this,
I'm probably not gonna listen to all the words. (laughs)
But I like it.
- The last few have been so vulnerable and emotional,
that we needed something to bounce to.
- Just one of those tracks you can put on
when you aren't [censored] with people,
and people are on your grill,
and you need to get them the [censored] off.
- It, to me at this point, is kind of a combo break
as far as what happens on the rest of the album,
but honestly, sometimes you really do need that.
Especially in an album this big,
you gotta kinda break it up a little bit.
- Oh, but are you listening to the words?
That's what's so wrong with the generation!
They just like like huh, did you hear what he said?
The snakes, the toxic. I really feel him.
You gotta be in that done with assuming [censored],
like huh, like, was it the four agreements?
Like don't make assumptions, be impeccable with your word,
like ugh, so many goals!
- ♪ My auntie became a man ♪ ♪ And I took pride in it ♪
♪ She wasn't gay ♪ ♪ She ate [censored] ♪
♪ And that was the difference ♪
♪ That's what I told my friends ♪ ♪ In second grade ♪
♪ She picking me up from school ♪ ♪ They stare at her in the face ♪
♪ They couldn't comprehend ♪ ♪ What I grew accustomed ♪
♪ We pull off bumpin' quick ♪ ♪ Like it was nothing ♪
♪ My auntie is a man now ♪ ♪ What a relationship ♪
♪ I grew up fast ♪ ♪ I needed no one to babysit ♪
- Okay, LGBTIA+.
- ♪ Cherry freshener on the dash ♪ ♪ I never complained ♪
♪ She even cut my hair at the pad ♪ ♪ Was loving my fade ♪
♪ The first person ♪ ♪ I seen write a rap ♪
♪ That's when my life had changed ♪ - What?
- ♪ House full of demo ♪ ♪ Smoke stuck on the window ♪
♪ Cameras on the microphone ♪ ♪ All women and men though ♪
♪ My auntie was a man now ♪ ♪ We cool with it ♪
♪ The history had trickled down ♪ ♪ And made us ig'nant ♪
- ♪ My favorite cousin said ♪ ♪ He's returning the favor ♪
♪ And following my auntie ♪ ♪ With the same behavior ♪
♪ Demetrius is Mary-Ann now ♪
♪ He's more confident ♪ ♪ To live his plan now ♪
- Oh, stop, not me about to cry.
(laughs) I love it.
- Wow, I know that speaks to a lot of people.
He got something for everybody on this album.
- As soon as I heard this song, I knew that people were gonna
start talking about misgendering and deadnames.
- It's not a song about, you know, degrading the gay community,
or the trans community,
he's just, in his own vernacular, describing his own experience.
- He talked about the growth of not understanding
that my aunt is my aunt.
- So as he's telling the story, that's when he uses
the terms she and he intermittently,
given where it is in the story that he is.
That's because that's how the story went.
- I don't know if he realizes the amount of strides
that he'll definitely make by adding that into his album.
- People don't drop albums anymore.
Beyonce had a whole interview where she was like
people drop singles, I'm used to people dropping bodies of work.
You know, so shout out to him even doing like an 18 track,
like give me something to listen to.
- What were your favorite songs on the album?
Let us know in the comments.
- Could you imagine if I was like totally off beat.
I'm like... (thumps table)
- There's no bad song on this album.