Those of you who need a palette cleanser after tonight’s Republican debate are in for a treat: Kendrick Lamar has released new music. The eight-song untitled unmastered just appeared on iTunes; click here to download it.
As Pitchfork reports, we may have King James to thank for all of this. After Kendrick’s Grammy performance, Lebron James tweeted at Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith and asked him to make Kendrick’s recent untitled songs available publicly. “Give me a few days 2 think,” Tiffith responded, and apparently those few days are up: Tiffith just posted a video on Instagram confirming that untitled unmastered would be released tonight.
Yo @dangerookipawaa after that @kendricklamar Grammy performance , you have to release those untitled tracks asap!!! What’s up? Talk to me
— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 23, 2016
Dam my nigga u on my head 2…The fans been killing me. Y’all just backed me in a corner..Give me a few days 2 think https://t.co/5mFIPYUMXJ
— dangeroo kipawaa TDE (@dangerookipawaa) February 23, 2016
Originally published March 3, 2016, 8:01 p.m.
Updated: March 3, 09:30 p.m.: untitled unmastered is now available on Spotify and other streaming services. Listen to the whole album here.
Originally published March 3, 2016, 9:30 p.m.
Updated: March 4, 10:45 a.m.: Now that untitled unmastered is out unto the world, more details have started to roll out. First off, as you may have noticed, two tracks have already been heard, albeit in live form. “untitled 03” was initially performed on The Colbert Report’s last show, and “untitled 08” was debuted on The Tonight Show.
In addition, it is indeed Thundercat that you’re hearing on “untitled 03,” along with Bilal and Anna Wise, according to Vulture. Jay Rock is on “untitled 05” and CeeLo Green is on “untitled 06.” Ali Shaheed Muhammed of A Tribe Called Quest coproduced that latter track.
Most notable, however, is the news that just came from Kendrick himself on Twitter: these tracks have officially been recognized as demos from To Pimp a Butterfly. Whether this development means that untitled unmastered shouldn’t be considered an entirely “new” album or what remains to be seen. Certainly sounds like one, anyway.
