In an era when there’s immense social pressure on all of us, but especially commercial artists, to be prsent on social media, there’s great value in the willingness to disappear. Since the marketplace is flooded every day with new music, performers and dances on Tik Tok and Instagram, the desire to stay “current” and “relevant” can override the need for privacy. There’s a palable anxiety about being left behind in the deluge of content that hits us every day.
Which is why the stance of Kendrick Lamar has been so refreshing and so smart. I’m not gonna review his album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers — I’m too old to be passing judgement on art meant for generations younger than myself — but I will says that I’m impressed with the ability the MC has displayed in taking his time with this record, allowing himself the space for reflection and instrospection. On one track he rhymes, “People wonder where I been/ Protecting my soul in the valley of silence.” Since his last album, DAMN, in 2017, he’s had children, gone into theraphy, and suffered through a long bout of writer’s block.
In other words he’s lived a full an complicated life, while going through the same pandemic we all have. Enough has happened in that five year period that his point of view on music, family, race, sex, and celebrity have all been enriched and sometimes altered. To have something new to say a creator needs new experiences that allow him or her to see life from new angles.
Now this relative absence from the marketplace (Lamar did exe produce The Black Panther movie soundtrack and has made select guest appearences) is contrary to the industrial model of cultural production, where the goal is to repeat a successful formula with superficial changes in clothing and marketing to disguise the essential sameness of the product. That’s the nature of most of we consume, whether we label it art or entertainment. We can see through as active consumers but, on occassion, we get totally taken in by the bells and whistles.
By taking his time and refusing to fall into formula, Lamar asserts his artistry, his individuality and personal growth in eighteen songs that clock in at over seventyfive minutes. In an age of instant opinion and constant outrage, the lesson of Mr. Morale is there’s power and beauty in waiting around until you have something fresh to say.
I love the album, but have only listened to it twice, so I won’t offer any detailed analysis other than to say there’s some great storytelling on it and the music flows in sync with Lamar’s passion.
THE NELSON GEORGE MIXTAPE: VOL. 1, the collection of articles and interviews that inspired this newsletter, can be purchased via www.pacificpacific.pub for $28.
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