kendrick lamar untitled unmastered album artwork

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. Maybe I'm just not cultured enough, but this isn't grabbing me. Oh, and Cee-Lo singing a hook because of course he is. TPAB is jazz colored with gangster rap, but this is just straight up jazz. I haven't ever heard Kendrick quite like this. Note: The internet figured out that the other rapper is TDE's own Punch.Ī real swing drum line (no Nick Cannon), man, this has some real Brazilian-type flavor. It really makes me realize again that there wasn't a single other TDE rapper on TPAB. Finally, now I know that's Jay Rock on the third verse trading bars with K. Fuck, I hate not knowing, but this is some real 1 Listen shit. Goddamnit, now another dude's rapping and I can't place him either. He really was on some other-other shit recording TPAB. This one's all over the place, but in a good way. OH FUCK NEVERMIND NOW HE'S RAPPING AND IT SOUNDS LIKE RUNNING FROM THE POLICE WHEN YOU KNOW THEY'RE NOT GONNA CATCH YOU. Almost two minutes in and we still haven't heard Kendrick yet - oh, there he is, except he's quasi-singing.

Yo, who is that girl singing? Man, I'll probably feel stupid later, but I don't even have a guess. Just in case you thought live instrumentals couldn't bang, listen to this shit. Ooooohhhhh.I can't say for sure, but something about that bass line and these drums scream Thundercat and Flying Lotus. It sounds like a sonic Salvador Dali painting. Man, if people thought the music that made TPAB was too 'weird' their brains would melt ouf of their nose holes if they heard this. Anyway, super sparse, just a stuttering guitar line and the occasional bass hit - oh, here comes a spaceship synth line. Wait, did she just sing, 'Head is the future'? That can't be right - or is my mind in the gutter? Guess it is with those porn references I was making. That whisper thing Kendrick's doing is kind of crazy. Some a capella singing off the jump, is this SZA singing the vocals? I'm pretty sure it is. That was fast, already onto the next.īy Donna-Claire Chesman 4. This is that song Kendrick's going to invite a fan onstage to rap to in order to prove they're a real fan. 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. Coming right out of the gate with some en fuego bars. Right off the bat we got some deep-voiced dude on the intro, this is like porn when the guy just won't shut the fuck up, like anybody pressed play on this Abella Anderson video to hear a dude talk - or so I've been told. OK, thankfully that's over and now we've got some Kendrick rhymes. We'll be back later with a follow-up review that attempts to break down the meaning and importance of the album once we've had time to marinate on it. For a deeper explanation of 1 Listen reviews, click here.Īnd with that, let's get rolling. Just stream of consciousness reactions that try to capture the moment. Let's just go buy you that brand new bike right now.' 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 but that didn't make the final cut because of sample clearance issues, they didn't fit the album sequencing or because they just weren't good enough.Īnd for those of you new to the 1 Listen Review rules, this will be a gut reaction listen for the first time, no pausing or rewinding, no editing, no rewriting. Maybe a new album from one of their new John Doe artists, maybe, just maybe, ScHoolboy's album ahead of schedule, but Kendrick? That's like asking your parents for $1 more in allowance each week and them saying, 'You know what, fuck an allowance. First, earlier this week TDE announced that it would be dropping a surprise album soon, and frankly I don't think anyone even dared to dream it'd be a Kendrick project. I'm not the hero you need, want or deserve, but I'm the hero you're stuck with because I invented the 1-Listen review, so let's open this laptop, pour this drink, put on my good headphones and get going.Ī bit of background before we really crack this thing open like a 24-pack of Natural Ice at a frat party.

Kendrick lamar untitled unmastered album artwork