Breaking Beats: Kendrick and the rebirth of the raw, low-fi and live album
Kendrick Lamar made a surprise drop late Thursday with untitled unmastered, a collection of demos that didn’t make it on his latest album To Pimp a Butterfly. The eight-song record ranges from low-fi to somewhat produced, nameless tracks: “untitled 01 | 08.19.2014,” “untitled 02 | o6.23.2014”, etc. The drop isn’t totally out of left field, however, since a few weeks ago Kendrick performed unreleased material at the Grammys and on Jimmy Fallon. TDE, Kendrick’s label, hinted at a Friday drop.
The album is raw in a way that gives us insight into Lamar’s process — with one song featuring SZA and a freestyle, acapella version of the same song at the end of a later track.
The raw, uncut or live album is something not too many contemporary artists do. The days of MTV unplugged and live LPs are long gone. Being raw and uncut today means mix tapes and blog leaks — but what hasn’t changed is that only artists with excellent live skills seem to leave an impact in this area. This playlist is inspired by the demos and tracks that moved their fans, regardless of the rawness of their production.
Kendrick Lamar — Untitled 07 | 2014–2016
“Pimp, Pimp, HOORAY!” Kendrick chants in layers of his own voice. This trill, southern rap-inspired track gives a chopped and screwed vibe a la Three 6 Mafia. Feel it in the way Kendrick says “yaa bisssh.” The eight-minute song pulls in all types of influence and features, including a beat from Swizz Beats and Alicia Key’s 5-year-old son, Egypt. It’s lit.
Nirvana — The Man Who Sold The World
Nirvana’s unplugged MTV performance is arguably the most successful and infamous unplugged ever. It made its way to top lists all over the internet and sold tons of albums. On it is this grunge AF David Bowie cover, which completely switches up the original in amazing ways.
Mariah Carey — Someday
This 1992 set is also off of MTV’s unplugged series. Mariah performed hits off her debut “Vision of Love” and her sophomore release “Emotions.” My personal fave was this underrated breakup song “Someday,” featuring all types of Mariah vocal gymnastics. Even though the album is literally as old as me, this track still gives me all types of feels.
James Blake — A Case of You
This slowed-down Joni Mitchell cover comes off Blake’s lesser known 2012 EP Enough Thunder. The soulful and raw nature of the track was one of the first times we heard Blake in such a vulnerable, acoustic manner. It’s a great contrast to his more post-dub step electro stuff.
Amy Winehouse — Valerie BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge
Winehouse sang this song live on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge back in 2007. The song was originally recorded for Mark Ronson’s excellent cover album Version and made popular overtime through shows like Glee and the more recent Oscar award-winning documentary on Winehouse titled Amy. If you listen to the original song, you’ll be in for quite a surprise.
Grimes — REALiTi (Demo)
Grimes dropped “REALiTi” last year to instant acclaim from blogs, fans and critiques all over the interwebs. A re-recorded studio version of the song ended up making it on her most recent album Art Angels, but the demo is debatably the better version. What do you think?
The Dream — Ghetto ft. Big Sean
This dream song shows just how influential the producer, singer, and songwriter really is. Two major cuts from Beyonce and Ciara pull from certain parts of this song. Ciara’s “Ride” has an almost identical intro and Beyone’s “Dance For You” pulls the entire outro from “Ghetto” and puts it front and center at the start of the track.
Jhene Aiko — Comfort Inn (Freestyle)
Kendrick Lamar is Jhene Aiko’s fellow Compton native and you can see here how they come from a similar place. She’s infamous for her straightforward, heartfelt lyrics. In this freestyle off Sailed Out, her most popular mixtape, Aiko breaks everything down in the rawest fashion possible, leaving her heartbreaker to feel like absolute garbage. I feel you bb ❤.
