Red Mosquito

tragabigzanda wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

tragabigzanda wrote:

epilogue wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:I think a lot of these beats are super simple/spacious, without any obvious hooks, so Kendrick can just say what he wants to say.

I agree.

Also (and again I'm still struggling to find the words to fully articulate this) the sparseness, the simplicity, the interplay of the music is fascinating and moody and purposeful. There's so much tension in just two notes sometimes.

But to your point, this is an introspective album. But it's also trying to talk about the culture. And having these simple beats, allowing Kendrick to monologue, allows more immediate access to *what* he has to say and to allow the listener to hear it more clearly than before. Maybe? I'm still processing all of this, but that sort of thing feels right to me at this point.

Are you watching Atlanta this season? By far, the most impactful episode for me was Trini 2 De Bone, in which a white upper-class NYC family grapples with the sudden death of their Trinidadian nanny. Long-story-short, the family wants a transactional experience with race and culture, so their young son can gain the right mixture of experience to make him more competitive once he gets to his college and professional years. They aim to keep Black and Asian people at just the right arm's length so their boy can get some exposure, but not have to see their suffering.

I've been thinking about this episode a ton since I watched it; it's got implications for choices we've made in my house (namely raising out daughter in pure-white MT rather than our beloved NYC)...

I can't help but think Kendrick is operating on a similar wavelength here. GKMC was a breakout hit, and since then he's trafficked in crossover appeal by virtue of more palatable hits and placement in the MCU. And on his new one, it really feels like he's throwing down a challenge to his audience, saying "OK, you'll hang with me on the Black Panther soundtrack, and on the Rihanna hook (LOYALTY), but can you have on a deep dive?"

I'm halfway through my third full listen this morning. It's just getting better and better, even if I find myself bristling at (and potentially skipping, once the dust has settled) a few specific tracks. The aforementioned We Cry Together, and also Rich (Interlude), and maybe Rich Spirit, don't do much for me other than make me uncomfortable...

But the thing is, I'm keenly aware of my option to skip these songs. Like, I can just hit the forward button on my player and skip over Rich (Interlude) / Rich Spirit / We Cry Together, to get right to Purple Hearts. But it's a function of my privilege, right? People who live in this world can't just skip it (unless they numb themselves, which Kendrick references throughout this album, most notably on Mother I Sober).

At 41 years old, I generally don't have an appetite for art that makes me overly uncomfortable; it's a defense mechanism for my psyche. But I love how Kendrick challenges me on this, gives me some really raw art and says "Are you uncomfortable? Must be nice to just skip the song and not have to think about this world whenever you feel like it."

bodysnatcher wrote:I still haven’t listened to this

Ello Sailor wrote:

bodysnatcher wrote:I still haven’t listened to this

Fascinating.

epilogue wrote: The overall framework of this record is masterful, too. The tap-dancing motif could be corny but I find it poignant and really effective.

tragabigzanda wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

tragabigzanda wrote: Crown maybe gets to stay? On the fence about that one. Everything else is definitely a keeper.

4/5 wrote:

epilogue wrote: The overall framework of this record is masterful, too. The tap-dancing motif could be corny but I find it poignant and really effective.

Yeah, so obviously this record is about therapy/is therapy, etc. But the tap-dancing motif really made it clear to me, so thanks for helping me out there. This album itself *is* a therapy session. He makes some confessions/allusions to stuff early in the record but also changes the subject, justifies himself, tries to avoid talking about certain things and as the album builds we get the outpouring of introspection and he goes deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole until he gets to the roots and has his moments of catharsis and self-acceptance, realizes what is most important to him and establishes his new path forward.

I'm sure all of that is obvious and I should be embarrassed to have really just gotten that by now, but there it is. If you hadn't pointed out the tap-dancing I don't know if I would have gotten all the way there.