This surprise album is a collection of untitled tracks Kendrick Lamar has been performing live for awhile. While specific details on the album are scarce, and the very nature of its title, album art and song titles (or lack thereof) exude vagueness, we can assume by the dates attached to each song title that these are joints recorded around the creation of "To Pimp a Butterfly" (TPAB) that either didn't make the final cut because of sample clearance issues, they didn't fit the album sequencing or simply because they just weren't good enough.
1. "untitled 01 l 08.19.2014."
Right off the bat we got some deep-voiced dude on the intro. Thankfully that's over and now we've got some Kendrick rhymes. Coming right out of the gate with some fire bars. It's dope, but gut instinct, it sounds like a mixtape cut if Kendrick wasn't light years beyond still doing mixtape cuts. No hook, no bridge, just straight rhymes. This is that song Kendrick's going to invite a fan onstage to rap to in order to prove they're a real fan. That was fast, already onto the next...
2. "untitled 02 l 06.23.2014."
Pimp pimp hooray, ho, hey, ho, hey. Now this sounds exactly like something off TPAB, flute lines, horn stabs, Kendrick on some of that woozy flow. Oooohhhh...when that bass hits along with those hi-hats (goodbye Earth). Kendrick coming with some of that quasi-singing, goddamn. This is dope, if it had made the album you know "Get God on the phone!" would have become an instant catchphrase. I don't think I've ever really heard Kendrick sing like this, the way he cuts each word out at the end has so much style. "I've done a lot of dumb shit in my past" -- looks like it's time to revisit Yoh's article about Kendrick potentially being a murderer. Is there someone I can pay to master this so I can truly bang this properly through my headphones or speakers? What's Ali's PayPal? This last section, doesn't that sound like a Drake flow? Gonna go back to this one, but I can see why it didn't make the album, it doesn't really add up to anything bigger.
3. "untitled 03 l 05.28.2013."
Change of pace from the last song, this one's more straight up instrumental, has some real bounce. Definitely reminds me of some Roots from like six years ago. That girl with the "What did he say?" vocal hit is straight out of TPAB, who was that again? Oh, I get it, we're working through every race and ethnicity in each section, very clever concept. Man, the groove on this has my head nodding like a bobblehead doll with a seizure disorder. Another short and sweet one, wish this had been fleshed out into a full song, but can't ask for a finished product on an album titled "untitled unmastered."
4. "untitled 04 l 08.14.2014."
Some acapella singing off the jump, is this SZA singing the vocals? I'm pretty sure it is. That whisper thing Kendrick's doing is kind of crazy. Anyway, super sparse, just a stuttering guitar line and the occasional bass hit - oh, here comes a spaceship synth line. Man, if people thought the music that made TPAB was too "weird" their brains would melt out of their nose holes if they heard this. It sounds like a sonic Salvador Dali painting.
5. "untitled 05 l 09.21.2014."
Ooooohhhhh...I can't say for sure, but something about that bass line and these drums scream Thundercat and Flying Lotus. It's a safe bet. Just in case you thought live instrumentals couldn't bang, listen to this. Who is that girl singing? Man, I'll probably feel stupid later, but I don't even have a guess. She sounds great. Almost two minutes in and we still haven't heard Kendrick yet - oh, there he is, except he's quasi-singing. This one's all over the place, but in a good way. He really was on some outer-body experience recording TPAB. Is that Punch on this third verse trading bars with Kendrick? This track is on another level...I'm speechless.
6. "untitled 06 l 06.30.2014."
A real swing drum line (no Nick Cannon), man, this has some real Brazilian-type flavor. I haven't ever heard Kendrick quite like this. TPAB is jazz-colored with gangster rap, but this is just straight up jazz. Oh, and Cee-Lo singing a hook because of course he is. I miss Cee-Lo (the good Cee-Lo). Maybe I'm just not cultured enough, but this isn't grabbing me. Hard to judge an album of leftover joints like I would an 'actual' album though...is that a foreign language at the end or gibberish? Probably won't be coming back to this one.
7. "untitled 07 l 2014 - 2016"
Those woozy synths lines are...oh goddamn, and now those drums kicked in? Sweet Jesus just take me now I'm ready. More of this please, I'm back, resurrected from track six – I'm floating. This sounds more like it could have been a GKMC leftover than TPAB. Funny, this is exactly the kind of song all the people who didn't like TPAB said they wanted, and exactly the kind of song Kendrick doubters would have used as evidence that he's not a great rapper...wait...beat switch. Now it sounds like an orphan English kid singing about being from Compton - and a whole different beat.
This bass is about to break my headphones. If you ever wondered what actually mastering an album does, it prevents the bass from being too loud like this. And Kendrick's absolutely slaughtering this verse. Only halfway done with the song, another beat switch has to be coming...here it is. Kendrick is singing over a guitar, this is crazy good. It sounds like he was recording this in the dressing room or just him messing around. Kendrick really trying his best D'Angelo impression on. Interesting, but going to be hard to listen to it repeatedly. I'll take the first half of this song on repeat into infinity though, please. Thank you.
8. "untitled 08 l 09.06.2014."
Some real funk, this is that atomic dog, that dirty dog. Call up George Clinton, we need him on another song. This might be the song that most sounds like the rest of TPAB so far. Not in style, but these lyrics remind me of "All Falls Down," he's talking to women fighting between chasing cash, their dreams, and dreams of cash. Ooh, and the tempo's picking up towards the end here. This is the kind of song I'd really have to listen to at least a few times before I felt like I understood. That synth-bass line reminds me of some Michael Jackson sound is some real.
To be honest I feel like this is just a few of the many tracks Kendrick has locked up in a vault. Honestly, I'm not even mad at TDE for dropping this. I'm one of those fans that appreciate the overall work put into a project. These tracks here are just simply amazing, I seriously feel Kendrick really has no boundaries or limits to his artistry. What I've come to love about Kendrick and TDE, is that every move feels deliberate, planned, sometimes years in advance. We never get loose songs, mixtapes, freestyles, we only hear the music that people want to hear. A couple of these songs do sound like they need to be mastered and mixed again, but overall this is a solid project.
By Rico Johnson, the managing editor of Baller Blog and a hip-hop writer. I'm a wizard with my words. This is my Twitter.
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