In an interview with W Magazine, Kendrick Lamar opened up about the personal reason that pushed him to drop Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
A few months after its release, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers has expectedly become one of the most acclaimed albums of this year. Perhaps his most profound and personal work yet, the album documents Lamar’s experience in therapy and how he dealt with – and finally let go of – generational trauma.
In a recent interview with W Magazine, however, Lamar admitted that right up until the album was done, he had half a mind not to release it. The only reason he did? His children.
The father of two admitted that when he thought about shelving Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, it was the thought of what it could eventually mean to his children that pushed him to release 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 mucchildrh,’ I thought about my children,” Lamar said.
“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.” he added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lamar also revealed that most of his family members did not know about the album – or that they had been mentioned in some songs – at all until it dropped.
Admittedly, it made for some tough conversations for the rapper going forward, he said, since most of his family weren’t aware of his takeaways from their interactions until they heard the album.
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Had he told them about the songs beforehand, however, he admits it ‘would’ve never’ made Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers the album it was.
He told W: “The reason why I had to make that decision, whether they was for or against it, I just didn’t want the influence. 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.”
Of course, this meant he also had to be okay with the fallout – and he was.
“I had to reap whatever consequences came behind that, and also be compassionate and show empathy if they were hurt by it.” he said, before admitting that it worked wonders in turning his relationships around, ultimately making for a ‘rewarding’ experience.
“It’s like when I be talking to some of my partners that never was able to express themself and communicate—they only knew how to communicate with violence—and for them to call up they moms, call they pops and say, ‘You hurt me, and this pushed me to go stay with my grandma, which my grandma pushed me to stay with my homies, which the homies pushed me to…’” he added.
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