"Purple Hearts" featuring Ghostface Killah

In street culture, “D” can be short for “dope” or “drug”. For example the term “d boys” is short for “dope boys”, which refers to drug dealers. Hence, “D speeches” could be a reference to rap verses and other speech which glorifies drug dealing.

Throughout his career, Ghostface has released numerous tracks in which he rapped about drug dealing. Most notably, in 2006, Ghostface released an album called Fishscale whose title is a slang reference to high-quality cocaine. Fishscale’s theme of selling cocaine is further developed on tracks like “Kilo”, “Crack Spot”, “Three Bricks” and “Shakey Dog.”

The idea that “D speeches” refers to Ghostface talking about drugs would connect to the lyrics of the hook where Kendrick says “I know y’all love it when the drugs talkin'”

• You got to look at your life right now and basically just try to do good deeds. Just do good. Listen—me cussing is a sin. Don’t look at it like its a bullshit sin. These are spells that we throwing around every time you cuss. We’re not supposed to even say that. I’m about the cuss again but I ask for forgiveness.
   

• I wanna rhyme about God, I wanna do a God album, a positive album so the kids and everybody will understand what’s going on. I want to tell what’s going on through my eyes. I don’t wanna give too many of my ideas away because people just be taking them. Feed the poor people, feed the animals, that’s one of the main reasons I’m here. God put me here to teach people and to lead people to his direction. I’m not a Christian, I’m a Muslim but God is one. I just believe in the Most High. I know what my duty is.  
  I’ve always been into Islam. I got a lot of questions and I got a lot of my questions answered through Islam. When I look at history and I look at all the prophets, I love them all from Moses, Noah, Jesus, Abraham, Solomon, David, Job, Ezekiel, John the Baptist, Jonah, all of them. I love them all because they all served a purpose. It’s like the stories I heard on all them prophets, I was fascinated by it.
   

The image of Ghostface Killah crying builds on the theme of crying that has already een established throughout the first half of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
 

The album begins with the song “United in Grief” in which featured a hook in which Kendrick repeatedly says “I grieve different” in between verses before finally saying “Everybody grieves different” at the end of the track. The final verse of “United in Grief” also ends with Kendrick saying “the money wiping the tears away” in reference to his attempts to deal with his grief through expensive, luxury cars, jewelry, houses, and guns.

Most notably, “Purple Hearts” comes directly after the track “We Cry Together”, in which Kendrick seems to acknowledge the shared experience of a “pain body” that leads to a cycle of conflicts in romantic relationships, including within Kendrick’s relationship with Whitney.

Given that “Purple Hearts” comes right after “We Cry Together” this line seems to suggest that intense conflict between Kendrick and Whitney or any two individuals in a marriage or mating relationship is really a cry for help—a cry is meant to lead both individuals to humble themselves at the feet of Jesus.
 

The story of the prostitute who cried as she cleaned Jesus’s feet has numerous parallels to the state in which Kendrick finds himself throughout Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
 

Much like the prostitute, Kendrick’s experience of living in poverty eventually led him to a degree of sexual promiscuity which was destructive to his relationships and caused him to distance himself from God.
 

Throughout the album, Kendrick seems to be searching for God so that he can ask whether his sins can be forgiven. This is stated most explicitly on “Mother I Sober” where Kendrick raps:
 

• Where’s my faith? Told you I was Christian, but just not today
  I transformed, prayin’ to the trees, God is taking shape
  …
  Whitney’s hurt, the purest soul I know, I found her in the kitchen
  Askin’ God, “Where did I lose myself? And can it be forgiven?
   

Jesus declares that the prostitute’s choice to clean his feet is an act that clearly demonstrates the love in her heart. This connects to a larger theme across the album where Kendrick repeatedly questions what true love really is.
 

• This ain’t Monopoly, watchin’ for love, this ain’t monogamy, y’all gettin’ fucked
  -“N95”
    
• Do you love me? Do you trust me?
  Can I trust you? Don’t judge me
  -“Die Hard”
    
• Early mornin’ wake-ups (Wake-ups), practicin’ on day-offs (Ah, day-offs)
  Tough love (Ah), bottled up, no chaser (Ah)
  Neat, no chaser (Ah), neat, no chaser (Ah)
  Neat, no chaser (Ah), neat, no chaser
  …
  I got daddy issues, that’s on me
  Lookin’ for, “I love you”, rarely empathizin’ for my relief
  -”Father Time”
    
• More power to ya, love ’em from a distance
  -“Rich Spirit”
    
• Now, if it’s love, I deserve to get some head on a balcony sometimes, sometimes
  And if I feel where your heart can be, you’ll still be a part of me
  I love my, love my (Love my, love my)
  Summer in the storm, I cannot conform
  (I cannot conform, I cannot conform)
  I just might love you still, just think I love me more
  It ain’t love if you gon’ judge me for my past
  No, it ain’t love if you ain’t never eat my ass
  It ain’t love if you just only tie me down because you seen me in my bag
  That’s why I’m anti-everyone before this mask
  -“Purple Hearts”
    
• You walk around like everything is in control
  Favor come with favors and you can’t say no
  Go out the way to make the coin available
  That’s what I call love
  The closest ones afraid to say they need some time
  The turnaround is life or death, but you don’t mind
  Go out the way to say you made the compromise
  That’s what I call love
  …
  But the time it’ll come to not be there when somebody needs you
  You say no and all you’ve done gives them amnesia
  One thing I’ve learned, love can change with thе seasons
  …
  They idolize and praise your name across the nation
  Tap the feet and nod the head for confirmation
  Promise that you keep the music in rotation
  That’s what I call love
  …
  I can’t please everybody
  I can’t please everybody
  Love gon’ get you killed
  -“Crown”
    
• You said, “Kendrick, ain’t no room for contradiction
  To truly understand love, switch position
  ‘Faggot, faggot, faggot,’ we can say it together
  But only if you let a white girl say ‘Nigga’”
  -”Auntie Diaries”
    
• Before I go in fast asleep, love me for me
  I bare my soul and now we’re free
  -“Mother I Sober”
    
  I realized true love’s not savin’ face
  But unconditional
  -“Mirror”

Much like Jesus’s critique of the upstanding member of the religious group, Kendrick critiques members of Christian groups who do not seem to truly love the people around them, particularly on the track “Auntie Diaries”.

• Demetrius is Mary-Ann now
  Remember church, Easter Sunday?
  I sat in the pew, you had stronger faith
  More spiritual when these dudes were living life straight
  Which I found ironic ‘cause the pastor didn’t see him the same
  He said my cousin was going through some things
  He promised the world we living in was an act on abomination
  And Demetrius was to blame
  I knew you was conflicted by the feelings of preacherman
  Wondering if God still call you a decent man
  Still, you found the courage to be subservient just to anoint
  Until he singled you out to prove his point, saying
  “Demetrius is Mary-Ann now
  Church, his auntie is a man now,” it hurt
  You the most ‘cause your belief was close to his words
  Forcing me to stand now
  I said, “Mr. Preacherman, should we love thy neighbor?”

It is fairly ironic that Kendrick is implicitly being compared to a prostitute because Kendrick’s 2011 album Section.80 includes a track called “Keisha’s Song” in which Kendrick tells the story of a local prostitute who continued to endure the hazardous conditions of sex worker in Compton because “she never heard of Catholic religion or sinner’s redemption.”

• She suddenly realize she’ll never escape the allure
  Of a Black man, white man needing satisfaction
  At first, it became a practice, but now she’s numb to it
  Sometimes she wonder if she can do it like nuns do it
  But she never heard of Catholic religion or sinner’s redemption, that sounds foolish

Tragically, Keisha’s story ends with her getting stabbed to death by a client.

• Keisha rushing to that
  Block away from Lueders Park, I seen an El Camino parked
  And in her heart, she hate it there, but in her mind, she made it where
  Nothing really matters, still she hit the back seat
  Then caught a knife inside the bladder, left for dead, raped in the street
   

After recounting Keisha’s story, Kendrick also recounts the moment after he finished recording the song when he sat his eleven year old sister down to listen to “Keisha’s Song” for the first time, presumably in an attempt to warn her against getting entangled in sexual relationships that could derail her life.

• Keisha’s song, mmm
  My little sister eleven, I looked her right in the face
  The day that I wrote this song, sat her down and pressed play
   

However, despite listening to Keisha’s song and receiving guidance from Kendrick, Kendrick’s sister still ended up getting pregnant as an unmarried teenager. After Kendrick’s sister became pregnant, Kendrick seemed to blame himself for failing to provide enough of a positive influence for her to make different choices in response to her sexual desires as Kendrick detailed on the track “u” from To Pimp a Butterfly.

• What can I blame you for? Nigga, I can name several
  Situations, I’ll start with your little sister bakin’
  A baby inside, just a teenager, where your patience?
  Where was your antennas?
  Where was the influence you speak of?
  You preached in front of one-hundred-thousand but never reached her
  I fuckin’ tell you, you fuckin’ failure, you ain’t no leader

• I met her on the third night of Chicago
  North America tour, my enclave
  Fee-fi-fo-fum, she was a model
  Dedicated to the songs I wrote in the Bible
  Eyes light green penetratin’ the moonlight
  Hair done in a bun, energy in the room like
  Big Bang for theory, God, hopin’ you hear me
  Phone off the ringer, tell the world, “I’m busy”
  Fair enough, green-eyes said her mother didn’t care enough
  Sympathize when her daddy in the chain gang
  Her first brother got killed, he was twenty-one
  I was nine when they put Lamont in the grave
  Heartbroken when Estelle didn’t say goodbye
  Chad left his body after we FaceTimed
  Green-eyes said you’d be okay, first tour, sex’d the pain away
  -“United in Grief”
   
• I don’t know how to feel
  Like the first time I fucked a white bitch
  The first time I fucked a white bitch
  I was sixteen at the Palisades
  Fumblin’ my grades, I traveled with the team
  The apache life, Centennial was like
  When Mrs. Baker screamed at Doughboy
  Mixed that with Purple Rain
  They interchanged the scenes
  Happy just to be out the hood
  With all the wealthy kids
  Credit cards and family plans
  She drove her daddy’s Benz
  I found out that he was a sheriff
  That was a win-win
  Because he had locked up Uncle Perry
  She paid her daddy’s sins
  Next time I fucked a white bitch
  Was out in Copenhagen
  ​good kid, m.A.A.d city tour
  I flourished on them stages
  Whitney asked did I have a problem
  I said, “I might be racist”
  Ancestors watchin’ me fuck was like retaliation
  -“Worldwide Steppers”
   
• I was never high, I was never drunk, never out my mind
  I need control, they handed me some smoke, but still I declined
  I did it sober sittin’ with myself, I went through all emotions
  No dependents, except for one, let me bring you closer
  Intoxicated, there’s a lustful nature that I failed to mention
  Insecurities that I project, sleepin’ with other women
  Whitney’s hurt, the purest soul I know, I found her in the kitchen
  Askin’ God, “Where did I lose myself? And can it be forgiven?”
  Broke me down, she looked me in my eyes, “Is there an addiction?”
  I said “No,” but this time I lied, I knew that I can’t fix it
  Pure soul, even in her pain, know she cared for me
  Gave me a number, said she recommended some therapy
  …
  I made it home, seven years of tour, chasin’ manhood
  But Whitney’s gone, by time you hear this song, she did all she could
  All those women gave me superpowers, what I thought I lacked
  I pray our children don’t inherit me and feelings I attract
  -“Mother I Sober”

The phrase “sweet Jesus” has been used to address Jesur in several well known church songs and hymns. One of the earliest references can be found in an 1861 Roman Catholic hymn called “In This Sacrament, Sweet Jesus”.

• In this Sacrament, sweet Jesus,
  Thou didst give Thy Flesh and Blood,
  With Thy soul and God-head also,
  As our own most precious food.

In those context of that hymn, Jesus is described as being “sweet” because of the Roman Catholic conviction that the bread and wine of the communion meal truly become Jesus’s body and blood as Jesus himself declared when he first established the tradition of the communion meal just before his arrest, crucifixion and resurrection.

• Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when Jesus had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. -Matthew 26:26-28

Notably, Jesus explained that the wine which becomes his blood is meant to be poured into the mouths of his followers so that their sins could be forgiven. This connects to the story of Jesus forgiving all the sins of the prostitute who cried as she cleaned his feet.
 

Moreover, the first verse of “In This Sacrament, Sweet Jesus” Implied that after receiving the body and blood of the sweet Jesus the correct response is to express a greater degree of love for Jesus.

• Yes, dearest Jesus! I believe it,
  And Thy presence I adore,
  And with all my heart I love Thee,
  May I love Thee more and more.

Similarly, the third verse of “In This Sacrament, Sweet Jesus” highlights the idea that Jesus conveys his love for sinful humans by offering his sweet body and blood for the forgiveness of their sins.

• Blessed be the love of Jesus
  Giving us His flesh and blood*

• [Kendrick Lamar and his team] hit my manager Mike. He was like, “Yo, I want you to do this record.”
    
  When he texted me, he said, “Throw ’the Elohim’’[in your rap].”
    
  I said, “Well, the Elohim is the Most High.”
    
  And Kendrick was like, “Exactly.”

Throughout the Bible the biblical authors frequently emphasize that “the Elohim” / God transcends all creation and cannot be seen in His entirety. However, the biblical authors also highlight a few rare occasions in which a few select people are able to see a partial glimpse of “the Elohim” / God.
 

For instance, in the Old Testament book of Exodus after God freed the Israelites from slavery to the Egyptians, gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments and entered into a covenant agreement to be “the Elohim” of the Israel, God invited Moses, the Israelite priests (Aaron, Nadab and Abihu) and seventy ruling elders of the community to come up Mount Sinai where they saw “the Elohim” / God and ate a meal with “the Elohim” / God.

• Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not reach out with His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.
  -Exodus 24:9-11

Forty days after seeing “the Elohim” / God, as Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving more instructions from God, all the priests and elders along with the rest of the Israelites decided to make an idol so that they could have an elohim who they could see whenever they wanted to see. They then made and worshiped a golden calf idol which broke the first two commandments which had forbidden them from worshipping any Elohim other than Yahweh or making an idol of any Elohim.
 

Moses was one of the only leaders who did not worship the golden calf idol. As a result, Moses was the only Israelite leader who was allowed to back up Mount Sinai and see God in an even more glorious glimpse.

• *Then *Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!”
    
  And Yahweh, the Lord, said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Yahweh, the Lord. Yahweh, the Lord, further said, “You cannot see My face, for humans shall not see Me and live!”
    
  Then Yahweh, the Lord, said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."
    
  -Exodus 33:18-23
   

One of Jesus’s most famous set of teachings is recounted in St. Matthew’s account of the Gospel in chapters 5 through 7. This set of teachings is commonly referred to as the “Sermon on the Mount” in reference to the location in which Jesus was teaching. Similar to Moses, Jesus went up a mountain and taught his disciples about how to truly follow God’s commandments. (See the Bible Project “Sermon on the Mount” video series for more details)
 

This set of teachings begin with a set of nine “blessings” (also called “beatitudes” from the Latin beatitudo meaning “fortunate” or “in a happy state of being”). Jesus used these “blessings” to highlight the kinds of people who will receive favorable treatment or blessings from God. One of these nine “blessings” is:

• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

This proclamation that the “pure in heart” are the ones who will see God aligns with the stories from Exodus where Moses kept his heart pure from idolatry and was thus able to see God while the priests, ruling elders and the rest of the Israelites were no longer able to see God after they broke God’s commandments by making the golden calf idol.
 

The idea that the “pure in heart” will see God also seems to provide further motivation for Ghostface to “purify” his “D-speeches” so that he can see “the Elohim”.

It might also be notable that the Sermon on the Mount begins with nine blessings and “Purple Hearts” is the ninth track on Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
 

The number 9 is often seen as an important and symbolic number within the New Testament and later Christian church tradition. The symbolism of the number 9 is derived from the fact that the number 3 is very significant and 9 is 3 x 3.
 

The significance of the number 3 is first established in the Old Testament. Most notably…
 

1. In Genesis, God appeared to a pivotal figure named Abraham in the form of 3 angels.
    
2. When Jonah was swallowed by the fish he was in the “belly of the beast” for 3 days and 3 nights before he was brought back up to the land of the living.

These Old Testament occurrences of the number 3 were picked up by many Judeans in Jesus’s time. Jesus’s followers saw the occurrences as signs which pointed to…
 

1. God being revealed as “one God in three persons” (God the Father, God the Son-aka Jesus-,and God the Holy Spirit), which early Christians began to refer to as “the Trinity”
    
2. Jesus being in the tomb over the course of 3 days

Furthermore, many biblical scholars who have closely studied the Sermon on the Mount have noted that the entire structure of the sermon can be seen as smaller 3-part sections that are nested within larger 3-part sections.There’s a great Bible Project “Visual Commentary” video which breaks down these nested 3-part sections.
 

The 9 “blessings” in the opening of the Sermon on the Mount seems to be a great example of this nested 3-part structure.
 

Consciously thinking in 3’s naturally leads one to contemplate “the Trinity” of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, which the earliest Christians believed to be the way in with “the Elohim” / God was fully revealed.
 

This is further emphasized in the most ancient liturgies or script for church service, including the current liturgy used in Orthodox churches, which has numerous instances in which something is repeated 3 times with some slight variation.
 

Most notably, one hymn or prayer that is featured in almost every Orthodox service says “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us” and repeats this 3 times. This means that the word “Holy” is said 9 times.
 

In short, using the number 9 seems to be a way that Jesus’s followers train their minds to think in sets of 3’s and thus see the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as the fundamental reality that orders the entire universe.

While it is exceedingly rare for any biblical characters to see God in the normal course of their waking lives, there are a few more examples in which a few characters have dreams or visions in which they see God.
 

For instance, the Old Testament book of Genesis introduces a man named Jacob who will eventually have his name changed to Israel and become the ancestor of all Israelites. At one point during a pivotal period of his life just before he would meet the wives who would give birth to his children, Jacob / Israel had a dream in which he saw Yahweh, the Elohim / God of Israel, standing at the top of a ladder to the heavens, above the angels and all other elohim / spiritual beings.
 

• Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he happened upon a particular place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and made it a support for his head, and lay down in that place. And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Then behold, the Lord was standing above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants.
    
  Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “The Lord is certainly in this place, and I did not know it!” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
   
  -Genesis 28:10-13,16-17

Similarly, many of the prophets among Jacob / Israel’s descendants had visions in which they saw Yahweh, the Elohim / God of Israel, enthroned above all other elohim / spiritual beings. For instance, the book of Prophet Ezekiel begins with Ezekiel seeing a vision of “the Elohim” enthroned as the “Most High” Elohim.
 

• Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. As I looked, behold, a high wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing intermittently and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like gleaming metal in the midst of the fire. And within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like a dome, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads. Now above the dome that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Like the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Yahweh, the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.
   
  -Ezekiel 1:1,4-5,22,26,28

In the Old Testament, prophets were typically the only ones who had divine dreams or visions of “the Elohim” / God. However, one particular Old Testament prophet named Joel prophesied that at some point in the future, Yahweh, the Lord, would “pour his Spirit” on all humanity and enable many more people to have divine dreams and visions.

• It will come about after this
  That I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity;
  And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
  Your old men will have dreams,
  Your young men will see visions.
  And even on the male and female servants
  I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
  -Joel 2:28-10

Within the New Testament, Jesus’s disciples declare that Joel’s prophecy is fulfilled during the Jewish holiday of Pentecost when Jesus sends the Holy Spirit (i.e. the third person of “the Trinity”) to fill his disciples with new thoughts and emotions that will allow them truly follow God’s commandments, live “holy” lives that are set apart from the rest of the world, and spread the “Good News” of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection to humans from all nations.
  

• When the day of Pentecost had come, Jesus’s disciples and apostles were all together in one place. And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different [tongues / languages], as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out.
    
  Now there were Judeans residing in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together and they were bewildered, because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? We hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty deeds of God.”
    
  And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were jeering and saying, “They are full of sweet wine!”
    
  But Peter, taking his stand with the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this, and pay attention to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you assume, since it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:   
  “‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
  ‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity;
  And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
  And your young men will see visions,
  And your old men will have dreams;
  And even on My male and female servants
  I will pour out My Spirit in those days,
  And they will prophesy.”
    
  -Acts 2:1-7, 11-18

It is notable that Kendrick has repeatedly depicted himself as a prophet going back to as far as the track “Mortal Man” from To Pimp a Butterfly and throughout the album DAMN..
 

Throughout Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick’s role as God’s prophet seems to be in question likely because of his adultery and sexual addiction.
 

In this sense, Kendrick could be compared to the Old Testament King David who was a great leader, a poet, a musician, a prophet and a devoted follower of God yet went on to use his power to commit adultery by secretly forcing his neighbor’s wife to have sex with him and then killing his neighbor after his wife became pregnant through King David’s adultery.
 

After God sent a prophet to confront King David, King David confessed his sinful behavior and repented. King David also wrote a famous poetic song about his sinful behavior, need for repentance and a prayer for God not to take God’s Holy Spirit away from David. This poetic song later became Psalm 51.

• Have mercy on me, God, the Elohim, according to your loyal love.
  According to the multitude of your tender mercies,
  blot out my transgressions.
  Wash me thoroughly from my inequity.
  Cleanse me from my sin
  For I know my transgressions.
  My sin is constantly before me.
  Against you, and you only, I have sinned,
  and done that which is evil in your sight,
  so you may be proved right when you speak,
  and justified when you judge.
  Behold, I was born in inequity.
  My mother conceived me in sin.
  Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.
  You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
  Purify me with hyssop oil, and I will be pure.
  Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
  Let me hear joy and gladness,
  that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
  Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my inequities.
  Create in me a pure heart, O God, the Elohim.
  Renew a right spirit within me.
  Don’t throw me from your presence,
  and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
  Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
  Uphold me with a willing spirit.
  Then I will teach transgressors your ways.
  Sinners will be converted to you.
  Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed,
  O God, the Elohim of my salvation.
  My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
  Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise.
  For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.
  You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
  The sacrifices of God, the Elohim are a broken spirit.
  O God, the Elohim, you will not despise a broken and humbled heart.
  -Psalms 51:1-17

It is notable that on “The Heart Pt. 3” Kendrick has previously rapped about how his rise to fame and success put so much pressure on him that he was compelled to read the story of David and pray to God to keep him from “falling off.”

• ‘Cause when the whole world see you as ‘Pac reincarnated
  Enough pressure to make you just open the Book of David
  And pray to God that you make it or live your life in The Matrix
  ‘Cause falling off is a sickness—I heard that it’s quite contagious

By saying “visions get blurry” Ghostface seems to be indicating that he and also Kendrick may have previously been able to see God more clearly. However, due to their impure thoughts, speech and actions, particularly in regards to “sexual impurity”, Kendrick and Ghostface’s spiritual vision and ability to see “the Elohim” / God has become blurry.
 

This idea of blurry vision also echos St. Paul’s First Letter to the church in Corinth in which St. Paul asserts that as humans living mortal lives in this world our spiritual vision is not clear. Rather we only see spiritual things as if we are looking at an ancient metal mirror which would have been unclear and blurry. However, St. Paul asserts that when the followers of Jesus die, are resurrected, pass through judgement and fully enter into eternal life, they will see clearly as if looking face to face.
 

It is notable that this teaching about seeing unclearly in this mortal life and clearly in the eternal life to come occurs within a larger passage in which St. Paul highlights God-inspired love as the greatest virtue in this mortal life and the eternal life to come while also defining what God-inspired love looks like in practice.

• If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
    
  Love is patient and is kind. Love does not envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails.
    
  But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
    
  But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
    
  -1 Corinthians 13:1-13

As has been noted elsewhere, love is one of the central themes specifically within the chorus and verses of “Purple Hearts”:

• I know y’all love it when the drugs talkin’, but
  Shut the fuck up when you hear love talkin’
  …
  How’s love when it’s haunting your soul?
  …
  Now, if it’s love, I deserve to get some head on a balcony sometimes, sometimes
  And if I feel where your heart can be, you’ll still be a part of me
  I love my, love my (Love my, love my)
  Summer in the storm, I cannot conform
  (I cannot conform, I cannot conform)
  I just might love you still, just think I love me more
  It ain’t love if you gon’ judge me for my past
  No, it ain’t love if you ain’t never eat my ass
  It ain’t love if you just only tie me down because you seen me in my bag

Throughout the Bible, the biblical authors use light as a motif that is closely associated with “the Elohim” / God.
 

In the first creation narrative in Genesis 1, the pre-created world is described as being in darkness until “the Elohim” / God commands light to appear as the first act of creation.

• In the beginning God, the Elohim, created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep water, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.Then God, the Elohim, said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God, the Elohim, saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.”
  -Genesis 1:1-5

Similarly, in the introduction to St. John’s account of the Gospel, St. John describes Jesus as the “light of humanity” and who “enlightens every human.”

• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of humanity. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every human.
  -John 1:1-5,9

Later in St. John’s account of the Gospel, Jesus taught that he is the “Light of the world.”

• Jesus again spoke to the Judeans, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” -John 8:12

In St. John’s First Letter to the whole Church, St. John summarizes the entire message of the Gospel / Good News by saying that God, the Elohim, is light.

• This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Finally, towards the end of his life, St. John had a vision (aka revelation) in which he saw Jesus as the Son of God who would one day bring justice to the patterns of evil in the world once and for all and create a new heaven and a new earth. In St. John’s vision of the new heaven and new earth he sees a new city of Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth. Moreover, St. John notes that in the new heaven and new earth there will no longer be any night and humans will no longer need the light of lamps or even the light of the sun because Yahweh, the Elohim, (aka the Lord God) will shine light on all humans who have passed through judgement into eternal life.

• There will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever.
  -Revelation 22:5

It is notable that on “Rich Spirit” Kendrick mentions the concept of the “New Earth” in connection to Ekhart Tolle’s book “A New Earth”, which takes its title from St. John’s vision in the book of Revelation.

• The New Earth in hot pursuit, two-hundred lives

The most famous example of a person being blinded by the light of God / the Elohim occurs in the story of St. Paul’s transformation from being a killer of Christians to being one of the most famous and influential Christians in history as he was largely responsible for spreading Christianity across the Roman Empire.
 

Prior to becoming a Christian, St. Paul-who was also known as Saul-was an upstanding member of the Pharisee religious group and was extremely zealous in his commitment to practicing Judaism as it had been practiced by his ancestors.
 

St. Paul never met Jesus during Jesus’s earthly life. However, after Jesus’s death, resurrection and ascension up into the heavens, Paul (who at the time primarily known by his Hebrew name, Saul) was living in Jerusalem when the first church in Jerusalem was rapidly expanding with people who were practicing traditional Judaism but were now also recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, or Christ, the anointed king about whom the Old Testament prophets had prophesied.
 

Saul along with the other members of the Pharisee religious group were convinced that the beliefs and practices of Judaism were incompatible with Jesus being recognized as the Messianic, anointed king. Moreover, since Saul and the other Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was God, they were convinced that worshipping Jesus as the Lord and the Son of God was a form of idolatry that deserved to be punished by death under the laws of Judaism that were given to Moses in the Old Testament.
 

Saul’s zealous commitment to Judaism as it had been practiced by his ancestors drove him to take on the responsibility of finding any Judeans who were now followers of Jesus, arrest them and bring them to the Judeans’ religious court where they could be imprisoned, tried, condemned and sentenced to death. Saul even got permission to go to the city of Damascus in modern-day Syria in order to hunt down followers of Jesus who had fled from the persecution in Jerusalem.
 

As Saul was traveling on the road to Damascus he saw a light from the heavens which knocked him to the ground and blinded him. He also heard a voice from the heavens which said “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul responded to the voice by asking “Who are You, Lord?” The voice replied by saying, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”
 

The voice also told Paul to go into the city of Damascus and wait for further instructions. However, Saul was now blind and had to be led into the city by his traveling companion.
 

After a few days the Lord appeared in a vision to a follower of Jesus who was living in Damascus. The Lord instructed this follower to go to the house where Paul was staying so that Saul could be healed, receive back his sight and become a messenger who would bring the Good News of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection to people of numerous nations around the Mediterranean.
 

After Saul received back his sight, he was baptized and soon began announcing that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. As followers of the Pharisee religious group rejected Saul and tried to kill him on numerous occasions, Saul began to announce the Good News to Greek speaking people throughout the Roman Empire and became primarily known by his Greek name, Paul.
 

Within the context of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Saul/Paul’s to being blinded by the light of God was a perfect example of someone who seemed to be a very noble person but was actually a killer as Kendrick discussed in “Worldwide Steppers.”

• I’m a killer, he’s a killer, she’s a killer, bitch
  We some killers, walkin’ zombies, tryna scratch that itch
  …
  The noble person that goes to work and pray like they ‘posed to?
  Slaughter people too, your murder’s just a bit slower

At the same time, within the context of “Purple Hearts”, St. Paul is a perfect example of someone who was speaking hateful and murderous threats against God’s people until God shut him up and forced him to listen to the voice of Jesus, the Son of God—a voice which came down from the heavens and taught St. Paul how to truly love others.

Here Ghostface echoes the line from hook where Kendrick says “Shut the fuck up when you hear love talkin’”. However, instead of saying “hear love talkin’”, Ghostface says “hear His love talkin’”
 

Within the context of this Ghostface’s verse, the pronoun “His” is almost surely a reference to the Most High God, “the Elohim”, who was revealed in visible form by Jesus the anointed king (aka Messiah or Christ) whose feet were anointed by a crying prostitute.
 

As we discussed in the line “It’s light—It’s known to tear retinas in a single gleam”, the idea of someone being told to shut up and listen to God’s love mirrors the story of St. Paul who heard the voice of Jesus speaking from the heavens to turn St. Paul from hatred to love.
 

In the chorus version of this line, the phrase “hear love talkin’” Kendrick seems to be telling us to listen to a personified embodiment of love. Hence, when Ghostface alters the phrase to say “hear His love talking” it seems to imply that God’s love can almost be thought of as a personified embodiment of perfect love.
 

Notably, this idea that God being the personified embodiment of perfect love is the same conclusion that St. John makes during his first letter to the entire Church where he teaches that Jesus’s followers should listen to God’s commandment to love each other because “God is love”. Moreover, St. John teaches that God’s love is fully expressed by Jesus, the Son of God, bringing reconciliation between God and sinful humans. Because of this reconciliation, humans who love each other have hope that after they die, they will pass through God’s judgement and into eternal life.
 

• Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the reconciliation for our sins.
   
  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
   
  Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because we also are in this world just as He is.
   
  -1 John 4:7-17

Ghostface seems to have referenced this passage from St. John’s first letter to the Church during an interview with MONTREALITY.
 

• It’s a war between God and Devil, man. And the devil is just doing his job so you can’t even get mad at the Devil because that’s what he came to do. But you don’t got to be a follower. If you had a choice to choose what gang you going to go to, I’m going go to the God gang because love always overcomes hate any day and God is love and the Devil is hate.

This passage from St. John’s letter to the Church, echoes Jesus’s own teaching that the greatest of God’s commandments is to love God and at the same time to love other humans (i.e. one’s neighbor).
 

Jesus gave this teaching after one of the experts in the biblical commandments given to Moses in the first section of the Old Testament asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is. Jesus responded by giving two commandments: “Love Yahweh, the Lord, your Elohim” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
 

• An expert in the law of Moses asked Jesus a question to test Jesus: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
   
  Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
   
  -Matthew 22:35-40

Jesus implies that these two commandments are simultaneously the greatest commandment because they both command humans to love. Jesus even says that the central message of the entire Old Testament (including the first section called the Torah/Law and the second section called the Prophets) can be summarized with these two commandments to love.
 

Later in the album on the track “Auntie Diaries” Kendrick references Jesus’s commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” when he stands up to criticize a Church pastor who focused on enforcing that someone should follow some of God’s important but lesser commandments while not showing much of a concern for whether he was personally following the greatest commandment.
 

• Demetrius is Mary-Ann now
  Remember church, Easter Sunday?
  I sat in the pew, you had stronger faith
  More spiritual when these dudes were living life straight
  Which I found ironic ‘cause the pastor didn’t see him the same
  He said my cousin was going through some things
  He promised the world we living in was an act on abomination
  And Demetrius was to blame
  I knew you was conflicted by the feelings of preacherman
  Wondering if God still call you a decent man
  Still, you found the courage to be subservient just to anoint
  Until he singled you out to prove his point, saying
  “Demetrius is Mary-Ann now
  Church, his auntie is a man now,” it hurt
  You the most ‘cause your belief was close to his words
  Forcing me to stand now
  I said, “Mr. Preacherman, should we love thy neighbor?”

Moreover, on the track “Savior” Kendrick admitted that he struggled to follow Jesus’s commandment to love his neighbors and thus could not be a savior like Jesus.
 

• The cat is out the bag, I am not your savior
  I find it just as difficult to love thy neighbors
  Especially when people got ambiguous favors
  But they hearts not in it, see, everything’s for the paper

With this line, Ghostface seems to be saying that “hearing God’s love talking” is such a transcendent experience that the human mind cannot experience it in its entirety. However, the human mind can receive a “small portion” of what it experiences as “God’s cypher divine.”
 

The word “cipher” (alternatively spelled “cipher”) has a few distinct meanings including:

1. A way to communicate secrets through encoded messages
2. Mathematics
3. The number zero
4. A gathering of freestyling rappers

Ghostface seems to be all these meanings simultaneously.
 

First, within the context of information security and cryptography, a “cypher” is a method of transforming or encoding a message to keep it secret. A cryptography cypher will often have set rules on how to change the unencrypted letters of the input text to be different letters, numbers, words or symbols in the encrypted output text. If someone knows the rules of the cypher, they may be able to “de-cypher” the output text in order to determine the input text.
 

On the surface, Ghostface seems to be saying that “hearing God’s love talking” is like hearing an encoded message that one has to decipher to fully understand.
 

On another level, Ghostface also seems to be giving us an de-cyphered message with the words “God’s cypher divine”. Each of these words have special significance within the spiritual offshoot of the Nation of Islam which is known as the Five Percent Nation, and with whom Ghostface Killah and other members of Wu-Tang Clan have been associated through numerous lyrics that reference teachings and concepts from Five Percent Nation.
 

One way that the Five Percent Nation communicates its teaching is through a cypher called Supreme Mathematics in which each digit from 0 to 9 each map to a word and another cypher called the Supreme Alphabet in which each letter from A to Z maps to a particular word.
 

For instance, “A” maps to the word “Allah” (the Arabic word for God). “B” maps to the word “be” or the word “born”. “C” maps to the word “see”. “D” maps to the word “divine”. “E” maps to the word “equality”. “F” maps to the word “father” and “G” maps to the word “God.”
 

Furthermore, “O” maps to the word “cypher” comes from an Arabic word which means “zero” and the numeral 0 is a round, circular shape just like the letter “O”.
 

Hence, the phrase “God’s cypher divine” maps to the letters “G-O-D”, which spells God. Hence, within the Supreme Alphabet, God can be envisioned as the one who conducts a divine cypher.
 

Additionally, the word “cypher” can also refer to a gathering of freestyling rappers. The use of the word “cypher” to describe such a gathering is likely derived from the fact that from the earliest years of hip hop, freestyling rappers would typically stand in a circle and take turns rapping, often using encoded language and references.
 

Hence, by saying “To the mind, it’s God’s cypher divine”, Ghostface seems to be saying that “hearing God’s love talking” is equivalent to listening to God rapping a verse or conveying encoded messages through the verses of the rappers that God has chosen to be in his inner circle.

It is notable that Kendrick has depicted himself as a prophet of God, beginning as early as “Moral Man” on To Pimp a Butterfly and continuing throughout DAMN., particularly on the track “DNA.” and “family ties.”
 

• I freed you from being a slave in your mind, you’re very welcome
  You tell me my song is more than a song, it’s surely a blessing
  But a prophet ain’t a prophet ’til they ask you this question:
  When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?
  -”Mortal Man”
   
• And Nazareth gonna plead his case
  The reason my power’s here on earth
  Salute the truth, when the prophet say
  I-I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA
  -”DNA.”
   
• I’m not a trending topic, I’m a prophet
  I answer to Metatron and Gabriel
  -”family ties”

On Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick did ask God to speak through him on “Worldwide Steppers”.

• Writer’s block for two years, nothin’ moved me
  Asked God to speak through me, that’s what you hearin’ now
  The voice of yours truly

However, throughout Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick also expresses the idea that he has lost his way and is somehow distant from God.
 

• I wonder where I lost my way?
  Been waiting on your call all day
  -”Die Hard”
   
• Askin’ God, “Where did I lose myself? And can it be forgiven?”
  Broke me down, she looked me in my eyes, “Is there an addiction?”
  I said “No,” but this time I lied, I knew that I can’t fix it
  -”Mother I Sober”

Hence, within the overall context of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, it seems like Ghostface Killah is the rapper who has been chosen to spit a verse as a part of “God’s cypher divine” while Kendrick really needs to “shut the fuck up” and listen to “God’s love talking’” through Ghostface.

Earlier in the verse, Ghostface rapped, “visions get blurry of the Elohim”. Here the blurry, unclear perception of “the Elohim” / God seems to also lead to unclear perceptions of the world due to “faded pictures.” This lack of clarity in the world leads to a state of chaos and “global madness.”
 

The use of the word “madness” seems to indicate some state of psychological distress or other mental health issue. Moreover, within the context of Kendrick’s catalog, the word madness is a clear reference to Kendrick album good kid, m.A.A.d city in which Kendrick depicts the city of Compton as a place that is afflicted with madness due to the effects of relational conflict, violence, drug addiction, generational trauma and other debilitating issues. These depictions of “madness” are most notable in the tracks “good kid”, “m.A.A.d city” and “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.”
 

• All I see in this room: 20’s, Xannies and these ‘shrooms
  Grown-up candy for pain, can we live in a sane
  Society? It’s entirely stressful upon my brain
  You hired me as a victim, I quietly hope for change
  When violence is the rhythm, inspired me to obtain
  The silence in this room with 20’s, Xannies and ‘shrooms
  Some grown-up candy, I lost it, I feel it’s nothin’ to lose
  The streets sure to release the worst side of my best
  Don’t mind, ‘cause now you ever in debt to good kid, m.A.A.d city
  -”good kid”
   
• If Pirus and Crips all got along
  They’d probably gun me down by the end of this song
  Seem like the whole city go against me
  Every time I’m in the street, I hear, “Yawk, yawk, yawk, yawk”
  …
  Man down, where you from, nigga?
  Fuck who you know—where you from, my nigga?
  Where your grandma stay, huh, my nigga?
  This m.A.A.d city I run, my nigga
  …
  Brace yourself, I’ll take you on a trip down memory lane
  This is not a rap on how I’m slingin’ crack or move cocaine
  This is cul-de-sac and plenty Cognac and major pain
  Not the drill sergeant, but the stress that weighin’ on your brain
  It was me, L Boog, and Yan Yan, YG Lucky ride down Rosecrans
  It got ugly, wavin’ yo’ hand out the window — check yourself
  Uh, Warriors and Conans, hope euphoria can slow dance
  With society, the driver seat, the first one to get killed
  Seen a light-skinned nigga with his brains blown out
  At the same burger stand where **** hang out
  Now this is not a tape recorder sayin’ that he did it
  But ever since that day, I was lookin’ at him different
  That was back when I was nine, Joey packed the nine
  Pakistan on every porch is fine, we adapt to crime
  Pack a van with four guns at a time
  With the sliding door, fuck is up?
  Fuck you shootin’ for if you ain’t walkin’ up, you fuckin’ punk?
  Pickin’ up the fuckin’ pump, pickin’ off you suckers
  Suck a dick or die or sucker punch
  A wall of bullets comin’ from AK’s, AR’s, “Ayy, y’all, duck”
  That’s what mama said when we was eatin’ that free lunch
  Aw man, goddamn, all hell broke loose
  You killed my cousin back in ‘94, fuck yo’ truce
  Now crawl your head in that noose
  You wind up dead on the news
  Ain’t no peace treaty, just piecin’ BGs up to pre-approve
  Bodies on top of bodies, IVs on top of IVs
  Obviously the coroner between the sheets like the Isleys
  When you hop on that trolley, make sure your color’s correct
  Make sure you’re corporate, or they’ll be callin’ your mother collect
  They say the governor collect all of our taxes, except
  When we in traffic and tragic happens, that shit ain’t no threat
  You movin’ backwards if you suggest that you sleep with a TEC
  Go buy a chopper and have a doctor on speed dial, I guess
  ​m.A.A.d. city
  …
  I live inside the belly of the rough, Compton, USA
  Made me an Angel on Angel Dust, what?
  …
  m.A.A.d city
  Compton
  -”m.A.A.d city”
   
• I woke up this morning and figured I’d call you
  In case I’m not here tomorrow
  I’m hopin’ that I can borrow
  A peace of mind, I’m behind on what’s really important
  My mind is really distorted
  I find nothing but trouble in my life
  I’m fortunate you believe in a dream
  This orphanage we call a ghetto is quite a routine
  And last night was just another distraction
  Or a reaction of what we consider madness
  -”Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst”

This global madness and its effect on both society at large and personal relationships in particular seems to be what Kendrick was describing in the second verse of “N95” and the introductory section of “We Cry Together.”
 

• The world in a panic, the women is stranded, the men on a run
  The prophets abandoned, the law take advantage, the market is crashin’, the industry wants
  Niggas and bitches to sleep in a box while they makin’ a mockery followin’ us
  This ain’t Monopoly, watchin’ for love, this ain’t monogamy, y’all gettin’ fucked
  -”N95”
   
• Hold on to each other
  [Beat switch]
  This is what the world sounds like
  Nah, fuck you, nigga (Fuck you, bitch)
  -”We Cry Together”

• I hope you find some peace of mind in this lifetime
  Whitney: (Tell them, tell ’em, tell them the truth)
  I hope you find some paradise
  Whitney: (Tell ’em, tell ’em the truth)
  Whitney: (Tell ’em, tell ’em, tell ’em, tell ’em your—)
  -”United in Grief”
   
• Ask Whitney about my lust addiction
  Text messagin’ bitches got my thumbs hurt
  …
  Next time I fucked a white bitch
  Was out in Copenhagen
  ​good kid, m.A.A.d city tour
  I flourished on them stages
  Whitney asked did I have a problem
  I said, “I might be racist”
  Ancestors watchin’ me fuck was like retaliation
  -”Worldwide Stepper”
   
• Whitney: You really need some therapy
  Kendrick: Real nigga need no therapy, fuck you talkin’ about?
  Whitney: Nah, nah, you sound stupid as fuck
  Kendrick: Shit, everybody stupid
  Whitney: Yeah, well, you need to talk to somebody. Reach out to Eckhart
  -”Father Time”
   
• [Whitney Alford]
  Session 10: Breakthrough
  -“Count Me Out”  
• *Intoxicated, there’s a lustful nature that I failed to mention
  Insecurities that I project, sleepin’ with other women
  Whitney’s hurt, the purest soul I know, I found her in the kitchen
  Askin’ God, “Where did I lose myself? And can it be forgiven?”
  Broke me down, she looked me in my eyes, “Is there an addiction?”
  I said “No,” but this time I lied, I knew that I can’t fix it
  Pure soul, even in her pain, know she cared for me
  Gave me a number, said she recommended some therapy
  …
  I made it home, seven years of tour, chasin’ manhood
  But Whitney’s gone, by time you hear this song, she did all she could
  …
  [Interlude: Whitney Alford]
  You did it, I’m proud of you
  You broke a generational curse
  -”Mother I Sober”

By saying “this global madness need intervention”, Ghostface seems to be suggesting that the entire globe as a whole is in a state of psychological distress or “madness” while continuing to remain unaware or in denial of the consequences of its problematic behavior. With the entire world being such a large and all encompassing entity which continues to deny its “madness” and problematic behavior, it would seem that God, the Elohim, is the only one who could initiate a “divine intervention” likely by means of “God’s cypher divine”.
 

Indeed, the story of the Gospel as told by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John is a story about God initiating a divine intervention because of God’s love for ”the world”. This idea is clearly stated by Jesus’s own words in St. John’s account of the Gospel

• God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him
  -John 3:16-17

It is also worth noting that in 2010 Lecrea, the most famous and influential rapper within the Chritian hip hop subgenre released an album called Rehab which included a track called “Divine Intervention”.
 

• ‘Cause I’ve been missing all the notes
  In the minor keys and the major ones
  And the key to life is coming to the end of it
  And embracing Christ
  …
  We all hanging by a thread cutting at the wires
  Ignorant that all the sin lead to hellfire
  And when I yell fire, they tell me false alarm
  ‘Cause they don’t smell the smoke and they don’t sense the harm
  Something worse than the black plague’s coming
  And nothing under the sun can save us from it
  There’s no hope but divine intervention
  And Christ saves victims who are dying from addiction
  …
  ‘Cause we all dying and we all trying
  To stay alive but the truth we ain’t all buying
  Those of us who buy it, We’re never bought from
  We gon’ live free forever in the Savior’s arms
  It’s all needles in arms full of life’s drugs
  Lust, pride, hate, death running through our blood
  Need a blood donor, need a transfusion
  He’s over hanging on the cross for your substitution
  So in conclusion, only one solution
  Trust divine intervention as your resolution

Furthermore, within tracklisting of Rehab, “Divine Intervention” comes immediately after a track called “Killa”, which expresses the idea that unchecked lust and sexual impurity will kill a person’s relationships with God and other humans.

• Uhh! I know it’s gon’ kill me but I just can’t let it go
  And the, taste so appealing it’s got a grip upon my soul
  These, honey dip lies mesmerize me
  Pride’s got its crooked fingers twisted all inside in me
  Fools walk the path I’m on, never to be seen again
  Sippin on seduction while we eatin on some secret sin
  (No one will never know) says the whisper in my ear
  And I know I should be over this but I ain’t seein clear
  And I ain’t leavin here, unless somebody save me
  Walkin to my grave, lettin evilness enslave me
  Evil looks so lovely covered in her lace of lies
  And the silky smooth seduction just manipulates my mind
  Her fabrical fabrication is fuelin my fascination
  While I’m intoxicated she starts her assassination
  I’m losin all my honor and my years to the merciless
  Givin all my life away but I’m just so immersed in this (killa)
  …
  Baby this is innocent (killa)
  It won’t even hurt a little bit (killa)
  I’m only here for your benefit (killa)
  I’m your every wish (killa)
  Come on and let me in (killa)
  Baby this is innocent (killa)
  And it won’t even hurt a little bit (killa)
  Close your eyes and let’s get lost tonight (killa)
  It’ll be alright (killa)
  You’ll see I’m not a (killa)
  …
  Her feet go down to DEATH, so don’t let her consume you
  Even though her heart is black, her exterior’s beautiful
  She’ll take yo’ life away, and strip away yo’ joy
  Pretends that she gon build you up but she just gon’ destroy you
  My friends fell low, when they was so high
  Got me runnin scared of myself, no lie
  And I know I’m gon’ die, I tried cold turkey
  But when I’m feelin worthy, Satan’s sure tryin to merk me
  I’m doin myself dirty, flirtin with what’s perverted
  I should follow the word but I guess I’d rather be murdered
  {ahem} Excuse me I mean martyred, cause I’m killin myself
  My sin conceived a baby, and we gon’ name her Death
  Breath {gasps} taker, she take my breath away
  Replaces it with poison, and I’m so swept away
  I need some prayer today, hope I wake up before they start my wake up
  Somebody make me break up, I’m datin a (killa)
  -”Killa”

Kendrick is clearly aware of Lecrae’s music and message. Back in May of 2012 a few months before the release of good kid, m.A.A.d city Kendrick publicly endorsed (aka co-signed) Lecrae while making a brief cameo in Lecrae’s music video for “Church Clothes”.
 

Later in 2024, Kendrick’s respect for Lecrea’s faith and commitment to the way of Jesus would become explicitly clear on the track “Watch the Party Die”. On that track Kendrick openly wondering what Lecrae would do if he was in Kendrick’s position while coming into conflict with “lame niggas” and the demonic forces that control the entertainment industry.
 

• Sometimes I wonder what Lecrae would do
  Fuck these niggas up or show ’em just what prayer do?
  I want to be empathetic, my heart like Dee-1
  But I will—
  It’s time to get these devils out the way, heavy metals on my sword
  …
  A nigga wonder what Lecrae would do

The Twilight Zone is a classic anthology TV series in which each episode tells a different science fiction, fantasy, or horror story—usually with a moral twist or psychological suspense. The Twilight Zone series is known for their eerie storytelling, surprise endings, and philosophical themes about human nature, technology, war, and society.
 

During the first season of The Twilight Zone, each episode began with a video montage and a voiceover which explains that The Twilight Zone is another name for “the fifth dimension.” This “fifth dimension” is referred to the “dimension of imagination” which exists in the “middle ground” in between light and shadows and between all other opposing realities that we typically experience in our normal state of being in this world.

• There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man.
  It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.
  It is the middle ground between light and shadow,
  between science and superstition,
  and it lies between the pit of man’s fears
  and the summit of his knowledge.
  This is the dimension of imagination.
  It is an area which we call
  The Twilight Zone.

The psychological, philosophical and moral aspects of The Twilight Zone stories are very similar in scope to stories that Kendrick is telling throughout Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
 

By saying that “this world’s in The Twilight Zone”, Ghostface seems to be suggesting that the “global madness” that has recently become more apparent, particular in the wake of Covid-19 and the global pandemic, is really an indication that the sane and peaceful existence that most of us are used to in America and the rest of the modern West is really a facade. The true reality of the world is far more strange, dangerous, and unsettling than most of us are willing or able to comprehend.
 

By saying “this is the fifth dimension” Ghostface also seems to be emphasizing the idea that this world exists in the unsettled space in between the light of God and the satanic shadows of sin. Hence as we live our lives in this world we are faced with moral choices to either move towards the light of God or towards the satanic shadows of sin.
 

At the same time within the context of Ghostface’s verse we should note that the word “intervention” is derived from the Latin word “interveniō” which means “to come between.”
 

Hence, God the Father has initiated a divine intervention by sending Jesus, the Son of God, into the world, into the in-between space of the fifth dimension in order to shine God’s light upon every human and give them an opportunity to walk in the light of life.

In the New Testament, standing in front of God’s door is a recurring motif that is used to discuss the future day when all humans will be resurrected from the dead and will face God’s “Final Judgement” based on their good deeds.
 

Most notably, in St. Matthew account of the Gospel (Matthew 25:1-13) just before Jesus tells a different parable about the final judgement being compared to a shepherd separating sheep from goats (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus tells an allegorical parable story about ten unmarried women, or virgins, who have been invited to be guests at a wedding banquet. However, they must wait at the door of the banquet venue at night until the groom arrives.
 

• All ten of these wedding guests brought oil lamps so that they would have light as they waited for the groom to arrive at any point in the night. However, only five of the guests were wise enough to bring extra oil with them in case the groom took a long time to arrive and they ran out of the oil that was originally in the lamp. The other five guests did not bring any extra oil.
   
• The ten wedding guests all fell asleep as they were waiting at the door of the banquet venue and were suddenly aroused at midnight when someone shouted that he groom was arriving soon. At this point, the oil that was originally in all of the lamps had run out. The wise guests were able to add their oil to their lamps. However, the wise guests did not bring enough extra oil to give any to the foolish guests who had not brought any extra oil for themselves. The foolish guests then had to walk to the market and buy more oil.
   
• While the five foolish guests were buying oil, the groom arrived and welcomed the five wise guests into the wedding banquet before shutting and locking the door behind him. When the five foolish guests returned to the banquet venue they pounded on the door and pleaded to be let in. However, the groom said that did not recognize them and refused to let them into the banquet.
   

In the traditional Orthodox and Catholic interpretation of this parable, the wedding guests are said to represent humans living in this world and the groom is said to represent Jesus. The arrival of the groom is said to represent Jesus’s “second coming” or return to earth when the world as we know it ends and all humans “wake up” from death in the “general resurrection” and must face God’s judgement as to whether they will be allowed into the eternal life that Jesus has offered to humans.
 

Moreover, as explained by respected Orthodox teachers such as the 19th century Russian monk, St. Seraphim of Sarov, the oil is said to represent the “grace” of the Spirit of God and the market is said to represent our lives where we trade by performing “good deeds” that lead to right relationships amongst humans and between humans and God.
 

• The oil in the lamps of the wise unmarried women could burn brightly for a long time. So these unmarried women, with their bright lamps were able to meet the Groom, who came at midnight. With Him, they could enter the bridal chamber of joy. But the foolish ones, though they went to market to buy more oil, when their lamps were going out, were unable to return in time, for the door was already shut.
   
  The market is our life; the door of the bridal chamber, which was shut and barred the way to the Groom is human death; the wise and foolish unmarried women are Christian souls; the oil is not the good deeds, but the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God which is obtained through good deeds and which changes souls from one state to another - such as, from a corruptible state to incorruptible state, from spiritual death to spiritual life, from darkness to light, from the stable of our being (where the passions and overpowering emotions are tied up like dumb animals and wild beasts) into a temple of the Divinity, the shining bridal chamber of eternal joy in Christ Jesus our Lord, the Creator, Redeemer and eternal Bridegroom of our souls.
   
  God the Word, the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, compares our life with the market, and the work of our life on earth He calls trading. He says to us all: “Trade till I come” (Lk. 19:13), “buying up every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). In other words, make the most of your time getting heavenly blessings through earthly goods. Earthly goods are good deeds done for Christ’s sake that confer the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, on us.
   
  -St Seraphim of Sarov in “On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit”

Similarly, in St. Luke’s account of the Gospel, Jesus tells an allegorical parable story about a homeowner who refuses to let anyone in after he has closed the door for the night. In this allegory, the homeowner represents God and the person being shut outside the door of the house is represents a person who was rejected by God after the “Final Judgement”.

• Someone said to Jesus, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?”  
  Jesus said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
   
  Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ and he then will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’
   
  Then you will begin saying, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’
   
  Yet he will say, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you who do deeds of injustice.’
   
  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
   
  -Luke 13:23-30

Also, in the Book of Revelation which concludes the New Testament, St. John sees a vision in which Jesus calls St. John to deliver a message to the church in the ancient city of Philadelphia (aka the city of brotherly love). In the message, Jesus declares that he is the one who opens and shuts the door. Moreover, Jesus declares that he knows the good deeds of those who are part of the church and says that he has opened the door in front of them so that no one can shut them out. The passage also alludes to the idea of Jesus coming back to judge all humans and determine which humans are pure enough to be part of God’s temple in the new city of Jerusalem in the New Heaven and New Earth.
  

• To the messenger of the church in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
   
  ‘I know your deeds (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name. Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.
   
  He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”  
  -Revelation 3:7-8, 10-13

It is notable that this passage from the Revelation contains a reference to a crown that is intertwined with suffering and hardship, which is very relevant to the Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers track “Crown”.
 

• Heavy is the head that chose to wear the crown
  To whom is given much is required now

The time of testing which Jesus’s followers must go through to receive this crown also mirrors the concept of God “testing your faith again” as Kendrick mentioned on the track “Faith” from the Kendrick Lamar EP.
 

• So the next time you feel like your world’s about to end
  I hope you studied, because He’s testing your faith again

Finally, the entire message to the church in Philadelphia (aka the city of brotherly love) is presented as the Spirit of God giving instructions for how to “overcome” which is exactly what Kendrick’s friend asked for during the first verse of “XXX.” on “DAMN.”
 

• Yesterday, I got a call, like, from my dog, like 101
  Said they killed his only son because of insufficient funds
  He was sobbin’, he was mobbin’, way belligerent and drunk
  Talkin’ out his head, philosophin’ on what the Lord had done
  He said, “K-Dot, can you pray for me? It been a fucked up day for me
  I know that you anointed, show me how to overcome”
  He was lookin’ for some closure, hopin’ I could bring him closer
  To the spiritual, my spirit do know better

As mentioned above, in St. Matthew’s account of the Gospel (Matthew 25:31-46) Jesus tells a allegorical parable story about a shepherd who allows the sheep and the goats to graze freely all throughout the day, but as night comes he separates the obedient sheep on his right side from the disobedient and destructive goats on his left side.
 

• Within the passage itself, Jesus explains that the shepherd is the anointed king who will sit on his throne at the end of the world as we know it and judge all people from all nations.
   
• The sheep are said to represent humans who did good deeds throughout their lives by feeding those who were hungry, giving drink to those who were thirsty, inviting the homeless into their houses, giving clothes to those who had little to no clothing, caring for the sick and visiting those who were unjustly imprisoned.
   
• Meanwhile the goats are said to represent humans who neglected to do any good deeds throughout their lives as they chose not to feed the hungry, not to give drink to the thirsty, not to invite the homeless, not to clothe those without clothing, not to care for the sick and not to visit those who were unjustly imprisoned.

It is notable that in interviews that were recorded and released after Ghostface recorded his verse “Purple Hearts” and even some interviews recorded nearly a decade before the recording of “Purple Hearts”, Ghostface has talked at length about his conviction that everyone will face God’s judgement.
 

During a 2024 interview on the Touré Show, Ghostface talked about how he tries to do good deeds everyday because he is convinced that “everybody got to get judged.”

• Touré: What do you worry about?
   
  Not getting a chance to finish what you done started before your time is up. I worry about when I leave this planet did I do enough. I know that this planet is just an illusion to me. I know that I’m accumulating my credit that’s going to show on judgment day for where I need to go. I believe when we here, that’s all we doing—whether it’s good credit or bad credit. If you’re a fucked up nigga, there’s a place for you over here. If you just passed, stay away from that place over here.
   
  Touré: You think you’re on the path to Heaven?
   
  Ghostface: No, no, no. You want to fight to go to Jenna. You want to live your life to try to make it to Jenna which is Heaven.
   
  Touré: And you’re on the path?
    
  Ghostface: I don’t know. Shit! I did a lot of foul shit. You better hope.
   
  Touré: But you have to fight internally?
   
  Ghostface: You got to look at your life right now and basically just try to do good deeds. Just do good. Listen—me cussing is a sin. Don’t look at it like its a bullshit sin. These are spells that we throwing around every time you cuss. We’re not supposed to even say that. I’m about the cuss again but I ask for forgiveness. But there’s a lot of things that we walk out our house that we accumulate that are sins that you don’t even know that you have.
   
  Touré: Is there a hell?
   
  Ghostface: Of course there’s a hell. A lot of people say heaven and hell is here on Earth and that could be true too. But at the end of the day you all going to get judged that which I believe being a Muslim. You have to get judged….What I’m trying to tell you is everybody got to get judged—everybody—regardless if you like it or not. The babies don’t. The people that don’t get judged is the the ones that might have died when they was like premature or 5 months old. But everybody got to get judged.

Additionally, in an interview with MONTREALITY, Ghostface lamented the problems of violence and hatred in low-income, Black communities, and suggested that these issue stemmed from the fact that the kids who were perpetrating violence had no spiritual direction never considered the fact one day that they will be judged for what they have done in this life.
 

• *We gotta stop this violence. It’s too much violence and you know I just been in Chicago and they just killed this little girl for nothing and you got these little kids going to school killing and it just gets too much. But I kind of realized something because these little kids I mean even the dudes that’s doing it the people that’s shooting a lot of them doing it for no reason at all.
   
  I think that comes from their parents cause now you got young parents having these little babies—people getting pregnant at 18 years old—having babies but they not even really adult theirself cause they don’t even know how to raise their own self. I think it’s based on that and I think it’s based on the fact that they don’t have no spiritual guidance. So they’re not afraid of anything—not afraid of anything. I’m a spiritual person it’s like I’ve went through that phase but not as heavy as the kids now because they don’t got no respect or nothing. When I was young I couldn’t curse in front of one of the elder ladies in the building and stuff like that. I could sell my drugs but it was respected.
   
  These kids now there’s no spiritual guidance. They don’t know God. If you knew God straight up and you had a personal relationship you’ll be scared the death cause you know what your penalty is going to be. See, you got to realize on Earth this is just a trial. We’re going through this. You can’t let your scale—your your bad outweigh your good, because for everything we do here we’re going to get judged for it. We going to get judged for it—good or bad.
   
  We got to remember there’s two angels on your shoulders at all times writing everything down even what you think. But these people these babies they don’t believe in the higher being like that. Like I said there’s no spiritual guidance so that just leaves them to do whatever they want to do. Like how you going to go around just killing people without knowing that’s going to come back to you? And it might not come back to you physically right here on Earth. It could come back to your brother. It could come back to your mother. It could come back to your kids. But it’s going to come back.
   
  It’s a war between God and Devil, man. And the devil is just doing his job so you can’t even get mad at the Devil because that’s what he came to do. But you don’t got to be a follower. If you had a choice to choose what gang you going to go to, I’m going go to the God gang because love always overcomes hate any day and God is love and the Devil is hate. So I go on the right side I let the left side just…you know.
   
  I know now and if I ever try to do go out of my element and be something else, I’m going to be beaten with many stripes. My penalty is going to be double hard because I know the truth. These guys don’t know the truth and so they’re not going to be held accountable for what they don’t know. It’s just simple as that, yo.

It is also notable that on GNX, Kendrick’s next project after, Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick seems to express the exact same thoughts about the necessary reality of the future day of God’s judgment.
 

First, the GNX trailer that was released less than an hour before the GNX album includes a song that is often referred to as “Bodies”. After a short intro, the first verse of “Bodies” begins with a three bar subsection where the first bar begins with the phrase “Reincarnated with love” and the last begins with the phrase “everybody must be judged.”  

• Reincarnated with love
  My Gemini twin back, powerin’ up
  No more handshakes and hugs
  The energy only circulate through us
  Everybody must be judged
  But this time, God only favorin’ us

These ideas about love and judgement directly mirror Ghostface’s words in that interview with MONTREALITY. Moreover, this subsection conveys the idea that when all humans are resurrected they will be judged by God based on whether they follow God’s greatest commandment to love God and love other humans.
 

It is also notable that Kendrick’s setlist at the 2025 National Football League Super Bowl Halftime Show began with Kendrick rapping the first verse of “Bodies” beginning with the line “Reincarnated with love” and including the line “Everybody must be judged.”
 

The line “Reincarnated with love” and the title “Bodies” also seems to be a reference to GNX’s pivotal track “reincarnated”. On “reincarnated” Kendrick raps from the perspective of the reincarnated and embodied spirit of Lucifer (aka the devil / the satan / the diabolical one / the false accuser). After taking on “body after body” this embodied spirit explains that his internal struggle between doing good deeds and doing evil deeds is in large part due to the fact that he has been “cynical about the judgement day” and thus distrustful or dismissive about Jesus’s teachings.
 

• Truth be told, I’ve been battling myself
  Tryna navigate the real and fake
  Cynical about the judgement day
  Reincarnated on this earth for a hundred plus
  Body after body, lesson after lesson
   

The image of Ghostface ”standing by the entrance” “in front of [God’s] door” sets up the image of Ghostface carrying “heavy baggage” as he waits for God to open the door and let him in.
 

The image of bringing baggage to the entrance of a house may imply that Ghostface has arrived at the door after a long journey, which could be a metaphor for one’s “life journey” or mortal life in this world.
 

Moreover, arriving with heavy baggage may be an indication that Ghostface has packed in order to stay in God’s house for an extended period of time, which could be a metaphor for eternal life.
 

At the same time the idea of carrying “heavy baggage” also seems to be using the common metaphor of “emotional baggage”. “Emotional baggage” refers to the unresolved emotional issues, traumas, or negative experiences that a person carries from their past. These can stem from relationships, family dynamics, childhood experiences, loss, failure, or any other significant life event. The “baggage” metaphor suggests that these emotions weigh a person down and influence how they think, feel, and behave—especially in new relationships or situations.

The burden of carrying emotional baggage for long periods of time is one of the most central themes of Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers most notably on the tracks “United in Grief”, “Father Time”, “Mr. Morale” and “Mother I Sober.”
 

• Poverty was the case
  But the money wipin’ the tears away
  I grieve different
  (Everybody grieves different)
  -”United in Grief”
   
• I got daddy issues, that’s on me
  Lookin’ for, “I love you”, rarely empathizin’ for my relief
  A child that grew accustomed, jumping up when I scraped my knee
  ‘Cause if I cried about it, he’d surely tell me not to be weak
  Daddy issues, hid my emotions, never expressed myself
  Men should never show feelings, being sensitive never helped
  His momma died, I asked him why he goin’ back to work so soon?
  His first reply was, “Son, that’s life, and bills got no silver spoon”
  Daddy issues, fuck everybody, go get your money, son
  Protect yourself, trust nobody, only your momma’n’em
  This made relationships seem cloudy, never attached to none
  So if you took some likings around me, I might reject the love
  Daddy issues kept me competitive, that’s a fact, nigga
  I don’t give a fuck what’s the narrative, I am that nigga
  When Kanye got back with Drake, I was slightly confused
  Guess I’m not mature as I think, got some healin’ to do
  Egotistic, zero-given fucks and to be specific (Ah)
  Need assistance with the way I was brought up (Ah, ah)
  What’s the difference when your heart is made of stone
  And your mind is made of gold
  And your tongue is made of sword, but it may weaken your soul?
  My niggas ain’t got no daddy, grow up overcompensatin’
  Learn shit ‘bout bein’ a man and disguise it as bein’ gangsta
  I love my father for tellin’ me to take off the gloves
  ‘Cause everything he didn’t want was everything I was
  And to my partners that figured it out without a father
  I salute you, may your blessings be neutral to your toddlers
  It’s crucial, they can’t stop us if we see the mistakes
  ‘Til then, let’s give the women a break, grown men with daddy issues*
  -”Father Time”
   
• I think about Robert Kelly
  If he weren’t molested, I wonder if life’d fail him
  I wonder if Oprah found closure
  The way that she postered the hurt that a woman carries
  My mother abused young
  Like all of the mothers back where we from
  SSI bury family members
  At the repass, they servin’ Popeyes chicken
  What you know about Black trauma?
  F&Ns, kickin’ back is another genre
  Tyler Perry, the face of a thousand rappers
  Using violence to cover what really happen
  I know somebody’s listenin’
  Past life regressions to know my conditions
  It’s based off experience
  Karma for karma, my habits insensitive
  Watchin’ my cousin struggle with addiction
  Then watchin’ her firstborn make a million
  And both of them off the grid for forgiveness
  I’m sacrificin’ myself to start the healin’
  -”Mr. Morale”
   
• I asked my momma why she didn’t believe me when I told her “No”
  I never knew she was violated in Chicago, I’m sympathetic
  Told me that she feared it happened to me, for my protection
  Though it never happened, she wouldn’t agree
  Now I’m affected, twenty years later trauma has resurfaced
  Amplified as I write this song, I shiver ‘cause I’m nervous
  I was five, questioning myself, ’lone for many years
  Nothing’s wrong, just results on how them questions made me feel
  …
  A conversation not bein’ addressed in Black families
  The devastation, hauntin’ generations and humanity
  They raped our mothers, then they raped our sisters
  Then they made us watch, then made us rape each other
  Psychotic torture between our lives, we ain’t recovered
  Still livin’ as victims in the public eyes who pledge allegiance
  Every other brother has been compromised
  I know the secrets, every other rapper sexually abused
  I see ’em daily buryin’ they pain in chains and tattoos
  So listen close before you start to pass judgment on how he move
  Learn how he cope, whenever his uncle had to walk him from school
  His anger grows deep in misogyny
  This is post-traumatic Black families and a sodomy, today is still active
  -”Mother I Sober”

“My brothers’ ashes” seems to refer to the cremated remains of Ghostface’s two brothers who developed muscular dystrophy and died young.
  In an 2024 interview with The Atlantic Ghostface was asked how his brother’s gradual health decline and disability affected him. Ghostface responded by saying:

That was a big part of my life. You’re a reflection of how you came up – you can’t ever shake that. Now I’m older, I can really understand the situation. But back then I was like: damn, once a person could walk and do everything like normal and now they can’t walk no more, they can’t function or operate like they used to. That’s a drastic change. It was hard to see – it really affected me.

Given the effect that witnessing such a drastic change would have on a young person, one can only imagine that Ghostface still carries some emotional baggage from his brothers’ illness and eventual death.

The use of the word “ashes” is also notable because the Roman Catholic tradition observes a yearly forty day period of spiritual renewal, repentance, fasting, prayer and good deeds called Lent and Lent begins with an observance called “Ash Wednesday.” On Ash Wednesday Roman Catholic church members attend a service in which a priest takes a mixture of oil and ashes from burned palm leaves and smears the mixture on each church member’s forehead in the shape of a cross.
 

As the priest smears the mixture of oil and ashes he says, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This quote comes from the biblical Garden of Eden narrative in Genesis 2 and 3. In Garden of Eden narrative, God creates the first prototypical human named “Humanity”—or “Adam” in Hebrew—by forming the “dust/ashes of the ground” into a human form.
 

In the context of that narrative, “dust” refers to gray or ash-colored particles from dead, decomposing, or burned plant material, such as is found in fertile humus soil. “Dust” or “ashes” are thus a symbol of death and the return of humans to the ground when they are buried.
 

God, the Elohim, gave “Humanity”—aka “Adam”—one commandment: Do not eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of the Good and Evil or else you will die. However, after some time “Humanity” disobeyed God’s one commandment and ate the forbidden fruit. After “Humanity” ate the forbidden fruit, God, “the Elohim” appears to “Humanity” and informs “Humanity” of the consequences that will happen as a result of this disobedience. In particular, God says that “Humanity” will return to the dust/ashes from which “Humanity” had been formed.
 

• Then the LORD said to Humanity (Hebrew: Adam), “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
  -Genesis 3:17-19

Hence, the “Ash Wednesday” proclamation “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is actually a reference to God informing “Humanity”—aka “Adam”—that he will die as a result of his sins. Hence within the context of Lent, “Ash Wednesday” is really a reminder that all humans are going to die and face God’s judgement. In light of this conviction, the forty days of Lent are seen as an opportunity for Jesus’s followers to repent of sins and do good works so that they can pass through God’s judgement and be welcomed into eternal life.

• You ever seen your mama strung out while you studied division?
  Your uncle ever stole from you, day after Christmas?
  Seen both of those in them county jail visits
  The first and the fifteenth, the only religion
  Noodles in the microwave, shark tank tidal wave
  Grandma shootin’ niggas, blood on the highway

In contrast to the previous line in which Ghostface seems to recall past moments when he a gun to someone’s head and threatened to kill his enemies, Ghostface now makes a hard switch to the present where he is actively killing greed and homelessness.
 

This idea of killing personal and societal vices also stands in contrast to “Worldwide Steppers” where Kendrick highlights how he and other humans have killed personal and society virtues such as confidence, consciousness, accomplishments and freedom of speech.

• Objectified so many bitches, I killed their confidence
  The media’s the new religion, you killed the consciousness
  Your jealousy is way too pretentious, you killed accomplishments
  Niggas killed freedom of speech, everyone sensitive
  If your opinion fuck ‘round and leak, might as well send your will

This sudden transformation from killing enemies in the previous line to killing vices in this line also seems to be explained by the word “love” which comes “in between” these opposing inclinations. Love coming “in between” these opposing inclinations to kill enemies or kill vices also reminds of God sending Jesus as the Son of God to come into this world, which is the in-between space of the fifth dimension.
 

Since, St. John and Ghostface have both testified to the idea that “God is love” we can also hear the word “love” as a direct address which could alternatively be heard as a prayer spoken to God (i.e. “God, we killin’ greed, we killin’ homelessness”).
 

It is also notable that the word “killin’” can be seen a reference to the stage name Ghostface Killah. Hence, the line seems to suggest that Ghostface’s very identity has shifted from an identity that was focused on killing his enemies to an identity that is now focused on killing vices.

On the surface, it’s not totally clear which geographic area “this land” refers to. However, since Ghostface was born and raised in the United States of America, a natural conclusion is that he is referring to the “land of the free and the home of the brave” as America is referred to in its national anthem.
 

Additionally, one of the most famous patriotic songs that American school children have learned for decades of Woody Guthrie’s 1945 song “This Land is My Land”
 

• This land is your land, and this land is my land
  From California to the New York Island
  From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters
  This land was made for you and me

Interestingly, “This Land is My Land” was originally written to highlight the struggles of poor and working class Americans in the face of increasing wealth inequality and the expansion of private ownership by wealthy, upper class Americans. “This Land Is My Land” thus serves as a declaration that America is a land that belongs to everyone collectively, not to the wealthy few who claim to own the land.
 

However, Ghostface seems to not care about being included among the Americans to whom this land collectively belongs. Instead he seems to want direct ownership over the land.
 

On the surface, Ghostface’s desire to have ownership over the land could be interpreted as a desire to become wealthy enough to buy lots of land. However, such an interpretation would seem to run counter to the verses throughout Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers where Kendrick, Kodak Black and Baby Keem all reflect on how becoming rich and buying property did not heal the generational trauma of growing up poor in America.
 

• The new Mercedes whip, black G-Wagon
  The, “Where you from?” It was all for rap
  I was 28 years young, twenty mill’ in tax
  Bought a couple of mansions, just for practice
  Five hundred in jewelry, chain was magic
  Never had it in public, late reaction
  50K to cousins, post a caption
  Pray none of my enemies hold me captive
  ..
  So what? Paralyzed, the county building controlled us
  I bought a Rolex watch, I only wore it once
  I bought infinity pools I never swimmed in
  I watched Keem buy four cars in four months
  You know the family dynamics on repeat
  The insecurities locked down on PC
  I bought a .223, nobody peace treat
  You won’t doo-doo me, I smell TNT
  Dave got him a Porsche, so I got me a Porsche
  Paid lottery for it, I ain’t want it in portions
  Poverty was the case
  But the money wipin’ the tears away
  -”United In Grief”
   
• I learned in trappin’, in the business
  Smart people makin’ horrible decisions, you know?
  Rich nigga, gettin’ my dick sucked after the show
  I ain’t gon’ lie, we were poor
  A bunch of lost souls in survival mode
  It wasn’t no way for us unless we found our own
  Runnin’ in stores, kickin’ in doors, nigga, give me my glory
  Nigga play with me, he ain’t gon’ live to tell the story
  You know, this the type of shit we glorify, everybody gang-gang
  Most of the people that you grew up with are now in the chain gang
  In the box, gettin’ pink
  Niggas shittin’ where you sleep
  Niggas shittin’ whеre you eat
  …
  Poorer than that bitch but she fall through
  Makin’ ends meet, daddy deadbeat
  Had to steal for a meal or you can’t eat, you know?
  Poverty
  Red Cross, food banks, W.I.C
  Now look at this shit, we own property
  -”Rich Spirit (Interlude)”
   
• Uh, I can’t please everybody
  Uh, I can’t even please myself
  Uh, I thought a new car would help
  Uh, but when that new car get old
  Uh, I’m sure to want something else
  -”Crown”
   
• You ever seen your mama strung out while you studied division?
  Your uncle ever stole from you, day after Christmas?
  Seen both of those in them county jail visits
  The first and the fifteenth, the only religion
  Noodles in the microwave, shark tank tidal wave
  Grandma shootin’ niggas, blood on the highway
  Crossеs on the dashboard, you just want a platform
  I wanna take evеrything that I ask for
  Catch me a body, I’ll put that on anybody but my mama
  She showin’ a pattern for certain
  I think it’s white panties and minimal condoms
  My uncle would tell me the shit in the movies could only be magic
  This year, I did forty-three shows and took it all home to buy him a casket
  Jack of all trades, got money out the way
  Put my heart in the faith, I’m good, love
  Cousin in the courts, heard he jumped off the porch
  Turn a brick to a Porsche, I’m good, love
  Catch us, you know I’m gon’ rack up
  I need the advance and the equity to match up
  -”Savior (Interlude)”

Instead of expressing the desire for ownership over land on the earth in “this world,” Ghostface may instead be stating that he wants ownership over land in the “New Earth” of the world to come. Here a “New Earth” would revert to the perfected world that St. John saw in his vision and wrote about in the Book of Revelation, as we discussed in the analysis for the line “It’s light—It’s known to tear retinas in a single gleam”
 

Jesus himself also seems to allude to the ownership of the land in the “New Earth” during the “blessings” (aka beatitudes) section of the Sermon on the Mount. We previously discussed one of the blessings—”Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”—during the analysis of the line “Dreams, visions get blurry of the Elohim.” Prior to saying ”Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”, Jesus began the “blessings” section by giving three related blessings which asserted that those who are poor, mourning, and meek will be the ones who will find comfort when as the inherit land in the “New Earth” that is ruled by the Kingdom of God/Heaven.
 

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the [earth / land.]
  -Matthew 5:3-5

The statement that the “meek will inherit the [earth / land]” is actually a direct quote from a poetic song written by King David which later became Psalm 37.
 

• Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
  Do not get upset because of one who prospers in his way,
  Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes.
  Cease from anger and abandon wrath;
  Do not get upset; it leads only to evildoing.
  For evildoers will be eliminated,
  But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
  Yet a little while and the wicked person will be no more;
  And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
  But the meek will inherit the land
  And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
  …
  Better is the little of the righteous
  Than the abundance of many wicked.
  For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
  But the Lord sustains the righteous.
  The Lord knows the days of those who are [mature / perfect],
  And their inheritance will be forever.
  They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,
  And in the days of famine they will have plenty.
  But the wicked will perish;
  And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,
  They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
  The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
  But the righteous is gracious and gives.
  For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,
  But those cursed by Him will be eliminated.
  -Psalm 27:7-11,16-22

Kendrick actually referenced the blessing about the meek inheriting the earth and highlighted the conditions that he was born into on the track “I Am (Interlude” from the Kendrick Lamar EP.
 

• The meek shall inherit the Earth
  Well, I’ve had this world since birth

Within the context of Jesus’s teaching, the word “meek” is essentially a synonym for “humble.” It is thus notable that on the Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers track “Father Time”, Kendrick recounted how his father tried to “break” or get rid of Kendrick’s humility.
 

• Daddy issues made me lеarn losses, I don’t take those well
  Momma said, “That boy is exhausted,” he said, “Go fuck yourself
  If he give up now, that’s gon’ cost him, life’s a bitch
  You could be a bitch or step out the margin*,” I got up quick
  I’m chargin’ baskets and falling backwards, tryna keep balance
  Oh, this the part where mental stability meets talent
  Oh, this the part, he breaks my humility just for practice
  Tactics we learned together, sore losers forever, daddy issues*
  -”Father Time”

Also on the DAMN.’s pivotal track, “FEAR.”, Kendrick’s experienced a breakthrough when he realized that he was really afraid his pride causing him to lose his humbleness while trying to hold on to things that cannot leave “this earth.” In the end, Kendrick seemed to find peace in the knowledge that Jesus would one day come back, which implies an awareness that Jesus will create a New Heaven and a New Earth.
 

• I’m talkin’ fear, fear of losin’ creativity
  I’m talkin’ fear, fear of missin’ out on you and me
  I’m talkin’ fear, fear of losin’ loyalty from pride
  ‘Cause my DNA won’t let me involve in the light of God
  I’m talkin’ fear, fear that my humbleness is gone
  I’m talkin’ fear, fear that love ain’t livin’ here no more
  I’m talkin’ fear, fear that it’s wickedness or weakness
  Fear, whatever it is, both is distinctive
  Fear, what happens on Earth stays on Earth
  And I can’t take these feelings with me, so hopefully, they disperse
  Within fourteen tracks, carried out over wax
  Searchin’ for resolutions until somebody get back

Within the context of how the words “hear” and “listen” are used within this verse, Ghostface seems to be suggesting that we can “hear God’s love talking” if we “listen to what the stars say”.
 

This idea that the stars and other celestial bodies can speak and tell us about the attributes of God, directly mirrors a poetic song written by King David which later became Psalm 19.
 

• The heavens tell of the glory of God;
  And the skies declare the work of His hands.
  Day after day they pours forth speech,
  And night after night they reveal knowledge.
  There is no speech nor language;
  Where their voice is not heard.
  Their line has gone out into all the earth,
  And their words to the end of the world
  -Psalm 19:1-4

It is also notable that when St. Matthew tells the Christmas story of Jesus being born in a small town called Bethlehem, St. Mathew recounts how wise scholars and astronomers from the east (likely from Persia or Babylon) noticed a new, unique star in the night sky. This star leads them to travel to Bethehem to see and worship the baby Jesus, who the star has revealed to be the high priest, the anointed king, the one who will overcome death and “the Elohim” who has come down to earth.
 

• *Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, [magi / wise men] from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Judeans? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the [Messiah / Christ / Anointed King] was to be born. Then Herod secretly called for the [magi / wise men] and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”
 

• After hearing the king, they went on their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on ahead of them until it came to a stop over the place where the Child was to be found. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And after they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.* Matthew 2:1-4, 7-11

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the main hymn of [Christmas / the Nativity of Christ] specifically centers around the role of the star in shining the “light of God”, speaking to people from distant nations and teaching them to worship God, the Elohim.
 

• Your Nativity, O Christ our God,
  has shone to the world the Light of wisdom;
  for by it, those who worshipped the stars
  were taught by a star to adore You,
  the Sun of Righteousness,
  and to know You, the Dayspring from on High.
  O Lord, glory to You!

Additionally, the Old Testament book of Daniel ends with the Prophet Daniel seeing a vision about the future day when all humans will be resurrected and face God’s judgement. While some will not receive a positive judgement, Daniel’s prophesy declares those who lead other humans to right relationships (ie righteousness) will “shine like the stars forever.”
 

• Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, some to eternal life, but others to disgrace and eternal contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the glow of the dome of heaven, and those who lead the many to right relationships, like the stars forever and ever.
  -Daniel 12:2-3

Throughout the Bible, the word “way” is used to describe a person’s “way of life” particularly the way that they treat other people within the context of relationships. Hence, “God’s way” is the way that God treats people and the way that God wants his followers to treat other people.
 

In the Old Testament, Yahweh, the Elohim, revealed the “God’s way” to a man named Abraham who would become the grandfather of a man named Israel and Israel’s descendants, the Israelites. Yahweh, the Elohim, chose to reveal “God’s way” to Abraham so that Abraham would command his children and his descendants to “keep the way of Yahweh, the Lord” by doing good deeds that would lead to right relationships and justice. By “keeping the way of Yahweh, the Lord” and doing deeds that lead to reight relationships and justice, Abraham and the Isrealites were meant to bring God’s blessings to “all families of the earth”
 

• Yahweh, the Lord, said, “Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. For I have chosen Abraham, so that he may command his children and his descendants after him to keep the way of the Yahweh, the Lord, through deeds of right relationships and justice, so that the Yahweh, the Lord, may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him."
  -Genesis 18:19

Hence, when God used the Prophet Moses to rescue the Israelites from slavery to the Egyptians and give them God’s commandments as instructions (or law) for how to treat other humans, God was fulfilling the purpose for which he had chosen Abraham.
 

 King David reflected on the instructions (or law) that God had provided through the commandments given to Moses and wrote a poetic song about the “blessed” state of a person who constantly meditates on the instructions of Yahweh, the Lord. King David declared that such people were following right relationships (aka righteousness) which is the only way that Yahweh, the Elohim, knows. In contrast, those who are wicked and reject Yahweh the Lord’s instruction will be rejected on the day of God’s judgement and go along the way of their own destruction.
 

• Blessed is the man
  who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
  Nor stand in the path of sinners,
  Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
  But his delight is in the [instructions / Torah / Law] of Yahweh, the Lord,
  And on Yahweh’s [instructions / Torah / Law] he meditates day and night.
  …
  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
  Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
  For the Yahweh, the Lord, knows the way of the righteous,
  But the way of the wicked will perish.
  -Psalm 1:1-2,5-6

In St. John’s account of the Gospel, just before Jesus’s arrest, crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus told his disciples that he would be leaving them to go to God the Father’s house and prepare to open the door for them. One of his disciples expressed confusion and said that they did not know where Jesus was going or the way to get there. However, Jesus responded by saying “I am the way”. This statement seemed to imply that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of “God’s way” towards right relationships (aka righteousness).
 

• Jesus said “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be. And you know the way where I am going.”
   
  One of his disciples named Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?”
   
  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
   
  -John 14:1-6

Furthermore, just before saying “I am the way” Jesus also told his disciples that his primary commandment was for them to love each other in the same way that Jesus loved them. Those who did not follow this commandment to love each other would not be known as Jesus’s disciples.  

• I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another. -John 13:34-35