King Kendrick has delivered yet again, but would we have heard this album if LeBron had stayed quiet? Out of the blue, Kendrick Lamar dropped an album, untitled unmastered, Thursday on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Tidal, and Apple Music.
The album, considered a “project” by Kendrick, is an eight-song collection of tracks that didn’t make the cut for To Pimp A Butterfly — Kendrick’s most recent work. If you have not yet listened to TPAB, go. Quick. It was the runner-up to Taylor Swift’s 1989 for Album of the Year at this year’s Grammy’s and is considered transcendent by people in the music industry.
Anyway, back to hoops.
So what does LeBron James have to do with this? In February, K-Dot performed three tracks on TV: Untitled 1, Untitled 2, and Untitled 3. LeBron was obviously enamored with the tracks and tweeted at Top Dawg Entertainment’s (Kendrick’s label) CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith to release them.
“… the fans been killing me,” Tiffith replied. “Y’all just backed me in a corner..Give me a few days 2 think.”
Being a global icon has its perks, as Kendrick tweeted a link to the album on iTunes, and Tiffith put a video on Instagram asking fans to thank LeBron.
untitled unmastered. https://t.co/YlAszcK4e4
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) March 4, 2016
This piece, whether it’s an album or a project, is a great listen despite being only 34 minutes long. Here’s a track-by-track review by USA TODAY.
(the running joke now is that everyone wants James to ask Frank Ocean about his album. So, go for it, LeBron! Give the people what they want.)
