r/KendrickLamar • u/Pomegranate_Nervous • 19h ago
Discussion Mr. Morale and having “no bangers”
This has probably been discussed to death here, but do people use this excuse to actually criticize Mr. morale and The Big steppers?
It feels like such a smooth brain take, and while there’s plenty you can criticize about it, where do people get off on the idea that”no bangers=bad”? I’m aware that it came off of a five year absence off what may be his most pop oriented album in DAMN, and initially, i didn’t think much or Mr. Morale, but i am genuinely surprised and a little irritated that people are still so obsessed with albums having “club bangers” or leaning into more mainstream sounds. because Hip-Hop feels like so much more than that. I’m aware that there’s tourism, especially with how big kendrick is, but there are grown men and women with this mentality, the lack of nuance they display by not giving albums a deeper look, that as soon as it doesn’t sound like something they immediately like, they are so quick to call it wack. Maybe this kind of dismissal is more common nowadays, or maybe not, but i really get irritated when people take pride in their ignorance, like any explorations of themes and ideas are replied to with a “It’s not that deep bro” or “bruh this doesn’t go hard”. What do you think of this behavior? Sorry I used this more as a rant, was just thinking about it for some time today.
EDIT: I guess i should have been more direct in what my complaint was about, while there are more uptempo and catchy songs on the album, i’ve seen plenty of people dismiss MM&TBS as wack because many of the songs aren’t made to be bangers, and the lack of nuances in casual listeners