Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
Studio album by Kendrick Lamar
Released	May 13, 2022 (2022-05-13)
Genre	Conscious hip hop jazz rap progressive rap
Length	73:05
Label	PGLang Top Dawg Aftermath Interscope
Producer	The Alchemist Baby Keem Beach Noise Bekon Boi-1da Cardo Craig Balmoris DJ Dahi DJ Khalil The Donuts Duval Timothy FnZ franO Grandmaster Vic Jahaan Sweet J.LBS OKLAMA Pharrell Williams Sounwave Tae Beast
Kendrick Lamar chronology
Black Panther: The Album (2018) Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022)

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is the fifth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, released on May 13, 2022, through PGLang, Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. It is Lamar's first full-length album release since the Black Panther soundtrack (2018), and his first solo studio album release since Damn (2017). The double album serves as his final project with Top Dawg. Upon release, the album received universal critical acclaim.

The album sees Kendrick reunite with frequent collaborators producers Sounwave, J.LBS, DJ Dahi, and Bekon throughout the album, and features multiple contributions from new collaborators songwriter Sam Dew, production team Beach Noise, and pianist Duval Timothy, among others. The albums features singers Sampha and Beth Gibbons of Portishead in addition to artists including Kodak Black, Ghostface Killah, Baby Keem, and Summer Walker.

Background

In December 2020, the Roskilde Festival announced that that Lamar would be headlining the festival in 2021, noting that "new material [was] on the way". On April 14, 2021, during an interview with Complex in commemoration to the fourth anniversary of Damn, Lamar's engineer MixedByAli was asked if the album would arrive in 2021 and replied: "It might, it might, you never know".

In a blog post on August 20, 2021, Lamar announced that he was in the process of producing his final album under the Top Dawg Entertainment label, writing:

I spend most of my days with fleeting thoughts. Writing. Listening. And collecting old Beach cruisers. The morning rides keep me on a hill of silence. I go months without a phone. Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family. While the world around me evolves, I reflect on what matters the most. The life in which my words will land next. As I produce my final TDE album, I feel joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years. The Struggles. The Success. And most importantly, the Brotherhood. May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life's calling. There's beauty in completion. And always faith in the unknown. Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts. I've prayed for you all. See you soon enough.

On January 27, 2022, Billboard reported that a single release on February 4 or 11 was possible, before Lamar performed at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show. However, this did not happen.

Production

Much of the album was produced by collaborators Sounwave, J.LBS, DJ Dahi, and Bekon; other production contributors include Boi-1da, Baby Keem, Jahann Sweet, The Donuts, Tae Beast, The Alchemist, and Pharrell Williams, among others. Singer-songwriter Sam Dew helped write a majority of the album. Musicians Thundercat, Tommy Paxton-Beesley, and Homer Steinweiss also contributed to tracks.

Two artists are formally featured on the album, singers Sampha and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Other featured vocalists include rappers Kodak Black, Ghostface Killah, Baby Keem, and Tanna Leone, actress/rapper Taylour Paige, and singers Summer Walker, Blxst, Sam Dew, and Amanda Reifer of Cover Drive.

Big Steppers is narrated by Whitney Alford, Lamar's wife, while Mr. Morale is narrated by spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle.

Release and promotion

On April 18, 2022, Lamar announced the album's name and its release date of May 13, 2022, through a PGLang-headed letter. The website was also updated with a new page called "The Heart", containing 399 empty computer folders, indicating a possible release of "The Heart Part 5", a continuation of Lamar's "The Heart" song series. On May 3, 2022, Lamar teased the release of the album with a photo that appears to show the master copy of the finished album.

On May 8, 2022, the fifth part to Lamar's "The Heart" song series, "The Heart Part 5", was released to streaming services, with an accompanying music video being released on Lamar's YouTube channel.

On May 11, 2022, Lamar revealed the album's cover through his social media accounts.

On May 13, 2022, the album was released digitally on streaming services. Apple Music pulled the album within an hour of its release for unknown reasons, but was eventually restored. Users on Spotify also reported disruptions to the service in the immediate aftermath of the album's release.

On the same day, Lamar announced the Big Steppers Tour on his Twitter.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	9.6/10
Metacritic	100/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Clash	10/10
The Daily Telegraph
Evening Standard
The Guardian
i
The Independent
The Line of Best Fit	10/10
NME
The Times

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was released to universal critical acclaim. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, it holds an average score of 100, based on 6 reviews. On review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? it has a score of 9.6 out of 10.

Ben Bryant of The Independent called the album a "tender opus from the defining poet of his generation", writing, "The rapper's first album in five years is a haunting and surprising meditation on fatherhood and family". In a five-star review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis praised the themes, lyricism and style.

Track listing

Volume 1 – Big Steppers

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"United in Grief"	Kendrick Duckworth Sam Dew Mark Spears Jason Pounds Duval Timothy Matt Schaeffer Johnny Kosich Jake Kosich Timothy Maxey	OKLAMA Sounwave J.LBS Duval Timothy Beach Noise[b] Tim Maxey[b]	4:15
2.	"N95"	Duckworth Dew Matthew Samuels Spears Jahaan Sweet Hykeem Carter	Boi-1da Sounwave Sweet Baby Keem[b]	3:15
3.	"Worldwide Steppers"	Duckworth Dew Spears Donte Perkins Pounds Vincent Crane Pat Darnell	Sounwave Tae Beast J.LBS[b]	3:23
4.	"Die Hard" (with Blxst and Amanda Reifer)	Duckworth Matthew Burdette Amanda Reifer Dew Stephen Bruner Victor Ekpo Spears Dacoury Natche Carter Pounds Michael Mulé Isaac De Boni M. Smith R. Smith	Sounwave DJ Dahi Baby Keem J.LBS FnZ[a]	3:59
5.	"Father Time" (featuring Sampha)	Duckworth Sampha Sisay Spears Natche Schaeffer Jo. Kosich Ja. Kosich Daniel Tannenbaum Timothy Ekpo K. Jones	Sounwave DJ Dahi Beach Noise Bekon Timothy Grandmaster Vic	3:42
6.	"Rich (Interlude)"	Bill Kapri Dew Timothy	Timothy	1:43
7.	"Rich Spirit"	Duckworth Dew Spears Natche Frano Huett A. Thomas D. Dennis G. Jackson M. Hall	Sounwave DJ Dahi franO	3:22
8.	"We Cry Together" (with Taylour Paige)	Duckworth Daniel Maman Pounds Tannenbaum Florence Welch G. Peacock	The Alchemist J.LBS[a] Bekon[b]	5:41
9.	"Purple Hearts" (with Summer Walker and Ghostface Killah)	Duckworth Summer Walker Dennis Coles Dew Anthony Dixon Spears Khalil Abdul-Rahman Pounds Schaffer Jo. Kosich Ja. Kosich	Sounwave DJ Khalil J.LBS[b] Beach Noise[b]	5:29
Total length:				34:49

Volume 2 – Mr. Morale

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Count Me Out"	Duckworth Dew Spears Natche Pounds	OKLAMA Sounwave DJ Dahi J.LBS Maxey[b]	4:43
2.	"Crown"	Duckworth Dew Timothy	Timothy	4:24
3.	"Silent Hill" (with Kodak Black)	Duckworth Kapri Samuels Spears Sweet Schaeffer Jo. Kosich Ja. Kosich	Boi-1da Sounwave Sweet Beach Noise[b]	3:40
4.	"Savior (Interlude)"	Duckworth Carter Spears Pounds	OKLAMA Sounwave J.LBS	2:32
5.	"Savior" (with Baby Keem and Sam Dew)	Duckworth Dew Tannenbaum Spears Ronald LaTour Pounds Mario Luciano Tobias Breuer Tommy Paxton-Beesley	Cardo J.LBS Sounwave OKLAMA Luciano[a] Rascal[a]	3:44
6.	"Auntie Diaries"	Duckworth Homer Steinweiss Daniel Krieger Tannenbaum Tyler Mehlenbacher Sergiu Gherman Craig Balmoris Schaeffer Jo. Kosich Ja. Kosich	Bekon The Donuts Balmoris Beach Noise[b]	4:41
7.	"Mr. Morale" (with Tanna Leone)	Duckworth Dew Avante Santana Pharrell Williams	Williams	3:30
8.	"Mother I Sober" (featuring Beth Gibbons)	Duckworth Beth Gibbons Dew Bruner Spears Tannenbaum Pounds	Sounwave Bekon J.LBS	6:46
9.	"Mirror"	Duckworth Krieger Stuart Johnson Spears Natche Tannenbaum Mehlenbacher Gherman Balmoris Maxey	Sounwave DJ Dahi Bekon The Donuts Balmoris Maxey[b]	4:16
Total length:				38:16

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[b]} signifies an additional producer

Notes

• "United in Grief", "Father Time", and "We Cry Together" features narration by Whitney Alford, Lamar's wife
• "Worldwide Steppers" and "Mirror" feature additional vocals by Kodak Black
• "Rich (Interlude)" features uncredited vocals by Kodak Black
• "Rich Spirit" features background vocals by Sam Dew
• "Count Me Out" features background vocals by DJ Dahi
• "Count Me Out", "Savior (Interlude)", and "Mr. Morale" features narration by Eckhart Tolle
• "Savior (Interlude)" features uncredited vocals by Baby Keem
• "Auntie Diaries" and "Mirror" features background vocals by Bekon
• "Mr. Morale" features background vocals by Pharrell Williams

Sample Credits

• "Worldwide Steppers" contains samples of "Break Through", written by Vincent Crane and Pat Darnell, as performed by The Funkees; and samples of "Look Up Look Down", written by Phillip Hunt, as performed by Soft Touch.
• "Die Hard" contains a sample of "Remember the Rain" written by Marvin Smith, as performed by 21st Century.
• "We Cry Together" contains a sample of "June", written by Florence Welch, as performed by Florence + The Machine.

Personnel

Musicians

• Amanda Reifer – vocals (4)
• Anneston Pisayavong – choir (10)
• Baby Keem – drums (4), vocals (13, 14)
• Bekon – bass (5, 18), keyboards (5, 15, 18), strings (15, 18), background vocals (15, 18), percussion (18)
• Beth Gibbons – vocals (17)
• Blxst – vocals (4)
• Brenton Calvin Lockett – choir (10)
• Bryce Xavier – choir (10)
• Daniel Krieger – guitar (15, 18)
• Danny McKinnon – guitar (10)
• Denise Stoudmire – choir arranger (10)
• DJ Dahi – bass (7), percussion (7), drums (10, 18), background vocals (10, 18)
• Duval Timothy – piano (1, 5, 6, 11)
• Eckhart Tolle – narration (10, 11, 16)
• Florence Welch – background vocals (8)
• Frano – keyboards (7)
• Ghostface Killah – vocals (9)
• Grandmaster Vic – strings (4, 17)
• Homer Steinweiss – drums (15)
• Kendrick Lamar – vocals
• Kodak Black – additional vocals (3, 18), vocals (6, 12)
• Immryr LoBasso Spencer – choir (10)
• Jaheen King Tombs – choir (10)
• Paris Burton – choir (10)
• Sam Dew – background vocals (7), vocals (14)
• Sampha – vocals (5)
• Sounwave – drums (5, 7, 18)
• Stuart Johnson – percussion (18)
• Summer Walker – vocals (9)
• Sydney Bourne – choir (10)
• Tanna Leone – vocals (16)
• Taylour Paige – vocals (8)
• Thundercat – bass (4, 17)
• Whitney Alford – narration (1, 5, 8)