Coming hot on the heels of another reflective album firmly anchored in the past (Steven Wilson's 4 1/2), Untitled Unmastered is similarly difficult to discuss without referencing the past material it's derived from, in this case stretching back to mid 2013, moving up to the present. Just as the majority of the material on 4 1/2 recalled Wilson's previous release Hand. Cannot. Erase in tone and style, Untitled Unmastered feels like a collection of To Pimp A Butterfly B-sides on the whole (not that that's a bad thing) -- the jazz influence is clearly once more, buttressed by Thundercat's presence on several tracks, but in a more subdued fashion. The wordplay is just as excellent as usual and the topics are the usual suspects - institutionalized racism, the push and pull of his new fame versus his roots in Compton, sex, money, etc. The vocals are solid but mostly unremarkable besides Kendrick's lines in "Untitled 2" where he affects an almost David Bowie-esque lilt to his lyrics. Untitled Unmastered further solidifies Kendrick's brand as "thinking man's (aka yuppies) hip hop" and it'll be very interesting to see where he goes from here.
B
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