After a major label debut that was heralded as one of the greatest by any artist in music history, the question of how Kendrick Lamar would follow 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city lingered for three years until the release of To Pimp a Butterfly. Two ambitiously conceptual albums later, Kendrick Lamar has validated his status as “greatest rapper alive,” achieving both street credibility as the liquid-tongued antagonist on his infamous “Control” verse and institutional distinction as the second most-Grammy-nominated artist in a single year (behind Michael Jackson). But recent success found K. Dot occupying a familiar place beneath the pressure of elevated expectation for his future work. untitled unmastered. seems to add levity to his predicament.
A compilation album seems to be the perfect response to the insurmountable opus of To Pimp a Butterfly. A collection of unreleased Kendrick Lamar material recorded prior to his sophomore release, untitled unmastered allows us to see how To Pimp a Butterfly took shape, documenting the uncertainty and reservation of Lamar’s foray into an overwhelmingly jazz soundscape while furthering appreciation for what TPaB came to be. What is arguably untitled unmastered.’s greatest attribute is how malleably it fits into the Kendrick Lamar catalogue: it is simultaneously an appetizer and palate cleanser for To Pimp a Butterfly with production that could be traced as far back as 2011’s Section.80 (released independently through Top Dawg Entertainment). It is fitting that these new songs can only be referenced by number and date, because collectively they adopt a seamless identity that blends into the patchwork of Lamar’s total output.
untitled unmastered. explores themes that we expect to be dissected in a Kendrick Lamar album: institutional injustice, the formation of identity in the ghetto, Lamar’s status as a hip-hop icon, religious conviction, and self-awareness. Intellectually, the album does not contribute anything that hasn’t already been dealt with on either of Lamar’s major releases. What makes the album interesting is how Lamar tests his lyrical and vocal abilities on jazz platforms. “untitled 02” and “untitled 06” offer Kendrick Lamar at his most vocally eclectic. Like the other songs on the album, they present themselves as the sources of confidence through which songs like “For Free?” and “u” were realized.
While most of the album sounds like a progression towards TPaB, the production of several songs from untitled unmastered. are glaringly retrospective. The ominous synth loop of “untitled 01” is reminiscent of Section.80’s most menacing instrumentals, while the trap instrumentals of “untitled 02” and “untitled 07” reflect the emerging popularity of trap music in the early decade and the chop-and-screwed aesthetic of the 2000s. Undoubtedly the highlight of the album, “untitled 05” builds upon a funky bass line with rich horns, piano accents, and lyrical contributions from Ab-Soul and Jay Rock. Kendrick delivers his first verse with a fiery presence, later mellowing to the introspectively analytic tone of his Top Dawg counterparts. The TDE presence is surprisingly the least impressive of the guest features included on the album. The tracklist is scattered with high-profile contributions from jazz and R&B music. Robert Glasper and Thundercat both provide instrumental work, while Bilal and Cee-Lo Green, who bewilderingly merges the inflection of Nina Simone with the melodic play of Chaka Khan on “untitled 06,” lend their voices.
As a compilation album, untitled unmastered. should be received as such, and a very fine one in fact. At a time when B-side collections have either altogether disappeared or been dismissed because of their stigmatic classification as “filler,” Kendrick Lamar has managed to hold the attention of those who crave riveting instrumental performances, complex lyrical structures, and socio-politically conscious contemplations.