The Compton MC has never sounded more disillusioned than on “untitled.” Kendrick, as mentioned before, tosses massive questions into his theistic ether, like on the Drake-esque “Untitled 02”, which also includes another apocalyptic image, again adding to this sense of ominousness: On “untitled unmastered.” Kendrick is ultimately concerned with his relationship with his God - and how his and the human race’s earthly problems hinder him from achieving a peace with Him. Just take it all back before the light switch” Whatever makes all of you happy in this bitch
Kendrick’s singsong-y coda at the end of “untitled 01” elucidates the purpose of his own use of contradictions within the song and the ephemeral nature of virtue in humans: In his mind, the human race has reached a point of no salvation, thus explaining his existential anxiety throughout the project. The repetition of “It’s happening” feeds into the foreboding sense of doom that weaves its way through practically all of Kendrick’s lyrics on the album. (It’s happening) no more bad bitches and real niggas” (It’s happening) no more discriminating the poor “(It’s happening) no more running from world wars The only thing that King Kenny is sure of on this album is that “It’s happening.” The cut sets the album up to be one built on pure dissonance: an album that provides more questions than answers. I guess I’m running in place trying to make it to church” Some of us never did wrong but still went to hell …Īll man, child, woman, life completely went in reverse “In disbeliefs our beliefs the reason for all this …īackpedaling Christians settling for forgiveness … Through these obfuscating lines he is able to aptly capture the contradictory way in which humans live their lives in accordance to their God, or more generally, their values, as well as provide a heinous atmosphere for the song to exist in: Yet what is most striking about Kendrick’s descriptions is that many of them are filled with conflicting, non-continuous ideas. The smell is disgusting, the heat is unbearable” With a baby, daisies, and other flowers burning in destruction The ground is shaking, swallowing young woman “The tallest building plummet, cracking, and crumbling To start, the project’s opening track is filled with archetypical apocalyptic imagery, which is accompanied by a cascading beat that makes the track sonically spin downwards into the abyss that is “untitled unmastered.”: I’ll take this time now to apologize for my excessive framing of the album, but it’s necessary as “untitled unmastered.” has practically no context for us. The smoky, 1950s, jazz club meets DJ Khalil aesthetic brings the listener into a part of Lamar’s conscious that is both unmastered and insatiable. “untitled unmastered.” provides the listener with one of the more unique listening experiences of 2016. It’s frightening that Lamar is putting these tracks out for public consumption as songs that didn’t even make it on what was widely regarded as the best album in all of popular music last year. While it would be incredibly easy to write off “untitled unmastered.” as, solely, K-Dot’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” B-sides, as I did upon first hearing about the album’s release, “untitled unmastered.” comes together as an apocalyptic, anxious and theistic plea for answers. Lamar’s new compilation of unreleased, untitled and unrestricted songs cannot be summarized for so many reasons, yet one of these reasons is not the collection’s lack of cogency. While not entirely evident in this quotation, Brooks’ essential argument is that a piece of art – a poem specifically – cannot be synopsized as this synopsis would omit the essential elements of the work, which often contrast and are antagonistic to one another. It is a pattern of resolutions and balances and harmonizations, developed through a temporal scheme”. At the risk of sounding like a total asshole, know-it-all college student, Kendrick Lamar’s surprise release “untitled unmastered.” can be understood best in the context of Cleanth Brooks’ seminal essay, “The Heresy of the Paraphrase”: “It is a pattern of resolved stresses… the structure of a poem resembles that of a ballet or musical composition.
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