S13E7 - Dissecting 'Rich Spirit' by Kendrick Lamar
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From the Ringer Podcast Network, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. This is episode seven of our season-long analysis of Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. I'm your host, Cole Kushner.

Last time on Dissect, we examined Mr. Morale's six-track rich interlude featuring Kodak Black. It was there we hypothesized about Kodak's symbolic role in the morality play that is Mr. Morale. Ultimately, we landed on Kodak being a representative big stepper, someone whose behavior is heavily influenced by his environmental conditioning, someone who, to use Eckhart Tolle's phrase, lives more or less unconsciously, lives through and for their ego. Thus, when Kodak is paired with Tolle and Kendrick,

represented with a spectrum of human consciousness, with Kodak Black representing unconsciousness, someone still heavily influenced by environmental conditioning and ego, Eckhart Tolle representing enlightenment or pure consciousness, someone who has transcended environmental conditioning and ego, and Kendrick Lamar representing a middle ground between the two, someone who is in the process of transcending his ego and conditioning in order to reach a deeper level of consciousness and behavior.

And this middle ground, this in-between state, is exactly what we hear Kendrick exhibit on the album's next song, the subject of our episode today, Rich Spirit.

We're immediately immersed in the Rich Spirits' nocturnal, meditative environment, as hazy, ambient chords sound as if we're hearing them from a distance. The distant, intimate nature of these chords is reinforced in Rich Spirits' video, where we see Kendrick in a dark room alone peeking at the bright world outside through a crack in his window curtain.

He squints his eyes at the light, implying that he hasn't been outside for some time. The remainder of the video takes place in this same dark, luxurious room, depicting what we assume is a typical day in the life of Kendrick Lamar during his multi-year absence between Damn and Mr. Morale. He prays, he dances and raps by himself, he yells at the wall, he talks on a broken phone with no one on the other line.

It's a portrait of a life of solitude and contemplation, immersed in riches, but clearly being tried spiritually. This lays the thematic foundation for Rich Spirit, which finds Kendrick Lamar in the midst of an internal battle with his addictions, his ego, and his spiritual awakening.

Now before diving into the song's lyrics, I want to begin today's analysis by briefly calling attention to a unique type of song Kendrick has executed incredibly well over his career. The song type is one in which Kendrick, the storyteller constructing a narrative arc across an album, shows us himself in the middle of this journey, still flawed and working through the album's central conflict, but also heading in the right direction.

We think of a song like King Kunta from To Pimp a Butterfly. The central struggle of that album is Kendrick's relationship with his newfound influence after the success of Good Kid, Mad City. He can either selfishly pimp it to his own benefit, or he can use it to serve and uplift his community. The beginning of the album finds Kendrick young and naive, pimping it to his own benefit.

which distracts him from the fact that he himself is being pimped or exploited by Uncle Sam. And this dynamic is on full display in King Kunta, where Kendrick returns to Compton not to unite his community, but to gloat, to rub his success in the face of his neighborhood rivals. ♪ Just to go back to the me and say ♪ ♪ Bitch, where you and I was walking ♪ ♪ Now I run a gang, got the whole world talking ♪ ♪ King Kunta, everybody wanna cut their legs off ♪ ♪ King Kunta, black man taking no lusts ♪

The chorus of King Kunta is a powerful declaration of success and power. A black man from Compton defying the odds is something to genuinely celebrate. However, his self-appointed moniker of King Kunta is where the nuance of this celebratory track is revealed, as Kunta is a reference to Kunta Kente, a fictional slave from the TV show Roots whose foot was cut off to prevent him from escaping his plantation.

King Kunta then is an oxymoron. Kendrick is parading like a king, without realizing he's still being exploited like a slave. King Kunta is thus an expert example of Kendrick's unique ability to craft a song that functions on multiple levels. It works perfectly fine outside the context of the album. However, within the album's narrative, its function gains depth and dimension, depicting as it does where our protagonist is at this specific point in the story. In King Kunta, Kendrick's journey is still just getting started.

and he's still exhibiting his fundamental flaw.

Crafting these kinds of songs that work on multiple levels is one of Kendrick's idiosyncratic superpowers. He does it all the time, on every album. It's why he's able to tell such nuanced stories across the span of an entire album, because he's so great at making songs showcasing the middle stages of a journey, where the flawed main character is working toward the resolution that ultimately comes at the story's end. And we have now reached this middle stage of Mr. Morales' narrative.

The opening moments of United in Grief established our protagonist's main goal: to find peace of mind and some paradise. This song, as well as N95 and Worldwide Steppers, also establish the imperfections and flaws preventing our protagonist from obtaining that goal. Next we heard Kendrick crossing the threshold on Die Hard into Father Time, where Kendrick really begins deconstructing his own environmental conditioning, attempting to get to the root cause of his afflictions.

Rich Interlude then works to broaden this theme of environmental conditioning through Kodak Black before returning to Kendrick's own journey here on Rich Spirit. Thus, we are primed to hear the song as one of Kendrick's unique mid-journey tracks, showing signs of progress but still clearly exhibiting a fundamental flaw: his ego.

Now, normally I like to analyze songs linearly from beginning to end.

However, to reinforce the mid-journey narrative function of Rich Spirit, we're going to start with the chorus, as it'll be extremely informative in our reading of the song's three verses.

Kendrick begins, rich n-word, broke phone, trying to keep the balance, I'm staying strong. He establishes a dichotomy between rich and broke, but plays with the definition of each. Of course, he is rich and not broke financially. At the same time, he's broken off or disconnected from the outside world in order to prioritize or enrich his spirit.

He is trying to find that right balance between the two, between saving the world and saving yourself. I think most of us have experience attempting to achieve this same kind of balance, particularly during the more difficult stretches of life when personal circumstances can feel so insurmountable that you can't fathom taking on the world's problems on top of your own.

Achieving this balance is increasingly difficult in the age of the 24-hour news cycle and the infinite scroll of social media feeds, where petty celebrity conflicts and grave existential threats amalgamate into an overwhelming avalanche of human folly. And we imagine achieving this balance is particularly difficult for Kendrick Lamar,

a public figure who chose to adopt the responsibility of helping the world and his community. Here he is in 2015 after the release of "Tepempa Butterfly," addressing if he's striving to become a figure like Nelson Mandela or Malcolm X. It takes years and it takes wisdom to do the work that they've done. Mandela, Martin Luther King,

But for the generation at the time being, I hold myself responsibility to that because I got to see these kids every day. And like I said on I, they got to have slit wrists and come to me saying they say my music saves their lives and things like that. I got to keep running from that. That's my, whether I want to like it or not, I got to accept that. You dig what I'm saying? So for this generation, yes.

Understanding the enormous expectations Kendrick once placed on himself, it's not surprising he had a difficult time when he could not live up to them, or no longer wanted them to the degree he did in 2015. This is of course so much of what Mr. Morale reckons with, so much of what's implied when Kendrick said, I've been going through something at the start of the album.

Indeed, on Mr. Morale, we are hearing the story of a man restructuring his life after having children, prioritizing his own mental health because his addictions were putting his family at risk. And on Rich Spirit, we find Kendrick battling these addictions head on, as he continues the chorus, Stop playing with me before I turn you into a song. Bitch, I'm attractive. Can't fuck with you no more. I'm fasting.

Fasting typically denotes abstaining from food or drink often as a spiritual or religious practice. However, Kendrick is abstaining from sex with women. He is working towards sobriety from his sex addiction. As the song title suggests, this is indeed a kind of spiritual practice for him.

a practice that will potentially enrich his spirit. The idea of a broke phone also connects back to his sex addiction origin story we heard about in United in Grief. It was there Kendrick met the woman Green Eyes backstage, and just before trauma bonding through sex with her, he said, phone off the ringer, tell the world I'm busy. Where Kendrick once found escape in the isolation sex provided him, he is now having to isolate himself from sex in order to heal.

And Kendrick's next line, "Bitch I'm attractive" is pretty interesting in this context. On one hand, we can read it as an authentic self-affirmation and sign of progress. Along with carnal physical pleasure, the addictive desire to have sex with multiple women is often rooted in a deeper desire to be wanted, to feel attractive. So Kendrick's self-affirmation could be a sign of progress, a declaration of self-worth that is not reliant on the external validation he sought through sex.

On the other hand, we can also read Bitch I'm Attractive as an egoic declaration. Kendrick's egoic need to feel superior to the women he's rejecting. Rather than obtaining validation through the acceptance from women, he's now gaining that validation through his rejection of them.

He also threatens to turn these women into songs, meaning he'll weaponize his music and influence against these women that are tempting him. This potential thread of misogyny and ego throughout the hook brings us to what I believe is the duality present in Rich Spirit, both in its title and forthcoming subject matter.

On one level, rich spirit is a positive expression of every human's inherent spiritual value, regardless of social or financial status. Here's Kendrick again in 2015, explaining this concept when asked why he began to pimp a butterfly with the repeating phrase "Every n-word is a star." Every n-word is a star. It represents the album. It represents how I felt when I first got signed.

you know, Wesley's theory. That's the first initial state, you know, you get money, you feel like this. But overall, in general, it represents those without money, you know, of my color that's rich in spirit, you know? You don't need dollars to, uh,

feel like you have a place in the world, you know? The first half is a little bit ignorant, you know, 'cause that's how I was brought up. So as I see the world, it ain't really about the money, it's about how rich you are in spirit.

As Kendrick described here, To Pimp a Butterfly depicts his evolution in understanding one's true inherent value as a human being. When he was young, he thought being a star meant being rich and famous. As he gained more wisdom through experience, he realized that everyone is born a star. Everyone is born rich in spirit, even when they are told by society they are poor and unworthy.

Like Kendrick's initial misunderstanding of both Star and King, it appears he's experiencing a similar misunderstanding of spirit at this point in Mr. Morales' narrative.

Because, as we hear in the chorus and will continue to hear throughout the verses, Kendrick's attempts to enrich his spirit are polluted by his ego, which uses his spiritual progress as a means to strengthen itself. This is something Eckhart Tolle addresses when describing the spiritual awakening process, often warning his audience about the ego slipping through the back door to appropriate their spiritual gains. Most humans are still totally in the grip

of their egoic self. And probably most of you are moving still in and out of your egoic self. This is usually how the awakening process happens. You may be going through an awakening spiritually,

And when the ego comes in through the back door, you begin to feel very superior to ordinary people who are not awakening. In our episode on N95, we heard Tolle discuss the same concept when speaking about performative charity, good deeds that are done to be seen. It can be a wonderful spiritual practice if it arises from the right place inside you.

and it can also be a strengthening of your ego if it arises from a different place inside you. Jesus talked about that when he talked about giving alms. Some people, he said, like to be seen when they give alms to the poor. They want to be seen. And he says those people are not going to get a reward in heaven because they have their reward already.

And of course, what they reward already is that it's a feeding of the ego. As Tolle notes here, Jesus also warned about performative charity. A similar lesson was taught in the Gospel according to Matthew, where Jesus began a series of teachings saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." In his book, A New Earth, Tolle reflects on this biblical passage directly, saying, "What does 'poor in spirit' mean?

The teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Jesus reveal the duality of Kendrick's rich spirit.

On one hand, it denotes a fundamental truth: that all human beings are inherently rich, have the potential for good, for redemption, for saving. At the same time, like King Kunta, rich spirit also implies the way Kendrick's ego has hijacked his spiritual gains and its relentless need for comparative superiority.

Kendrick begins verse 1, taking my baby to school, then I pray for her.

As most fathers would attest to, your children starting school marks a significant milestone in their personal development. It's their first real independent interaction with the outside world, and for the first time, you're not there to protect them, leaving you as a parent feeling vulnerable and powerless.

I think this is why Kendrick says that I pray for her. He's asking God to protect her when he's unable to himself. And why is Kendrick so fearful of the outside world? Well, because of his own harsh experience with it. As he continues, "'Cause you bitches ain't never been cool, writein' testament, paintin' pictures."

Kendrick appears to be lamenting about being misrepresented publicly, painting a picture of him that is not accurate to who he really is. Kendrick then flips painting pictures into a boast saying, put me in the Louvre, that's a definite. Despite what's being said about him, he creates pictures or art that belongs in the world's most prestigious museum. He continues, universal shift, I'm in a groove.

This seems to be the first of two references to Eckhart Tolle's work we'll hear in the song. A universal shift in human consciousness is the central concept of Tolle's book A New Earth, which will be cited by name at the end of the song. As we discussed in episode 1, Tolle posits that humanity is in the early stages of a universal shift in consciousness, progressing beyond our current dysfunctional egoic state and awakening to a deeper spiritual dimension.

He believes that the survival of our species depends on this evolution. Otherwise, humanity will inevitably destroy itself at the hands of its own ego-driven dysfunction. Kendrick saying, I'm in a groove, meaning a flow state or performing well, continues his boasts, suggesting that he's working toward this universal shift, working to enrich his spirit, recalling our discussion of the song's title. He then continues, and celebrity do not mean integrity, you fool. I'm a good man, shake your hand, firm grip rule.

More self-affirmations here, as Kendrick points out the obvious fact that becoming famous does not inherently make you a good person or a role model. But again, these observations come off with an undertone of judgment and resentment for the general public.

Specifically saying, you fool, might be yet another allusion to the gospel according to Matthew, when Jesus said, quote, But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister will be the subject to the court. Whoever says, you fool, will be subject to hellfire.

While this may be simply a coincidental similarity, the gospel according to Matthew has been alluded to very clearly in N95, die hard and earlier in rich spirit. And Kendrick seems to be judging others in the very same way Jesus warned about. Kendrick's boast then continue, 72 wins, lost 10, bawling with the flu.

This is a reference to the 1996 Chicago Bulls, who won 72 games in a single season, and is widely considered one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Ballin' with the Flu continues the reference, nodding to Michael Jordan's iconic flu game in the NBA Finals, where he willed the Bulls to victory while suffering a vicious bout of food poisoning. Kendrick seems to be saying he's won more than he's lost in life, and that even when he's sick,

Even during this period of emotional sickness and COVID isolation, he's still bawling, still thriving. More wordplay and boast in the following line as he raps, more than two M's for a show, but add another two.

This appears to be bragging about his command of $4 million for a concert appearance, likely a headlining festival set. Cleverly, he says more than two M's and then add another two, which of course equals four. This makes the four in For a Show a homophone for the number four. This is followed by Kendrick humming mmm, which when spelled out is just repeating M's. In this case, it's most certainly four M's. The M wordplay then continues when he says Little Man Man, the big man's.

Man Man was Kendrick's nickname as a child, calling back to the two Ms of the previous line. The childhood thread then continues into the final line, the GT Dyno flippin' the kickstand. This likely describes the bike he rode as a child, as the GT Dyno was a popular model in the late 80s and 90s.

There's a chance that Kendrick here is reflecting on his childhood bike because he actually took up bike riding during the pandemic. In the public letter posted to OKLlama.com months before Mr. Morales' release, Kendrick began by saying, quote, I spend most of my days with fleeting thoughts, riding, listening, and collecting old beach cruisers. The morning rides keep me on a hill of silence. I go months without a phone.

In Rich Spirit, it feels like we're experiencing this reflective solitude, privy to Kendrick's fleeting thoughts, wrestling his own ego as he rides toward a better version of himself. The morality can wait, feedback on low latency. I'm glitching from the face as my thoughts grow sacredly. I'm running out of space, ask Whitney, she okay? Nevermind a honey cake, why you lying on Benjamin? He turning in his grape, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't get it. Shit await the aloof Buddha, I'm Christ for the shooter, praise to the

Kendrick begins verse 2 with one of the more poetic sequences on the entire album. The morality can wait. Feedback on low latency. I'm glitching from the face as my thoughts grow sacredly. I'm running out of space.

He uses a computer technology motif to express the overwhelming amount of thoughts he's currently processing, causing him to glitch and feel like he's running out of storage space to contain everything he's thinking and feeling. The opening line "The morality can wait" is noteworthy as it's the first time we've heard a mention of the Mr. Morale half of the album title. In my reading of the line, Kendrick is saying his public role as a conscious moral leader has to wait because he's going through so much in his personal life, hence his five-year public absence.

He continues with his first direct reference to Whitney since Worldwide Steppers, saying, "'Ask Whitney, she okay, never mind 100k.'"

It's interesting that Kendrick pairs checking on Whitney's emotional health with a reference to a large sum of money. It seems to imply that despite Kendrick's financial support, he was not able to provide emotional support. He could also be saying he'd be willing to give any amount of money to make her okay or make things okay between them. This leads to the next lines, why you lying on Benjamin? He turning in his grave, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't give this shit away.

This appears to depict an internal battle about Kendrick's relationship with money. He cites Benjamin Franklin, who appears on the $100 bill, and who was a famous moralist that invented the phrase "honesty is the best policy." This adds a layer to Kendrick's double mention of lying in this passage.

as he claims not to care about money while still clearly caring about it. He then compares himself to three of history's most well-known spiritual leaders, saying, Kendrick expresses his dichotomous nature by pairing each of these figures with an opposing quality.

The Buddha is often depicted smiling, so Kendrick pairs him with aloof, which means unfriendly and distant. Christ was known for his radical nonviolence, so he pairs him with a shooter. And while not as extreme as Jesus, the Prophet Muhammad also advocated for nonviolence, thus he gets paired with a threat of noosing someone. So Kendrick here is clearly developing the dichotomous theme of the track. He embodies the qualities of both Eckhart Tolle and Kodak Black. Miss

Mr. Morale, and The Big Stepper. Hey, Pete, Michael Friedman, my friend's cooler. Primary, so to resell, fight stupid. I would never love my life on a computer. IG, I get you life for a chikabuya. Boy, power to ya, love him from a distance. Why you always in the mirror more than the bitches? And my cousin tried to sue me like he got the privilege. But I didn't lose sleep because I got the spirit. Hey, bitch.

Kendrick follows his boast about influential spiritual figures by naming an influential product figure, Michael Friedman, head of complications at AP or Audemars Piguet, a luxury Swiss watch company. The irony of boasting about Michael Friedman in the same breath as Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad shouldn't be lost on us here, as it displays Kendrick still firmly in the grip of his struggle with materialism, despite his earlier claim about not caring about money. Bragging that his friends are cooler is a double entendre.

Having high-profile friends like Michael Friedman make his friends cooler than most, but cooler is also a play on ice, a nod to diamond-encrusted AP watches. This latter meaning displays the sad reality of Kendrick's materialism. It's as if his expensive jewelry are his friends, and we wonder if he even really knows Friedman at all.

This dynamic recalls the Rich Spirit music video, where we see Kendrick utterly alone inside his large, luxurious home, surrounded by expensive furniture. Despite this sad reality, Kendrick continues to judge the outside world, rapping, "'I would never live my life on a computer. IG'll get you live for a chickaboo ya. More power to ya. Love em from a distance. Why you always in the mirror more than the bitches?'

While attempting to adopt a "to each their own" mentality here, Kendrick takes direct shots at those living through social media and curating an inauthentic online identity and image. Specifically, he shoots at men who take mirror selfies, who prioritize their image more than their character. It appears this is specifically triggering for Kendrick, who has committed himself to looking into a different kind of mirror, the mirror of true introspection, and battling with what he sees.

And I think this gets at the heart of Kendrick's disgust for the image curation of social media, because he sees people putting effort into the facade of who they are on the surface, rather than doing the hard work of actually improving who they are at their core. And to a similar point, Kendrick ends the verse citing a cousin who tried to sue him, presumably for a quick money grab, another person looking for a shortcut and not willing to put in real work themselves.

However, Kendrick claims he didn't lose sleep over it. Instead, he stayed true to his word about those who play with him. He turned his cousin into a song.

Rich nigga, broke phone Tryna keep the balance, I'm staying strong Stop playing with me before I turn you to a song Stop playing with me before I turn you to a song Ayy, bitch I'm attractive Can't fuck with you no more, I'm fasting Bitch I'm attractive Can't fuck with you no more, I'm fasting

With the context of the second verse, Rich Spirit's chorus takes on an additional layer. While our immediate reading was Kendrick fasting from sex with multiple women, we now understand he's cutting out anyone and everyone he feels like it's a negative spiritual influence. This includes fake friends, fake family members, and fake online actors who parade their life on social media. He's detoxing from a toxic world, insulating himself from its influence, and forming a tight-knit brotherhood with those he trusts the most. Friends.

The beginning of verse 3 is characterized by the word "brother" punctuating the first 8 bars.

Aside from providing a rhythmic lyrical cadence, it's not entirely clear what this repeating brother flow is intended to indicate. However, we can look to the Rich Spirit music video during this section of the song for what might be our best lead. It's here that Kendrick adopts a military-like stance, where he marches in place and salutes as if he's a soldier.

We compare this visual with the opening line of the verse, frat brother, real n-word, that brother, and speculate that the brother refrain indicates a brotherhood or fraternity like you'd find in the military, a group of well-trained, disciplined men bonded by their need of survival. This interpretation might make sense in light of lines like, spirit medium, I don't rap brother, headed there now, are you strapped brother?

Kendrick is guiding this brotherhood into heavy emotional and psychological territory through his music, which he sees more as a spiritual practice than it is simply rapping. Specifically, the phrase spirit medium is a direct reference to mediumship, the practice of mediating communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as spirit mediums, which Kendrick appears to be identifying with.

In recent years, Kendrick has more explicitly rapped from the perspective of dead spirits like Nipsey Hussle on The Heart Part 5, Martin Luther King and Michael Jackson on his unreleased song called Prayer, and two unnamed black musicians on GNX's Reincarnated, a song that is itself a reincarnation of Tupac.

Indeed, Tupac has long been a spirit Kendrick has felt a connection to, as Kendrick claims that Tupac once visited him in a dream and told him not to let his music die. And at the end of To Pimp a Butterfly, the spirit of Tupac tells Kendrick that hip-hop is a spirit medium, that his words channel the spirits of his fallen brothers. Because it's spirits. We ain't even really rapping. We're just letting our dead homies tell stories for us.

Kendrick continues Rich Spirit with a series of protocols that he and his brotherhood follow. He suggests that one should remain suspicious of your friends and police, he once again disavows clout chasing or seeking external validation through disingenuous means, and then reiterates his fasting regimen. This time he specifies he's fasting four days out of the week, which in this context appears to be intermittent fasting from food.

This recalls Kendrick's many spiritual experimentations he named on World Wide Steppers, where he cited meditation, Dr. Sebi's alkaline diet, chakra work, and past life regression therapy. Kendrick seems to be trying anything and everything to cleanse himself and purify his spirit. I pray to God that you realize the entourage is dead. I pray to God that you're not lacking when you off the meds. I pray to God she know them cobble chips don't last forever. Bitch, I'll argue with her mama, go and get them kids.

Kendrick's list of protocols continue, but the repeating "brother" is exchanged for an anaphora, where he begins each line with "I pray to God." However, the phrase ends up feeling a little facetious because his prayers are simply used to undermine some unnamed person he's criticizing.

He prays this person realizes their entourage is dead or can't be trusted. He prays this person understands the meds or drugs they're indulging in are masking their insecurities. He prays this person realizes their girl might only be around because they're financially rich. Like the drugs, the combo trips, or luxurious vacations are a facade, a temporary escape from reality.

Finally, Kendrick praises person actually prays when somebody dies, saying thoughts and prayers way better off timelines. False claiming, not cute, I'm mortified.

As he does a few times on the album, Kendrick calls out those who post about tragedies only to receive public sympathy or to look like a caring person. It recalls our conversation of the gospel according to Matthew in N95, where Jesus spoke about the hypocrites who make a show of their good deeds to be perceived as a good or devout person in the eyes of others. Quote, Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Unquote.

Jesus goes on to give three examples of things these people do publicly to be seen, donating, praying, and fasting. Quote, When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen, then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Unquote.

Now this is where the conceptual brilliance of Rich Spirit's final verse truly reveals itself. Because Kendrick is calling out others who pray in public in the very verse that he's quite literally making his prayers public. And this in a song in which Kendrick quite literally boasts about fasting, both on the hook and in the third verse.

This is Kendrick's rich spirit on full display, his spiritual ego, the hypocrisy of feeling like he has the right to judge others because he is spiritually superior. This hypocrisy is particularly potent knowing that Kendrick himself struggled with the very things he criticized this unnamed person for.

Kendrick, the artist and storyteller, seems fully aware of this contradiction. In the song's music video, Kendrick is quite literally wrapping this entire section into a mirror. And so while he might think he's rapping about someone else, he shows us that he's equally rapping about himself. He is still possessed by his ego, boasting about his spiritual gains while judging those whose spirit isn't as rich as his own.

According to Eckhart Tolle's work, this is the classic behavior of the ego. Because the ego doesn't particularly care what specific thing it identifies with. It will exploit anything to validate itself and its endless need for superiority by comparison. And in Rich Spirit, Kendrick's ego is using his spirituality like it once used his material wealth. Instead of boasting about being financially rich, he's boasting about being spiritually rich.

Thus we get the verse's final line: "The new earth and hot pursuit, two hundred lives."

Kendrick here name drops Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth, which as we've discussed throughout this season, seems like it was extremely influential to the themes of Mr. Morale. In our episode on United in Grief, we discussed how the book's central concept is Tolle's belief that the external state of the world is a manifestation of the internal states of our mind. Thus, if we want to transform the world and minimize mass suffering, we must transform our minds.

He dubs this transformation of the mind a new heaven and the resulting transformation of the world a new earth. Quote, collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically connected. A new heaven is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness and a new earth is its reflection in the physical realm. Unquote.

It would appear that during his extended isolation away from the public eye, Kendrick was reading A New Earth and feeling like he was working toward this transformed state of consciousness, therefore contributing to the transformation of the world. And that's great and all, but let's look at the way Kendrick presents this idea in Rich Spirit. He says, "'False claiming, not cute, I'm mortified. The new earth in hot pursuit, 200 lives.'"

And hot pursuit is a phrase typically used when describing the police pursuing a suspect that's on the run. And so when Kendrick says he's disgusted by those who are false claiming online, he's essentially weaponizing the idea of a new earth, proclaiming these people are spiritually inferior and that they're kind of living on borrowed time, that the spiritual evolution of the world will eliminate them because they aren't as spiritually rich as he is. Conclusions

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells an illustrative story about spiritual humility to his disciples: "To some who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everyone else,

else. Jesus told this parable.

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

In Rich Spirit, we clearly find Kendrick as the Pharisee, prideful in his own spiritual righteousness and looking down on others. He's judging the world and ignoring the mirror, not realizing his ego has slipped in through the back door. While we understand Kendrick is heading in the right direction, abstaining from his sex addiction and prioritizing his own healing, at this point in his journey, on track 7 of 18, we also understand he's still firmly in the grip of the story's central antagonist, his ego.

Thus, the song title "Rich Spirit" is the perfect distillation of the dichotomy of Kendrick Lamar at this stage of the story. It conveys both the inherent spiritual value of every human being, a la his point about Kodak Black on the previous track, and the ego's control of his own spiritual progress. When performing "Rich Spirit" live on the Big Steppers tour, Kendrick actually acknowledged the ego's influence on the song. Directly after the song is performed, we hear Kendrick's therapist talking to him before the next song.

"Mr. Moreau, you've once again let your ego get the best of you. Must I remind you of how this went before?" As implied here, Kendrick's battle with his ego has been a cyclical one, and the song he performs next is "Humble", a similarly ironic track where Kendrick's ego is on full display.

Likewise, on Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, Kendrick's spiritual ego is exposed with the album's next track. Because if Kendrick was so spiritual, if he was so much more evolved than the people he's judging, then why on earth is he talking like this to the one he supposedly loves the most? Fuck you, bitch. Fuck you, nigga. Nah, fuck you, bitch. Fuck you, nigga. Fuck you, bitch. Nah, fuck you, nigga. Nah, fuck you, bitch. Fuck you, nigga. Fuck you, nigga.

Of course, this is Mr. Morales' next track, We Cry Together, a song we'll examine note by note, line by line, next time on Dissect. If you enjoyed today's episode, please tell a friend about the show, share on social media, or leave a review. It all really helps. You can also support the show by purchasing our limited Season 13 merchandise at dissectpodcast.com. All right. Thanks, everyone. Talk to you next week.