“untitled 05” has a jazzy intro coupled with vocals from Anna Wise that contrast beautifully with Kendrick’s more straightforward verses. Kendrick Lamar’s talent is unquestionable, but for everyone who wants to pigeonhole him as a socially conscious rapper, untitled unmastered. “untitled 07” bears a lot of similarity to “untitled 02”, but it stretches for eight minutes (which we hear Kendrick make fun of when he remarks “This is a fifteen-minute song!” halfway through) and helps the record feel more like an off-the-cuff, stream-of-consciousness body of work rather than a polished studio album. He still raps about his past, gang violence and addiction, but interspersed are light-hearted jokes about sex and the wild success he’s attained over the past few years. “untitled 02” isn’t the most upbeat track, but it’s certainly the most compelling – Kendrick’s voice has incredible range, technologically aided or not, and it shines when he goes from singing “Seen black turn ’em burgundy” to “Get God on the phone”, supposedly to repent for his numerous sins. takes the demos from that record and shows us that his political persona has a playful side too.
2015 saw his release of To Pimp a Butterfly, a brilliant album that rightfully made it to the top of many year-end best-of lists and won him a slew of Grammys. Kendrick Lamar is widely considered to be one of the best rappers in the game right now, if not the absolute best, and with that status comes a lot of pressure.