Kendrick Lamar released the dazzling Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, his first album in five years, today. He didn't share much about it before dropping the whole thing and one of the surprises, deep into the album, is "Mother I Sober" which features Portishead's Beth Gibbons.
Gibbons' distinctive voice, sounding on the edge of tears, brings extra weight to this song where Kendrick confronts the passed-down trauma that comes from generations of sexual abuse. "I wish I was somebody, anybody but myself," Beth Gibbons sings, eerily punctuating all three of Kendrick's increasingly devastating verses.