Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Kendrick Lamar Spends A Day In Ghana Chatting About Virgil Abloh And ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’

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A little over seven months after the passing of fashion designer Virgil Abloh, his global impact is still making itself known. Virgil’s influence is all over Drake’s new surprise album Honestly, Nevermind and in Spotify’s new documentary short film about Kendrick Lamar, the Compton rapper learns just how well-known Abloh was on his first trip to Ghana. Visiting a skate park in Accra, Kendrick reveals he’s been chatting with the local kids about the late designer, discussing “what he means to them, as far as letting them have this creative space to enjoy themselves.”

The park was opened in December, just after Virgil’s passing, with support from Off-White, Abloh’s own brand, Daily Paper, and Surf Ghana. At the time of the opening, Daily Paper co-founder Jefferson Osei said in a statement, “With this initiative, we hope to evolve the skate culture in Ghana to the next level and give locals a platform to grow their talents within a space that will hopefully become their biggest training ground to date. More than board sports, the park will be a creative hub for young Ghanaians to come together, exchange ideas, inspire each other, and build their futures through recreational activities. They now have a place where they can be themselves, freely develop their skills together with like-minded people, and reach their true potential. Hence the name, Freedom Skate Park.”

Kendrick also discussed his favorite lines from his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, explaining why a line about going to therapy resonates with him. “We learn to hold all our sh*t in,” he admits. “That wasn’t my forte when people mentioned it to me. I’m still stuck how my pops thinks: ‘F*ck I need therapy for?’” He also allows, though, that going would represent “growth” and seems more open to the idea than he initially lets on.

You can watch the mini-doc “A Day In Ghana With Kendrick Lamar” above.

Kendrick Lamar’s ‘We Cry Together’ Had One Of The Biggest Single-Week Drops In ‘Billboard’ Hot 100 History

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Kendrick-Lamar.jpg
Philip Cosores

Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers set some records after its release last month. For what it’s worth, that shouldn’t be surprising as his loyal fan base spent five years waiting on a new body of work from him. For example, Kendrick broke Apple Music’s record for the most first-day streams by an album that was released in 2022. Shortly after its release, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers also had the biggest debut on the Billboard 200 chart in 2022. A few weeks later, Kendrick had a rare occurrence with one of his songs on the Billboard chart, and it’s not one we might have expected from him.

XXL notes that Kendrick’s “We Cry Together,” which features contributions from actress Taylour Paige, fell down a total of 81 spots — from No. 16 to No. 97 — between the May 24 and May 31 updates of the Billboard Hot 100. This makes for one of the biggest single-week drops ever on the song chart. However, it’s not the biggest that we’ve seen from a song in the past couple of years.

Back in 2020, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” went from topping the singles chart one week to completely falling off the Hot 100 the following week. Despite this, the track would go on to become the first song to be No. 1 in four separate years after it originally topped the charts in 2019 and did so again in 2021 and 2022.

On the bright side for Kendrick, his 2012 album Good Kid M.A.A.D. City recently became the only hip-hop studio album to spend 500 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.

Kendrick Lamar’s ‘We Cry Together’ Records The Biggest Single-Week Drop In ‘Billboard’ Hot 100 History

by
Kendrick-Lamar.jpg
Philip Cosores

Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers set some records after its release last month. For what it’s worth, that shouldn’t be surprising as his loyal fan base spent five years waiting on a new body of work from him. For example, Kendrick broke Apple Music’s record for the most first-day streams by an album that was released in 2022. At the time of its release, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers had the biggest debut on the Billboard 200 chart in 2022. A few weeks later, Kendrick set a new record on the Billboard chart, but it’s not one we might have expected from him.

According to the publication, Kendrick’s “We Cry Together,” which features contributions from actress Taylour Paige, recorded the biggest single-week drop on the most recent edition of the Billboard 200 chart. The record dropped down a total of 81 spots — from No. 16 to No. 97 — between the May 24 and May 31 updates of the singles chart.

This big drop shouldn’t be surprising for a couple of reasons. First, B-side records on an album typically experience a big drop on the charts once the hype behind the album that they’re on dies out. Other songs from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers have also experienced this. They include “Silent Hill” with Kodak Black which dropped from No. 7 to No. 49 in the past couple of weeks. Secondly, “We Cry Together” is a lengthy skit on Kendrick’s new album and it features the rapper in an extremely heated argument with his girlfriend, something that most listeners found uncomfortable to listen to. As a result, they most likely steered away from the record during future listens of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers thus launching the song down the singles chart.

On the bright side, Kendrick’s Good Kid M.A.A.D. City recently became the only hip-hop studio album to spend 500 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.

The Warriors Seem To Win An NBA Title Every Year Kendrick Lamar Drops An Album… Is Another One On Deck?

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Kendrick Lamar Warriors
Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

The Golden State Warriors just handled business in the Western Conference Finals and sent the Dallas Mavericks packing with a 4-1 series win. Now the Warriors are heading back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2019 and will be a likely favorite against either the Boston Celtics or The Miami Heat — especially if the hip-hop gods work their magic with the Dubs again, because, are you ready for this? In the “Woah… that’s crazy!” department, every Kendrick Lamar album drop since 2015 has also been accompanied by a Golden State Warriors NBA Championship.

That’s right: When Kendrick dropped To Pimp A Butterfly in 2015, the Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers for the team’s first title since 1975. Then when DAMN. dropped in 2017, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and company beat the Cavs again in the Finals. Finally, when Kendrick was at the helm of the excellent Black Panther Soundtrack in 2018, the Warriors cemented their dynasty with a third title, against the Cavs again, leaving LeBron James in the dust. Maybe if Kendrick hadn’t started taking a very long break from putting out albums, the Warriors wouldn’t have dropped the 2019 Finals to the Toronto Raptors?

(The exception to this rule is Untitled Unmastered, which was released in 2016, when the Warriors lost to the Cavs in seven games. However, Untitled Unmastered isn’t usually considered a proper studio album, since it’s made up of demos from the To Pimp A Butterfly era. So, objection overruled.)

So does this year’s release of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers signify that another Warriors title is on the horizon? We’ll find out just how powerful this Kendrick/Warriors synergy is within the next two weeks. And somehow, even with the Raptors not making it anywhere close to the Finals this season, Drake still finds himself as a big winner here no matter what.

Lorde Praises Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ In A Letter To Her Fans

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Lorde Variety Power of Women Variety 2021
Getty Image / Jon Kopaloff

Perhaps Kendrick Lamar’s music may soon be in rotation on Lorde’s Solarsystym station on Sonos: Today, in an email sent to fans, the “Solar Power” singer shared an update with her fans, just over two weeks after her US tour for Solar Power came to an end.

She shared some of the books she’s been reading, including Fleur Jaeggy’s Sweet Days Of Discipline and Danyel Smith’s Shine Bright: A Very Personal History Of Black Women In Pop. Additionally, she let us know the music she’s been listening to lately, which includes Kendrick Lamar’s new album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

“I’m loving Kendrick,” she said. “I cannot get over the most popular and influential artist in modern music displaying a working nervous system, admitting mistakes, trying to process intergenerational trauma and prejudice. I love the way the album opens, the pace and heat of the first few songs, and later ‘Count Me Out,’ the build and strings in ‘Auntie Diaries’ … special.”

Could this mean a collab between the two is in order? Perhaps. But given the fact that both artists love to take long hiatuses in between projects, it’s best not to get our hopes up that we’ll hear a collaboration in the near future.

Every Song From Kendrick Lamar’s New Album Has Entered The ‘Billboard’ Hot 100

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Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was one of the year’s most anticipated albums. Now that it’s out, it has unsurprisingly dominated the charts, landing at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with the biggest streaming week of 2022. It’s Kendrick’s fourth No. 1 album — even more impressive when you consider that it was his first album in nearly five years, with DAMN. releasing in 2017. Perhaps just as impressive is the fact that every song on the 18-track album has entered the Billboard Hot 100, a feat last accomplished by Drake with Certified Lover Boy at 21 tracks and J. Cole’s The Off-Season — which only had 12 tracks.

Of those, four landed in the top 10, making him one of seven artists to accomplish this feat (including Bad Bunny, Drake, Future, J. Cole, Juice WRLD, and Lil Wayne). While Jack Harlow held down the No. 1 spot for the third week with the frothy “First Class,” Kendrick took No. 3 with “N95,” No. 5 with “Die Hard,” No. 7 with “Silent Hill,” and No. 8 with “United In Grief.”

Meanwhile, the only other artists to have charted more than 13 songs are Drake, with the aforementioned 2021 release and with 2018’s Scorpion; Post Malone, who landed 14 tracks with 2019’s Hollywood’s Bleeding and 2018’s Beerbongs & Bentleys; and Lil Uzi Vert, who got 13 Eternal Atake tracks on the list in 2020. For a full list of Kendrick’s Mr. Morale Hot 100 rankings, see below courtesy of Billboard.com.

Hot 100 Rank, Title:
No. 3, “N95”
No. 5, “Die Hard,” with Blxst & Amanda Reifer
No. 7, “Silent Hill,” with Kodak Black
No. 8, “United in Grief”
No. 11, “Father Time,” feat. Sampha
No. 13, “Rich Spirit”
No. 16, “We Cry Together,” with Taylour Paige
No. 19, “Worldwide Steppers”
No. 20, “Count Me Out”
No. 22, “Purple Hearts,” with Summer Walker & Ghostface Killah
No. 23, “Savior,” with Baby Keem & Sam Dew
No. 33, “Rich (Interlude)”
No. 40, “Mr. Morale,” with Tanna Leone
No. 41, “Crown”
No. 47, “Auntie Diaries”
No. 51, “Savior (Interlude)”
No. 55, “Mirror”
No. 59, “Mother I Sober,” feat. Beth Gibbons
No. 77, “The Heart Part 5” (down from its No. 15 debut)

Jack Harlow Rides In ‘First Class’ To A Third Week At No. 1 On The ‘Billboard’ Hot 100 Chart

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Jack Harlow BBMAs 2022
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Jack Harlow calls himself a “G” in the hook to “First Class,” and though that may be debatable to some, one thing that cannot be refuted is he is now a multi-week chart-topper. The record, interpolating Fergie’s 2000s bop “Glamorous,” is No. 1 once again on the new Billboard Hot 100 chart dated May 28. “First Class” is the rapper’s first solo No. 1, debuting atop the chart upon its April release and boasted the biggest streaming week of 2022.

The track arrived as the second single from the Louisville rapper’s sophomore album Come Home The Kids Miss You, following the 2020 debut That’s What They All Say anchored by the Grammy-nominated “Whats Poppin.” Come Home includes lead single “Nail Tech” and features from Justin Timberlake, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, and Drake, the last of which leaked a few weeks early under the title “Have A Turn” before the official version was released as “Churchill Downs.” The “First Class” video also came out on the album’s release day.

Elsewhere on this week’s chart, Kendrick Lamar debuted four songs from his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (which debuted on top of the Billboard 200 this week) in the top 10: “N95” at No. 4, “Die Hard” featuring Blxst and Amanda Reifer at No. 5, “Silent Hill” Feat. Kodak Black at No. 7, and “United In Grief” at No. 8.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Kendrick Lamar Earns The Biggest Week Of 2022 As ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ Goes No. 1

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Kendrick-Lamar.jpg
Philip Cosores

Kendrick Lamar fans waited five long years to receive his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The project finally arrived earlier this month, and it’s safe to say that it was far from what fans expected from him. Similar to how To Pimp A Butterfly was a big change in direction from Good Kid M.A.A.D. City, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was quite the shift from Damn. Nonetheless, Lamar’s fifth album has still received favorable reviews from critics, and now, he can add another No. 1 album to his resume as Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers topped the Billboard 200 charts.

For the Billboard 200 dated May 28, 2022, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers debuted at No. 1 thanks to 295,000 album units sold. That number is comprised of 258,500 streaming equivalent album units thanks to 343.02 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs. Elsewhere, Mr. Morale also posted 35,000 pure album sales. Altogether, this feat gives Lamar the fourth consecutive and overall chart-topping album of his career.

Lamar’s fifth album put up the largest overall week in 2022, breaking a record set last week by Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti. Bad Bunny’s album still had the biggest streaming week of 2022 with Mr. Morale coming in at a not too distant second place. Mr. Morale also had the largest sales
week for a digital album in 2022 and the biggest overall week since Adele’s 30 posted 839,000 units back in November.

You can revisit our review of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers here.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

Eminem Shares His Love For Kendrick Lamar’s New Album Through A Message To Dr. Dre

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eminem riaa
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Kendrick Lamar’s newly released fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is this weekend’s biggest release. It’s the rapper’s first full-length release since 2017’s Damn., and the wait for a new body of work was undoubtedly seen through the project’s first-day numbers. According to Apple Music, the album earned the most first-day streams for an album released in 2022. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is also set to debut at No. 1 on the albums chart next week. Until then, fans will continue to indulge in the project, and one of those people is Eminem, who took to Twitter to share some love for the album.

In a rare tweet, Eminem praised Kendrick’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers with a message to his longtime friend and collaborator Dr. Dre. “Yo @DrDre this Kendrick album is f*cking ridiculous,” Eminem wrote. “I’m speechless.” Dr. Dre isn’t credited on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but he does own Aftermath, the label that both Kendrick and Eminem are signed to. Despite this, Eminem and Kendrick only have one collaboration together, that being “Love Game” from the former’s 2013 album The Marshall Mathers LP 2.

As for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, it arrives with 18 songs and features from Blxst, Amand Reifer, Sampha, Taylour Paige, Summer Walker, Ghostface Killah, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Sam Dew, Tanna Leone, and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Kendrick also recently released a video for “N95” and it featured an appearance from Baby Keem.

You can view Eminem’s tweet in the post above.

em>Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Kendrick Lamar Drops “N95” Visual From ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ LP

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Kendrick Lamar N95 0 26 screenshot

Kendrick Lamar drops the first music video from his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers for the lead single “N95,” out now via Interscope/Aftermath/TDE/pgLang.

MORE: Kendrick Lamar Announces “Oklama Presents… The Big Steppers Tour”

Co-directed by Kendrick Lamar-himself and business partner Dave Free, the video shows the Compton native floating in place at the beach, on the run from thugs, evading a car crash, strolling through a water garden and walking through an abandoned building and doing donuts in a tricked-out vehicle with protege and cousin Baby Keem. “N95” marks Lamar second music video release in a week following the previously released “The Heart Part 5” which features deep fakes of the late-Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle.

Lamar’s new single appears on the artist’s “final” album under his current contract with his original recording home, Top Dawg Entertainment. TDE executive Punch shared the following celebratory message to K.Dot on Friday after the release of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, tweeting, “Shout out to Kendrick Lamar and co… Congrats on the new album. Last one on TDE. We made history! Much love and continued success.”

MORE: Kendrick Lamar Morphs Into Kobe Bryant, Kanye West, Nipsey Hussle and More In “The Heart Part 5” Video

A double-volume album. Lamar first album in five years includes guest appearances from Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Amanda Reifer, Sampha, Summer Walker, Ghostface Killah, Tanna Leone, Sam Dew, Beth Gibbons and actress Taylour Paige. Upon releasing the new album, Kendrick announced a worldwide tour coming this Summer with tickets going on sale May 19, only on the artist’s personal Oklama website. The tour is sponsored by Amazon Music, Rotation and Cash App.

Watch the full video below and stream the full album here.

The post Kendrick Lamar Drops “N95” Visual From ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ LP appeared first on The Source.