Owing in part to the album’s brevity - clocking in at a little over 30 minutes - it’s difficult to listen in fragmented sessions. Jay Rock and Kendrick continue in the vein they established on 'Money Trees' from GKMC, relaying their message with the same harrowing desperation. Possibly the record’s crown achievement, Kendrick explores how grim surroundings necessitate his predilection for violence, and ultimately, a slowly diagnosed insanity. As is often the case when artists decide to issue previously unreleased material in official formats, a general feeling of ‘why didn’t you release this earlier’ that is never answered.
Kendrick’s chemistry with his longtime collaborators is tangible, especially on the following track, 'Untitled 05'. Loyal admirers will most likely notice the croons of labelmate SZA on the brisk 'Untitled 04,', harmonising along with Kendrick that “ head is the answer”. Not only do the tracks lack titles, but the features are masked as well, creating an almost communal feel. The contrast between the tragic characterisation and the upbeat, jazzy instrumentation perfectly coincides with what we are used to from Kendrick - easily digestible melodies that allow his hard dose of reality resonate. He puts the spotlight on mainstream stereotyping by examining specific ethnic groups, with the most pitiful depiction reserved for African Americans. This same platter of topical themes presents itself again in 'Untitled 03' as he balances racial concerns with both gravity and hilarity as 'For Free? (Interlude)' from TPAB. Within seconds he is seemingly desperate for spiritual salvation, then stoically unaffected by his plight, and finally, animated and rebellious. Kendrick wastes no time revisiting religious concerns in the ensuing track, 'Untitled 02', as he pleads to an anonymous source to “ Get God on the phone!” A cog in the Kendrick machine is his ability to affect different sensations with his alternating vocal pitches. His captivating vocals convey the authenticity and terror in his vision, and there is not a shred of optimism by the verse’s finale: “ I guess I’m running in place trying to make it to church.” Kendrick paints a bleak picture of a world unraveled by the apocalypse, where any sense of spiritual or ethical morality has vanished. The interplay between sexuality and oppression - a main thematic current of TPAB - is executed with the commencement track, 'Untitled 01'.
He spends the entirety of the record fusing seemingly disparate parts and wafting between snippets of ideas. Kendrick’s experimental hankering is constantly in flux.
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The free jazz ambience is amplified throughout, but not solely in the instrumentals. And yet, for all of its discordance, there is both the degree of palpable cohesion belying To Pimp A Butterfly and the unorthodox narrative of GKMC that lures the listener close. However, most likely owing to its status as an 'unmastered' release, this album is bereft of the same fastidious sonic rendezvous as we are used to hearing. The longer one peers at the portrait of the artist as a young man, the more facets reveal themselves in ingenious, kaleidoscopic fashion. Kendrick’s thoroughly nuanced poetics are such a steep departure from the norm that it's impossible to claim complete assimilation without exhaustive listening sessions, but even then the significance becomes even more indiscriminate. We even inspect the curvature of the numbers in a track titled 'untitled 03- ' in hopes of unlocking Mayan-style codes. We ponder whether or buried beneath Kendrick’s dreadlocks are prosperous musings about climate change, Donald Trump, ISIS, and Super PAC funding. We rummage in the airspace between his lyrical escapades so as not to miss camouflaged philosophies. city, and To Pimp A Butterfly is scrutinised devoutly.
We ask a lot of our musical heroes, and the same artist who exhaled entire tomes of humanity set to drums like Section.80, good kid, m.A.A.d. The Compton native’s appeal can be spliced in illimitable categories, but the conclusion is always his art's untamed, almost psychotic brilliance. Kendrick’s roguish decision to release untitled, unmastered the outtakes of his venerated To Pimp A Butterfly arrived in the form of a tweet, consequently altering more than a few weekend plans, and setting social media circuitry ablaze. The California wordsmith is unprecedented, and his meteoric rise over the last few years has brought about an utter metamorphosis for the hip hop genre. It didn’t take the California State Senate to honour Kendrick Lamar as a cultural icon for the world to take notice.
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