"Probably on Mr. Morale"— Kendrick Lamar tells SZA about the last time he cried

Rapper Kendrick Lamar reveals the last time he cried was while working on his last album. In a candid interview with SZA for Harper's Bazaar's cover issue published on October 21, 2024, the Compton-born artist discussed self-transformation and learning to be vulnerable.

When SZA asked him about the last time he cried, Lamar revealed it was when he recorded Mother I Sober for his 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

"I would say the last time I cried was probably on Mr. Morale. That sh*t was deep for me," K. Dot said.

The deeply emotional track detailed the rapper's trauma from his mother being s*xually abused when he was a child and his guilt for having cheated on his fiance and the mother of his children, Whitney Alford. In the song, the artist noted that Alford recommended he should go for therapy.

In his conversation with SZA, Kendrick Lamar revealed he was a spiritual man. He added that it gave him the strength to be open-minded, which helped him evolve into the person he is today. When questioned what were the three contributing factors that led to the change, the rapper told SZA:

"The power of honesty and being honest with myself, perspective about the person sitting across from me, and learning that vulnerability is not a weakness. That last one probably been one I’m still developing."

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"The more I delve deeper into my music and the more expressive I get with myself"— Kendrick Lamar on learning to embrace vulnerability

In his conversation with SZA for Harper's Bazaar, Kendrick Lamar revealed that despite his growth, he struggles to overcome his upbringing— to suppress emotional vulnerability.

The Compton rapper confessed that he hated to talk about his childhood as it was "traumatizing." Lamar elaborated that his father was "tough," almost "militant."

"Every day you are expected to go to work, take care of your family, get back up to do it all over again. Being-a-man type sh*t, right? And he never showed no weakness. He never showed any emotion that could garner a one-up from the person sitting across from him," he added.

Kenny explained that he never realized he had internalized his father's traits. However, being an artist, he realized there was "no growth without vulnerability." The rapper elaborated that as a musician, his job was to communicate, which was why he embraced the "feminine energy."

"The more I delve deeper into my music and the more expressive I get with myself … that is the feminine energy right there. That’s not the bravado that I grew up seeing all the time. This is who I am, the soft-spoken me, and I have to own it," he explained.

The Not Like Us rapper asserted that "if (his) job (was) to communicate, (he) need(ed) to be able to communicate with everyone."

Kendrick Lamar also admitted that he wished he learned the "power of vulnerability" earlier in his life, adding that he could have had "more depth" and would have been able to connect with the people in the neighborhood.

Elsewhere in the conversation, K. Dot revealed that the first time he cried was onstage and that "(his) tears (were) all on the internet." Kendrick Lamar explained it happened when Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg passed the torch to him in 2011 as the successor for West Coast hip-hop.

Kendrick Lamar joined Dre and Snoop (along with Eminem, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Anderson .Paak) for the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022. The rapper is set to headline the next year's show.