Kendrick Lamar is one of the most (rightfully) celebrated artists in the modern rap and hip-hop industries. His career, beginning in the early 2000s with his freestyles at many clubs across South-Central Los Angeles, has become one of the most celebrated and influential in modern rap. From his humble origins in small Los Angeles dive bars to headlining the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime show in New Orleans, Lamar has taken over the hip-hop world. Today, Lamar has carved one of the most celebrated careers in rap history, having released 6 Studio albums throughout his decades-spanning career. He is also responsible for releasing what are considered some of the best albums in the history of rap and hip hop -his 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly and his 2017 album DAMN- both of which have proved incredibly influential ever since they were released. This article will focus on the production of his 2022 album Mr Morale & the Big Steppers and the unreleased song “Prayer” which was likely meant to be included on the original versions of the album.

Lamar performed in Madrid, Spain in 2023. (Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty)

MMTBS is a deep dive into the personal life and trauma of Kendrick Lamar and deconstructs the figure he made for himself with the 2017 album DAMN. DAMN is a boisterous album with the most radio-friendly songs of any of Lamar’s albums. The album focuses on several topics, from criticizing right-wing American political views on the African-American community to his domination of the rap scene. The album would be the beginning of his 5-year hiatus from music production, with Lamar only producing the 2018 soundtrack for the Black Panther movie before he practically vanished from the public eye. Lamar reportedly began producing Mr Morale in early 2021 with several other artists.

During the production of MMTBS, Lamar struggled with the idea of finishing the album, which was an incredibly deep look into the often mysterious personal life of Lamar and his traumas. As he said to W Magazine during a 2022 Interview, “When I got to completion and I said, ‘I may or may not put this out; it’s way too much,’ I thought about my children.” He also revealed in the same interview that he intentionally kept much of the album secret to himself because, if he had allowed his family to know and hear the contents of the album, the album likely wouldn’t have been released. However, Lamar decided to release the album, and on May 13, 2024, Mr Morale & the Big Steppers was released to the world.

The album was a deep introspection into the childhood Trauma of both Lamar and the black community in the United States. It dissects the generational trauma that Lamar experienced and eventually realized when he became a father and also discusses vices and addictions that permeate the modern black community. Originally, the album was warmly received, but after the infamous 2024 beef between Lamar and Canadian artist Drake, the album was given a second breath of life and is widely considered to be an amazing project.

Lamar performing at the famous 2024 Pop-Out concert at Kia Forum, Los Angeles. (TIMOTHY NORRIS/GETTY IMAGES FOR PGLANG/AMAZON MUSIC)

During one recording session in 2018, Lamar recorded an unreleased track which was titled “Prayer”, and it has recently seen an explosion in popularity online among Generation Z. The track is themed around three perspectives which Lamar raps from. The first perspective is from the hit song “ABC” by the Jackson 5. The second perspective is from the historic “I Have A Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. The final perspective is from Lamar himself, where he admonishes political movements in the early 2020s surrounding race. In one line, Lamar talks about how “If Daniel Hale was a killer, would you not want a heart? If Carl Benz was a racist, would you stop driving cars? I can’t help we jump in these bodies and you call us a god.” The entire track is a unique inside look into the production style and sound that would come to define Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, featuring a prominent backtrack of a looping piano melody. The song was leaked in late 2020, along with several other unreleased tracks by Lamar, and has surged in popularity in recent weeks on the internet, often being used in sad or ‘relatable’ memes shared between younger adults.

Overall, the story of Mr Morale & the Big Steppers and Prayer is one that has come to define the recent legacy of Lamar, especially in retrospect to his historic early 2024 beef with fellow Canadian artist Drake. The beef centered around both sides accusing the other of various moral (or, in Drake’s case, literal) crimes. After his widely agreed upon victory over Drake with his hit song ‘Not Like Us’, Lamar went quiet once again before the shock release of his newest album, GNX. GNX was released during the middle of the day as of this article’s publication, so do keep in mind that this article is not up to date with any current information revealed on the album.

Cover of the 2024 Album ‘GNX’ by Kendrick Lamar. (DAVE FREE)