Wow.. Those are the words that are coming out of almost every single person's mouth that I have talked to these past few days about Kendrick Lamar's surprise release of a collection of untitled, unmastered tracks. And wow doesn't even begin to suffice, if you gave the album a listen through, then you have witnessed history in the making.. And I know I am fanboy, if Kendrick Lamar comes out with a cereal brand named "Compton O's" I probably will tell you all about the secret and deep conscious messages that appear to me with those frosted O's.. but this is different.
This past year, KL performed two of the untitled tracks at late night shows, the first on Stephen Colbert and the second on the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon. There was no information released as to what these songs were, if they were tracks that were left out of To Pimp a Butterfly, or if they were releases for a new project. It could have gone either way..
Earlier this week, Top Dog Entertainment (TDE) CEO Anthony Tiffith tweeted that something was coming.. Most people didn't think it would be KL. TPAB was released only a little under a year ago, and without any talk about this project, it came as a huge surprise to many.
But here we are. Here are some of my thoughts on the record:
In contrast with his last three studio albums, "Untitled Unmastered" seemed thematically and categorically different. Unlike the other 3, at first glance this one does not have a very specific theme, character, or story, at least not as specific as the others. But as I listened to it more, I realized there was a theme and character to the album, it was Top. Top Dog Entertainment is the record label that Kendrick is under, or rather, with. TDE has been brought up several times in KL's music and you can tell, it is a big deal for him. TDE isn't simply his employer, or music partner, it is his family and in some ways savior. In Good kid MAAD city, we are told how Top "got Dot on the phone" and brought him in to do some recording, shortly after K-dot and his homies give their life to Jesus. The Compton native was a natural MC, and KL would admit that his life would be significantly different if Top didn't get a hold of him and bring him into the studio. This album, I believe, is an homage to the Dog, and all of the people that KL works and makes music with.
What we are witnessing with this album, has been a work in progress, to create a new musical genre. Since the beginning of hip-hop, there have been serious influences and undertones of Jazz, Soul, and Funk. The earliest DJ's spun James Brown and other funk kings. It was this music that was sampled and brought life to hip-hop. Even till today, Jazz, Funk, and Soul have continued to be blended into the music with producers like Kanye and DJ Premier grabbing most of their sounds from it. But this is different.. this is something else.. This is the blending of genres into one. TPAB had begun to fertilize this seed, Untitled Unmastered was the birthing of it. There were many moments listening to this album that I thought I was hearing James Brown, or Stevie Wonder, hell, even Prince. But it wasn't, it was Kendrick Lamar. He wasn't just rapping, he also wasn't singing, and it wasn't spoken word, it wasn't just Hip-hop with Jazz/Funk/Soul undertones.. it truly was Hip-Jazz-Soul-Funk-Pop.
There were many connections to KL's previous albums, but what you have to understand is that is always the case with his music. For Kendrick his art doesn't end at the last track of an album, it bleeds into his life, into his interviews, into his Grammy performances, into his features, for him his art is simply life.
On a production level, the album had many similarities to TPAB. From Terrace Martin's moaning Saxophone, to Thundercat's driving funky bass-lines, sounds from Bilal and Anna Wise, the album seemed related to TPAB. But it wasn't TPAB II, it was more like a kid, related to their parent, with many similar traits, but completely it's own person doing it's own thing. To me, it seemed as if Top Dog and Brain Feeder (The record label that features Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, and Flying Lotus) came together to produce something that breaks through traditional hip-hop and modern Jazz. This is BIG. Not only was the sound absolutely amazing, it is breaking ground in hip-hop in a way comparable to Nas, or Kanye, in the sense that it has the potential and power to create a space for many artists to creatively follow. Not that it would be replicated, but that they can see a whole new ocean space that is undiscovered, that they can bring their own imagination and work to.
KL has done it again. He has shown us that not only is he the greatest rapper of our day, but that he is more than that. He is a pioneer, an activist, a brilliant artist, who continues to dig deeper and deeper into thought and music. Simply said, he is just on another level than any musical artist today. To me, not many come close to pushing music in the way that he and his team is doing. We are truly living in quite an amazing time for music, and particularly, Hip-hop. I can't wait to look back at this 60 years from now and talk to my grand-kids about the first time I heard Kendrick introduce us to this new art form.
Unfortunately at this time, I am unable to go into detail about my thoughts on the album's lyrical content, other than I think it has a lot to do with Top Dog. I have no idea what "pimp pimp hooray" means. I know that he mentions content from all three of his albums in there, but I haven no idea what they mean or what the point is. I mentioned in a tweet that I thought the album could have alternatively been titled "To Butterfly a Pimp", and I hope to explore that a little further in a future post. It took me about 9 months to fully process TPAB and convey my thoughts, I fear it will take about the same amount of time with this one. If you are interested in what I think about that, check back with me in December.
My personal favorite: Track 8. Cheers.
This past year, KL performed two of the untitled tracks at late night shows, the first on Stephen Colbert and the second on the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon. There was no information released as to what these songs were, if they were tracks that were left out of To Pimp a Butterfly, or if they were releases for a new project. It could have gone either way..
Earlier this week, Top Dog Entertainment (TDE) CEO Anthony Tiffith tweeted that something was coming.. Most people didn't think it would be KL. TPAB was released only a little under a year ago, and without any talk about this project, it came as a huge surprise to many.
But here we are. Here are some of my thoughts on the record:
In contrast with his last three studio albums, "Untitled Unmastered" seemed thematically and categorically different. Unlike the other 3, at first glance this one does not have a very specific theme, character, or story, at least not as specific as the others. But as I listened to it more, I realized there was a theme and character to the album, it was Top. Top Dog Entertainment is the record label that Kendrick is under, or rather, with. TDE has been brought up several times in KL's music and you can tell, it is a big deal for him. TDE isn't simply his employer, or music partner, it is his family and in some ways savior. In Good kid MAAD city, we are told how Top "got Dot on the phone" and brought him in to do some recording, shortly after K-dot and his homies give their life to Jesus. The Compton native was a natural MC, and KL would admit that his life would be significantly different if Top didn't get a hold of him and bring him into the studio. This album, I believe, is an homage to the Dog, and all of the people that KL works and makes music with.
What we are witnessing with this album, has been a work in progress, to create a new musical genre. Since the beginning of hip-hop, there have been serious influences and undertones of Jazz, Soul, and Funk. The earliest DJ's spun James Brown and other funk kings. It was this music that was sampled and brought life to hip-hop. Even till today, Jazz, Funk, and Soul have continued to be blended into the music with producers like Kanye and DJ Premier grabbing most of their sounds from it. But this is different.. this is something else.. This is the blending of genres into one. TPAB had begun to fertilize this seed, Untitled Unmastered was the birthing of it. There were many moments listening to this album that I thought I was hearing James Brown, or Stevie Wonder, hell, even Prince. But it wasn't, it was Kendrick Lamar. He wasn't just rapping, he also wasn't singing, and it wasn't spoken word, it wasn't just Hip-hop with Jazz/Funk/Soul undertones.. it truly was Hip-Jazz-Soul-Funk-Pop.
There were many connections to KL's previous albums, but what you have to understand is that is always the case with his music. For Kendrick his art doesn't end at the last track of an album, it bleeds into his life, into his interviews, into his Grammy performances, into his features, for him his art is simply life.
On a production level, the album had many similarities to TPAB. From Terrace Martin's moaning Saxophone, to Thundercat's driving funky bass-lines, sounds from Bilal and Anna Wise, the album seemed related to TPAB. But it wasn't TPAB II, it was more like a kid, related to their parent, with many similar traits, but completely it's own person doing it's own thing. To me, it seemed as if Top Dog and Brain Feeder (The record label that features Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, and Flying Lotus) came together to produce something that breaks through traditional hip-hop and modern Jazz. This is BIG. Not only was the sound absolutely amazing, it is breaking ground in hip-hop in a way comparable to Nas, or Kanye, in the sense that it has the potential and power to create a space for many artists to creatively follow. Not that it would be replicated, but that they can see a whole new ocean space that is undiscovered, that they can bring their own imagination and work to.
KL has done it again. He has shown us that not only is he the greatest rapper of our day, but that he is more than that. He is a pioneer, an activist, a brilliant artist, who continues to dig deeper and deeper into thought and music. Simply said, he is just on another level than any musical artist today. To me, not many come close to pushing music in the way that he and his team is doing. We are truly living in quite an amazing time for music, and particularly, Hip-hop. I can't wait to look back at this 60 years from now and talk to my grand-kids about the first time I heard Kendrick introduce us to this new art form.
Unfortunately at this time, I am unable to go into detail about my thoughts on the album's lyrical content, other than I think it has a lot to do with Top Dog. I have no idea what "pimp pimp hooray" means. I know that he mentions content from all three of his albums in there, but I haven no idea what they mean or what the point is. I mentioned in a tweet that I thought the album could have alternatively been titled "To Butterfly a Pimp", and I hope to explore that a little further in a future post. It took me about 9 months to fully process TPAB and convey my thoughts, I fear it will take about the same amount of time with this one. If you are interested in what I think about that, check back with me in December.
My personal favorite: Track 8. Cheers.
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