kendrick is opting out.

this isn't a bad thing. he's decided to focus on himself, his family, he's enforcing boundaries.

good for him.

the flipside of this process means that he's limiting (if not outright stopping) how much he gives of himself to the world/his fanbase/the movement/etc.

that's the point of the conclusion of the second album, mirror.

I realized, true love's not savin' face
But unconditional
When will you let me go?
I trust you'll find independence
If not, then all is forgiven
Sorry our things saved the world my friend
I was too busy buildin' mine again

as i said, my inner idealist has been in its death throes for some time. all of my adult life has been in public service - pushing to make things better through empirically-based policy decisions. it's not glamorous work, it pays the bills (sort of?), and i found solace in the fact that it enables me to try to make the world a little bit better.

as i've gotten older, i have learned to take the wins where you can and let the rest go - but it's been harder to feel good about the small wins when the overall trends have been shit and don't show signs of reversing. it's gotten to the point where if i could do it all over again, i would focus on making money and then use that to try and do good in the world *after* i put myself and my needs first. nearly all of my personal issues & struggles would be solved w/ more money.

so, maybe you can't relate - and all you see is the triumph of kendrick's introspection and him striving to be a better man/husband/father. that's cool.

but i mourn the loss of his voice & his presence. i'm not expecting another TPAB or DAMN from him. it feels like if he puts out more work it's going to be kdot/oklama doing shit kdot/oklama enjoys.