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Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered

“A heavy bassline repeated over and over. Someone was enjoying themselves on a piano. And of course a saxophone whimsically darted up and down. It would not have been out of place emanating from a corner in a jazz bar somewhere, but on a rap album? On it went – over two minutes in total. Honestly, I reached down to my phone beside me and was about to click next track on my Spotify player, this wasn’t what I’d been hoping for, and then…Fuckin’ up the system I ain’t fuckin’ with society/ Justice ain’t free, therefore justice ain’t me”

I put the phone back down. This is exactly what I’d been hoping for.

When Kendrick Lamar raps, you listen, it’s that simple really. There’s something in his voice that just makes it compelling. In an age when so much music can blend together and artists become indistinguishable, Lamar sets his voice apart; from the moment he appears on a track there is no confusion about who is spitting lyrics at you.

 untitled unmastered is Lamar’s latest release and it adds another element to his growth as an artist. His 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly was hailed as a masterpiece in exploring a young man’s struggle to remain pure to his art and heritage in an ever more commercialised world. untitled unmastered should be considered as an extension of the album, the tracks are taken from unreleased recordings he developed while making TPAB. He continues to explore his position within the industry and society in general, yet even more self-assuredly so this time around.

If one thing strikes me about this album it’s that Lamar seems genuinely conflicted. “Told me to use my vocals to save mankind for you/ Say I didn’t try for you, say I didn’t ride for you/ I tithed for you, I pushed the club to the side for you/ Who love you like I love you?” Lamar raps in an apparent conversation with God. On one hand he is confident, he is a success, and his music reflects this. He crosses lines a lesser artist wouldn’t, his lyrics are confronting, the music is often confusing and not necessarily easy to listen to. He didn’t even bother conforming enough to give his songs titles, all we get is untitled 1 through 8. He wants you to hear what he is saying, not just listen to his songs, and he makes no apologies for this. Yet simultaneously he worries if he is good enough. Does he stay pure to his craft? Has he become a capitalist pawn? How can he survive in such an industry? I don’t think he even knows the answers, but he’s going to keep searching, hopefully producing more quality tracks along the way.

Kendrick Lamar is an enigma in the hip-hop world. He released untitled unmastered with no promotion, it just appeared online one day. He lives a completely sober lifestyle. And he genuinely doesn’t seem to care what we all think of him. He’s left of centre, just like untitled unmastered, and he’s just what the music industry needs.

Demos from To Pimp A Butterfly. In Raw Form. Unfinished. Untitled. Unmastered.

A photo posted by Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) on

 

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