What's even more impressive than disproving a "sophomore slump"? Doubling down on that retort by proving there was so much more to offer. While Kendrick Lamar's 2015 LP To Pimp A Butterfly was technically his third studio album, its arrival after the 2012 major label debut good kid, m.A.A.d city had many expectations to live up to. But rather than resting on TPAB's lofty ambitions, calculated sheen, its kaleidoscopic dedication to Black music and history, and its rightfully earned critical acclaim, Kendrick chose to drop untitled unmastered. about a year later to show the earthier fruits of this hard work.
These demos from the TPAB recording sessions contain some of the Compton lyricist's most beloved tracks to this day, namely "untitled 02" and the single version of "07." But they also expanded on their parent album's sonic directions, themes, and collaborative circle in a way that gave them their own identity, an impressive feat when considering the lack of sequencing and mixing details. Most importantly, though, they grounded Lamar's rocketing status, letting fans know he would not eschew experimentation for establishment. UU's a smaller-scale collection of this era's ideas that thrive in the more intimate and loose setting, reminding us to this day that masterpieces rest on their granular details, not their grandeur.
Kendrick Lamar's Collaborators
Beyond K.Dot's own pen and direction, those details come to life thanks to the musicians who make untitled unmastered. so captivating. Mainstays from this era like Terrace Martin, Thundercat, Sounwave, Anna Wise, Bilal, and SZA all do great work on here. We can still hear this era's Los Angeles-adjacent jazz-funk lineage influence Kendrick's current work. Even the George Clinton connection returns via a Funkadelic remix verse's repurposing on "untitled 08."
But it's the new names on UU that set it apart as a hazier, darker tracklist. Cardo Got Wings infuses menacing trap into the aforementioned "untitled 02" and "07," marking their first (but certainly not last) official collaboration. Hearing them recently link up as often as they have makes listening back to UU even more of a prophetic treat, and it goes to show Dot's never had a static signature sound. He's always been more driven by exploration.
On the other hand, untitled unmastered. also shows off more unique collaborations for Kendrick Lamar, such as an old Cee-Lo Green collab that saw the light of day on "untitled 06" and production on that same track from A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad. As the jam session at the end of "untitled 07" playfully displays, the collaborative spirit around this era laid fresh ground for many different ideas to grow. Crucially, it all feels closer, more at home, and less encumbered by concept or context.
Plus, some TDE participation from Punch and Jay Rock on "untitled 05" helps connect the dots in Lamar's career in a way that some later LPs didn't. That familial feeling ties UU together. Otherwise, it would've felt much more disheveled, random, or even cash-grabby.
The Sound Of untitled unmastered.
As it stands, untitled unmastered. lives up to its title if you don't have the background of To Pimp A Butterfly as a cushion. Randomness and disjointedness lead us from track to track with less care than TPAB, but it also prods at listeners to perceive the EP as an interconnected set of songs rather than a straight line from one idea to the next. There's no poem linking disparate vignettes together; only a "Pimp, pimp! Hooray!" refrain here and there courtesy of Captain Obvious.
Jokes aside, the instrumentals on UU reflect this quality as well. There are explicit examples, such as the three-part "untitled 07," exercises in song structure such as the swaying pace of "untitled 04," and more linear progressions like that of "untitled 01" being book-ended by seductive, smoky vocals and a melted melodic outro. Saxophones and keys dance on various tracks with much personality, and moods shift with even more of a jolt than the all-encompassing nature of TPAB.
However, none of these elements were necessarily missing on that 2015 album. It just all comes across as muddier on untitled unmastered., and that's not a reference to its sound quality. Take "untitled 08," for example, whose funkiness you might compare with "King Kunta." Whereas "Kunta" has a lot more fire to its delivery and palette, "08" is comfortable with the bassline, acidic synths, and smooth background vocals stealing the show. Then, of course, there's the matter of Kendrick himself on both tracks.
K.Dot's Perspective & Pen
"King Kunta" could stand in for the fierce, theatrical, yet nuanced perspective on To Pimp A Butterfly, and "untitled 08" is Kendrick's less-flashy counterpart on untitled unmastered. His declarations of royalty and power have the subtext of bravado compensating for something else on "Kunta." But "08" includes a far more explicit self-critique of K.Dot's struggles and his frustrations with them in comparison to Africans he met on the trip that inspired this era.
On UU, Lamar changes the framework of his TPAB-era themes into something less imposing, but the thematic roots still resonate powerfully. This resonance's jewel, "untitled 03," tackles a lot without losing its entrancing groove. Kendrick asks an Asian man, Indian man, a Black man, and a white man for their pieces of advice: peace of mind, property, a partner, and a piece of his earnings, respectively. "untitled 05" briefly reflects on refraining from lashing out in a dark moment, and "untitled 06" is him vowing to accept his partner with their flaws and hoping they will accept him with his own.
In comparison to TPAB's dense and dramatic framings, such as a homeless man being God on "How Much A Dollar Cost," the tales told on untitled unmastered. come off as more personal and isolated. But there are exceptions. "Apocalyptic" seems to be the buzzword for "untitled 01," and for good reason. Kendrick Lamar ravenously raps about the evils of the world and his pleas to be saved from punishment, contrasting sexuality with mortality in a way his artistry has always espoused. But perhaps never as vividly as this.
Ten Years Of Mastery
Going from "untitled 01" to the rest of the tracklist, untitled unmastered. zooms into the world that To Pimp A Butterfly created, shedding light on the experiences, people, ideas, and questions that were a bit too abstract, cynical, matter-of-fact, or despondent for its parent album. It's become easy to underrate TPAB or nitpick its pretensions, but only if you don't understand the world it came from. UU shows off the cloudy under-and-overtones of this era in a way that sets it apart, but also makes its connection to its origins unmistakable.
Today, another project like this from Kendrick Lamar might help ground his artistry, maintain his expansive sound, and humanize his status much in the same way UU did ten years ago. His place as an artistic giant with a sonically diverse L.A. flag to bear stands amid a lot of hate his way, overwhelming commercial and critical success, and even more of a pessimism-inducing vulture field than how the industry was during the TPAB era. Some feel like Kendrick's gotten too big for his own good. But he likes the simpler gems sometimes, and so do we.
Above all else, the laurels mean nothing if the creativity, community, and craft aren't there. For a classic like TPAB, one that didn't need any more proof of excellence, untitled unmastered. overdelivered on its promise, and is still one of Lamar's best works.
