Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

[TheZZL]

1 hour ago, Gentoo said:

Generic fictional couple argues about generic fictional problems before devolving into a vague tirade about gendered issues and resolving over sex. I mentioned it as a meme not a low point in the album but the fact that there's people that would call this creative and nuanced has made me change my stance. Cringe and trash, I'd like to see what you have to say in favor of it.

What a terrible description of the song. Also, I wouldn't call the ending of the song a resolution.

 

The song is a work of art which puts the listener in the middle of yet another one of this couple's frequent arguments bringing up their regrets, their partner's noxious behavior, and past relationship issues. The two go back and forth taking shots at one another with what is perceived to be their insecurities and indecisions. They rile each other up, "now you mad at me, I got you hollerin' for nothin' " and curse at one another until it turns into the "resolution" you mentioned, which in reality is them taking advantage of the immediate gratification they can get from each other in the form of sex. Sex, being used as a distraction from the problems they bring up against one another, is their way of continuing the theme within the song which is deflection, as it only escalated to that point when Taylour Paige's "character" was trying to steal her keys back from Kendrick to go to work. 

 

The song begins with an angelic, barely audible, "Hold onto each other", until we hear the disillusioning "This is what the world sounds like", immediately followed by Taylour Paige's "Nah, fuck you n****" and Kendrick's "Fuck you, bitch". The song is a reality check and a hope for higher ambitions: something I feel the whole project represents. It's, "Hold onto each other", even if it means you're trapped in a toxic and (literally) insane relationship because nothing changes, but it's better than being alone in such an unreliable world. You'd hope it all slowly gets better, even though the only solace we get here from Kendrick (that I can tell of so far, a day and a half after release) is that Kendrick's own expression and therapy from these songs represent his personal growth.

 

Maybe your displeasure from this track comes from not only the very real social and cultural issues referenced and challenged, but also your lack of understanding. If it's too complex for you, just skip the song and withhold your misinformed opinions rather than simplifying it to "generic fictional couple argues".

[Gentoo]

23 minutes ago, TheZZL said:

What a terrible description of the song. Also, I wouldn't call the ending of the song a resolution.

 

The song is a work of art which puts the listener in the middle of yet another one of this couple's frequent arguments bringing up their regrets, their partner's noxious behavior, and past relationship issues. The two go back and forth taking shots at one another with what is perceived to be their insecurities and indecisions. They rile each other up, "now you mad at me, I got you hollerin' for nothin' " and curse at one another until it turns into the "resolution" you mentioned, which in reality is them taking advantage of the immediate gratification they can get from each other in the form of sex. Sex, being used as a distraction from the problems they bring up against one another, is their way of continuing the theme within the song which is deflection, as it only escalated to that point when Taylour Paige's "character" was trying to steal her keys back from Kendrick to go to work. 

 

The song begins with an angelic, barely audible, "Hold onto each other", until we hear the disillusioning "This is what the world sounds like", immediately followed by Taylour Paige's "Nah, fuck you n****" and Kendrick's "Fuck you, bitch". The song is a reality check and a hope for higher ambitions: something I feel the whole project represents. It's, "Hold onto each other", even if it means you're trapped in a toxic and (literally) insane relationship because nothing changes, but it's better than being alone in such an unreliable world. You'd hope it all slowly gets better, even though the only solace we get here from Kendrick (that I can tell of so far, a day and a half after release) is that Kendrick's own expression and therapy from these songs represent his personal growth.

 

Maybe your displeasure from this track comes from not only the very real social and cultural issues referenced and challenged, but also your lack of understanding. If it's too complex for you, just skip the song and withhold your misinformed opinions rather than simplifying it to "generic fictional couple argues".

Analyzing the scene doesn't add any value to it, you're just pointing out what's taking place. A presentation isn't the same as a discussion. For the sake of argument, imagine this is a real argument laid to music. Does it have any inherent value? Sure you can try to psychoanalyze the participants or talk about how cultural issues have impacted their relationship, but that's not something actively being discussed or critiqued in the track. It's like going to a movie and it's just some guy trying to catch fish and going to bed. You can analyze all you want about it, but it doesn't actively convey a theme in the same way a proper story does. The closest you've come to pulling out a theme is 'maybe you should stay in a toxic relationship instead of being lonely', which is a pretty shit thing to say but at least it takes a stance on something.

 

Imagine having the nerve to patronizingly call someone's subjective opinion uninformed. Fuck you, bitch.

[sWz]

1 hour ago, Gentoo said:

Fuck you, bitch.

No, fuck you n***a!

[destroylonelyfan2011]

upon further review kodack black has verse of the year undoubtedly like fr bro said “just caught a bale off a google app” 

[Manny]

17 hours ago, Gentoo said:

Analyzing the scene doesn't add any value to it, you're just pointing out what's taking place. A presentation isn't the same as a discussion. For the sake of argument, imagine this is a real argument laid to music. Does it have any inherent value? Sure you can try to psychoanalyze the participants or talk about how cultural issues have impacted their relationship, but that's not something actively being discussed or critiqued in the track. It's like going to a movie and it's just some guy trying to catch fish and going to bed. You can analyze all you want about it, but it doesn't actively convey a theme in the same way a proper story does. The closest you've come to pulling out a theme is 'maybe you should stay in a toxic relationship instead of being lonely', which is a pretty shit thing to say but at least it takes a stance on something.

 

Imagine having the nerve to patronizingly call someone's subjective opinion uninformed. Fuck you, bitch.

 

You can think it's stupid and I don't particularly like skits in albums either but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to get it... just like when you go to the movies and follow along the story line... same thing. I'm convinced you just like being contrarian and have no spine.

[Gentoo]

45 minutes ago, Manny said:

 

You can think it's stupid and I don't particularly like skits in albums either but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to get it... just like when you go to the movies and follow along the story line... same thing. I'm convinced you just like being contrarian and have no spine.

Events - not event. I suppose you could twist it to include the events referenced in dialogue if you were so inclined, but I was using story in a more traditional sense - plot, arc, resolution etc. Which is why I think scene is more fitting.

Imagine you ask your dad to tell you a story before bed and he brings your mom in and just starts ragging on her for half an hour and finishes off with "yeah, hope you enjoyed it, figure that one out buddy"

 

I never started with calling it bad, I think it's very mid. When people say "you just don't get it" or "this is very deep" I'm not being contrarian, I already disagree with them, I think it's a very pretentious thing to say. I understand that it was made with purpose, I just think the song isn't good and what it's trying to do is very lazy.

[Strayyz]

[destroylonelyfan2011]

 

[Manny]

20 hours ago, Gentoo said:

I never started with calling it bad, I think it's very mid. When people say "you just don't get it" or "this is very deep" I'm not being contrarian, I already disagree with them, I think it's a very pretentious thing to say. I understand that it was made with purpose, I just think the song isn't good and what it's trying to do is very lazy.

There's a difference between understanding the message or reasoning behind a story and not liking it and being willfully ignorant.

 

You're right though, the album is the story and the songs are the scenes. It seems like you are judging the scenes as if they have no story to work with.

[Gentoo]

30 minutes ago, Manny said:

There's a difference between understanding the message or reasoning behind a story and not liking it and being willfully ignorant.

 

You're right though, the album is the story and the songs are the scenes. It seems like you are judging the scenes as if they have no story to work with.

Seems we may have somewhat of a middle ground here. The track has value and makes sense - inside the context of the album. Where I disagree is I feel that on its own it's very weak, it's not very good to listen to on its own or out of order. It's not a new concept to have a theme or story for an album, but it's uncommon for albums to feature tracks that are dependent on the rest of the album to be enjoyable/have value and I don't think it was executed well in this case - it forces you to sit down and listen to the album from start to finish any time you want to get something out of it.

 

I am judging the scene on its own, I think that's perfectly reasonable in the modern era when you're not popping a CD in to listen to a whole album every time - you put things on playlists - and this ain't going on.