- Kendrick Lamar released a new album after 5 years
- The album is titled Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
- It was released on May 13 at midnight
A big win for Kendrick Lamar, even if it's frustrating for his fans! Lamar has often been dubbed one of this generation's greatest rappers, in line with Kanye West, J. Cole, and Drake. Although he's been quiet with music releases in the last five years, his music has stood the test of time, and his huge fan base was so excited about his album dropping, that the amount of traffic on streaming platforms caused Spotify and Apple Music to crash.
Kendrick Lamar supports the trans community
The wait was worth it! The album, titled Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, has a total run time of 1 hour and 38 minutes. This is reminiscent of the early days of rap, mirroring the two-vinyl releases of artists like 2 Pac, the Wu-Tang Clan, and Notorious B.I.G.
But, out of the 18 songs on the album, there is one song that is getting much praise, as well as some controversy. The sixth song on the B-side of the album "Auntie Diaries", talks about Lamar's struggle with internal misogyny and homophobia, detailing his experience with his transgender uncle.
The song kicks off with a controversial statement, "My auntie is a man now," seemingly showing his aversion to the news in the beginning. Throughout the song, Lamar goes further into detail about his final acceptance of the transition.
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He caused some comments online in regards to his use of the "F" slur to the queer community, despite using the slur to outline his previous mistakes for his trans and homophobia. By the end of the song, he changes his use of the slur, noting how over time he's changed his ways.
"The day I chose humanity over religion the family got closer," he said in the song.
People took to Twitter to express both their support and their frustration with the song.
One Twitter user said, "We are not about to 'cancel' Kendrick over 'Auntie Diaries'. The most powerful man in hip-hop wrote a whole song supporting trans rights and acknowledging the homophobia he participated in," they wrote. "In a genre that has a history of homophobia, this moves the convo in the right direction."
But, some members of the queer community are not thrilled. Another Twitter user wrote, "Straight rap fans are explaining to gay people why a straight rapper throwing around a slur against our community was a good thing, do u see why I don’t like y’all."
But, it is worth noting that any good art form will have support on either side of the argument! Listen to the song above, what do you think?
