If you didn't catch my end of the year list this past year, than let me tell you something; Kendrick's album was hands-down the best album of the year. Despite what the Grammy's might lead you to believe, Taylor Swift did not actually have the best holistic artistic expression of 2015. Regardless, I thought that To Pimp A Butterfly was absolutely amazing from start to finish, so you can imagine my surprise and excitement at learning that we'd be getting another Kendrick project this year.
However, there was one major caveat to that news; the album would be more of an EP, and that EP would be more like a B-sides collection. Those facts aside, I still couldn't wait to listen to untitled unmastered. And if the title wasn't enough of an indication as to what this project is all about, put simply, it is a collection of untitled tracks (some were previously performed on TV / during live performances) all of which were not mixed or mastered to resemble studio quality.
In spite of that fact, I think this project still stands taller than most mainstream rap albums on artistic merit alone, and the fact that these tracks haven't been given a rigorous studio cleansing only goes to show just how talented Kendrick and his contributors are. Just like TPAB, the instrumentation on this project is mostly live, with contributions from guys like Thundercat.
As far as the songs themselves, they all sort of resemble separate shifting parts a one big piece. No single track, save for maybe "6" and "8" resemble a strict verse -chorus -verse structure. But that's not to say that there aren't some incredibly memorable moments on this project.
I especially loved Cee-lo Green's guest spot on "6" and the verses on "5" were tough as nails. I also really enjoyed the flow change-ups on "2" and the closing track has the same funky basslines and rhythms that I loved on TPAB. The only major drawback of this album being that it isn't really conceptual or all that long; two qualities that Kendrick is very well known for. So, at the end of the day this thing is a great listen, but maybe not one that I'll go all the way through on a regular basis.
8.8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment