[EP] KENDRICK LAMAR - "Untitled / Unmastered"

I often say that Kendrick Lamar and Kanye are the only two "mainstream" artists in Hip Hop (as in guys who is actually selling records) that are really doing something new and exciting, creating something that might very well be remembered and held in high esteem 20 years from now. Kendrick's "Good Kidd, M.A.A.D. City" was absolutely brilliant, but it was "To Pimp a Butterfly" that really made me realize that he is one of the leadig voices of our generation. Every single verse was so well written and delivered with a lot of heart, the beats was masterfully crafted and added on exceptionally by the great LA jazz artists of the day like Robert Glasper, Thundercat, Terrance Martin and Kamasi Washington. And it all had a strong message, but Kendrick was clever enough to hide his politics well enough to fool the media machine, securing air time and big label promotion. But enough of "To Pimp A Butterfly" (let me add that it was also the best album released in 2015 before we move on).

Since then Lamar has promoted the album at shows large arenas, and in small TV studio settings like those on The Colbert Report and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Beisdes the intense material from the album a lot of these concerts containted one or two unreleased bangers that fans quickly took to the internet to beg for proper studio versions of these powerful jams. Even NBA star Lebron James tweeted to Top Dawg Entertainment CEO pleading for the tracks to be released just a week or two ago. Sometimes prayers, hundreds of Twitter fans and an NBA star can make shit happen because just yetserday Kendrick, out of nowehere, dropped a free EP containing the tracks from those performances as well as some other goodies for us all to enjoy. It's not "Butterfly" but I'll gladly take it. Featuring 8 songs all of them are untitled and are only labeled by the date they were either conceived or completed and the title of the project is "Untitled / Unmastered" which speaks for itself. 

However the meaning might be a bit deeper as TDE's CEO Punch says that Kendrick was inspired by Prince and his "Black Abum" when putting the record together - "as far as untitled me and Kendrick always talked about doing a sort of "Black Album", like how Prince did back in the day. There was no album cover, no song titles, no anything - just tracks he threw out [...] To me it just means freedom" (Source: Billboard). You can stream the full mini alubm at Spotify below (which I'm not a big fan of) or you can head over to iTunes and purchase a high quality copy for your listening plesaure.over at iTunes whhere it's availabe now.

01. untitled 01.08.19.2014 [prod. by Hit-Boy & DJ Spinz]
02. untitled 02.06.23.2014 [prod. by Yung Exclusive & Cardiak]
03. untitled 03.05.28.2014 (Ft. Thundercat, Bilal, Terrace Martin & Anna Wise [prod. by Da Internz]
04. untitled 04.08.14.2014 (Ft. Jay Rock & SZA) [prod. by Bizzness Boi & Nard&B)
05. untitled 05.09.21.2014 (Ft. Anna Wise, Punch & Jay Rock) [prod. by Nard&B)
06. untitled.06.06.30.2014 (Ft. Cee-Lo) [prod. by Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge] (!!!)
07. untitled 07 2014-2016 [prod. by Frank Dukes, Caro, Yung Exclusive, Swizz Beats & Egypt Dean)
08. untitled 08 09.06.2014 [prod. by DJ Khalil]

[Video] HIP-HOP HISTORY, Orchestrated by JIMEK

JIMEK is a Polish hip-hop producer who orchestrated the Polish National Radio Symphony as the final encore after two more regular symphonic orchestra suites on March 7, 2015 in Katowice, Poland. Watch as JIMENK orchestrates the huge classically trained orchestra take on classics by Tribe, M.O.P., Wu-Tang Clan, Kendrick Lamar, Biggie, 2PAC, Nas, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys and many more. This is just amazing and if you like what you are hearing be sure to check out the live recording of Miguel Atwood-Fergusson's and his orchestras rendition of J Dilla classics on the "Suite For Ma Dukes" album featuring guests like Karieem Riggins, Talib Kweli, Bilal and Dwéle. Then there of course was the original composition by DJ Premier, Nas and a symhony orchesta for the "Re-Generation" project. Maybe this is one of the ways hip-hop will follow through on, I would love to hear music like this but with a DJ and an emcee getting busy over it. Anyways, don't sleep!

FLYING LOTUS x KENDRICK LAMAR - "Eyes Above"

A few weeks back I posted a clip of a FlyLo playing the original version of "Eyes Above" which featured another stand out performance by Kendrick Lamar. Flying Lotus took to Soundcloud to post the studio version of the song which was left as an instrumental for the "You're Dead" LP. To me these two gentlemen represents the finest musicians of the younger generation that's really pushing hip-hop forward in interesting new directions. 

[Video] KENDRICK LAMAR - "King Kunta"

Right now, there's no question in my mind that Kendrick Lamar just dropped the #1 album in 2015 so far and one of the most creatve and best written albums in a long time with "To Pimp a Butterfly". It's damn refreshing to see such a successful artist dare to let go of all expectations on him due to todays musical climate and drop something straight from the heart that's not afraid to touch upon important subjects. Check out the new video to the Sounwave/Terrace Martin produced "King Kunta" up top.

[Demo] FLYING LOTUS / KENDRICK LAMAR - "Eyes Above"

Flying Lotus is without a doubt my favorite alternative producer right now, or at least top 3 (depending on who you count among the alternative beat maestros), but I just love how serious the LA producer and artist is about his craft. To me he really came into his own as a true virtuoso artist in his own right with "Until the Quet Comes", a tripped out front-to-back album that truly grows on each listen - still to this day, some five years laters. In early 2014 he released his follow up album (not counting his experimental album by rap alter ego Captain Murphy, though that's without a doubt an enjoyable album that I strongly recommend to lovers of experimental hip-hop). I included the album in my countdown of best albums of that year, and as a true jazz and hip-hop afficionando as it's one of the very few albums, along with Robert Glasper's stuff and a few other artists, I really feel that FlyLo is pushing the boundaries of his hip-hop past by introducing more and more free jazz into the concept which I absolutely love. There's still a hip-hop foundation, and Kendrick Lamar appears on the slamming single "Never Catch Me" while Snopp Dogg and Captain Murphy appears on "Dead Man's Tetris". 

I don't know this but apparantly during the sessions for the album, K. Dot didn't only record the full-length collaboration for "Never Catch Me" but this live session with FlyLo reveals that Lamar also originally was supposed to rock at least one verse on "Eyes Above" (featuring session playing by Thundercat and Dentoni Parks. During Lotus' set at the "You're Dead" tour at the North Park Theater in San Diego. Luckily, the sound quality is good, Kendrick's verse is complete and it really adds to one of my favorite tracks from one of the best joints on the album in my honest opinion. I don't have much more information, maybe Kendrick had several verses on this track but for some reason (perhaps because he thought it was overkill having K.Dot do two solo tracks on there), but maybe he only did an intro verse before the rest of the track flowed in to the instrumental. Either way this is fucking SICK, and I really hope we get a CDQ or iTunes release of this in full sooner or later. I haven't seen any clips from Lotus live shows previously but this looks mighty, so I'm hyped as hell as I'm going to see the prdoucer/DJ perform with my homie Mariam a few months from now and whoever else want to join!

[Album] KENDRICK LAMAR - "To Pimp a Butterfly"

It's here! In a sneak preview on Spotify Kendrick Lamar has released his highly anticipated new album "To Pimp a Butterfly" for free streaming on Spotify. If you ask me his official debut "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City" is one of the most original and coolest debut albums to drop in recent times so I'm real hyped to see how Kendrick will live up to the hype. I just started listening to the album, and the Flying Lotus produced opener "Wesley's Theory", featuring George Clinton and Thundercat, is some real funky shit... This will be an interesting ride for sure! Be sure to cop it @ iTunes.

01. "Wesley's Theory" (Ft. George Clinton & Thundercat)

02. "For Free: Interlude"

03. "King Kunta"

04. "Institutionalized" (Ft. Bilal, Snoop Dogg & Anne Wes)

05. "These Walls" (Ft. Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat)

06. "u"

07. "Alright"

08. "For Sale: Interlude"

09. "Momma"

10. "Hood Politics"

11. "How Much a Dollar Cost" (Ft. James Fauntelroy)

12. "Complexion (A Zulu Love)" (Ft. Rapsody)

13. "The Blacker The Berry"

14. "You Ain't Gotta Lie (The Blacker the Berry)"

15. "i" (Extended Version)

16. "Mortal Man"

KENDRICK LAMAR - "TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY" @ SPOTIFY

FLYING LOTUS - "Never Catch Me" (Ft. Kendrick Lamar)

While Flying Lotus definitely held his own before it, with "Until the Quiet Comes" I felt that he really created a mesmerizing masterpiece of an album that defies labeling while taking the listener on a sonical journey through the depths of his or her mind. Obviously the follow-up LP, "You're Dead", is therefore highly anticipated around here and as I finally was able to give it is first spin I can say that I'm again very impressed. The album is really, really good and blends the atmosphere and genre-bending inventiveness of "The Quiet" while leaning even heavier towards an experimentation of jazz vibes - something I'm more than fine with. Check out the Hiro Murai directed video for the 1st single "Never Catch Me", featuring Mr. Kendrick Lamar on vocas. Tomorrow you'll be able to stream the album on FlyLo's official web page where you'll also find links to purchase the proejcts, so be sure to support the movement!

Visit Flying-Lotus.com

FLYING LOTUS Ft. KENDRICK LAMAR - "Never Catch Me"

The "Until Quiet Comes" LP is still getting spins over here, and I have to say that I'm real excited for FlyLo's upcoming project, "You're Dead". "Never Catch Me", the first official single, sees the production wizard bump heads with Kendrick Lamar on an impressive melding of styles. Besides this collabo I'm especially looking forward to the two tracks with the legendary Herbie Hancock. LP drops via Warp on October 6.

[Video] KENDRICK LAMAR - "Sing About Me (Pt. 1)"

There's no question that Kendrick Lamar's LP "Good Kid, MA.D.D. City" was one of the best, most thought-provoking and original debut albums in quite some time. It took me several listens Before I really realized how dope it was, but once it sunk in completely I was in total amazement at large parts of the album. And one of my favorite songs off the entire project was the Beautiful and touching seven minutes epic "Sing About Me / Dying Of Thirst", that's as crazy of a concept song as anything I've heard. The way Lamar takes on several different persons from his family and close friends that he has hurt somewhere along the lines of his life rhyming as them in letter form to Kendrick, including a cousin that got shot in his arms. Absolutely brilliant... The second part hit even more Close to home for me and I really hope that will get the Visual treatment as well but until that day, I'm very happy with this one which makes me want to pick up the "Good Kid" LP which I haven't bumped in a while now.

[Video] PUSHA T x KENDRICK LAMAR - "Nosetalgia"

The Clipse's Pusha T drops his new album "My Name is My Name" via GOOD Music/Def Jam on October 8. When I was checking out the tracklist, I was especially excited about the Nottz produced track boosting a feature from Mr. Kendrick Lamar. So fortunate then that not only has "Noestalgia" been released as an early single, it now gets the visual treatment... And it's every bit as sick as I had expected; these guys went IN!!

Kendrick Lamar rips "Nas is Like" & "Keep It Thoro"

Kendrick Lamar's "GOOD Kid M.A.A.D City" was one of the freshest and most original debut album to drop in 2012, no question. Beside a few tracks I couldn't care less for, the album packed plenty of heat, and innnovative lyrical concepts and mad interesting flows. So now that the young MC is back in the states after an extended European tour, Lamar visisted Funkmaster Flex show and tore down two classic East Coast beats with a lot of finesse. Check out his take on the DJ Premier produced Nas classic "Nas is Like" up top, and scoll down a bit to see him rip The Alchemist produced "Keep It Thoro" (Prodigy's "H.N.I.C.) of course.

[LP Stream] RAS KASS - "Barmageddon"

On November 14, one of the West's finest lyricists Ras Kass released his mixtape "Bare Arms Presents: Barmageddon" as a free digital mixtape. The 23-tracks included here works as a prequel to Kass' forthcoming full-length LP, "Barmagedon", including classic guest spots, freestyles and new material..Whenn the tape was released, the official album was announced to be release date of December 19. The project has since been pushed back to February 12, but unfortunately only seems to be available in digital format via iTunes where you can now pre-order the album.

The good news is that Ras' and his crew have already made the entire album up for streaming via the emcees' Bandcamp page. The eighteen tracks featured here, includes collaboration from Guilty Simpson, Sick Jaken, Talib Kweli, Planet Asia, Kendrick Lamar, Ice-T, Agallah, Monie Love, Dina Rae, and more. Production comes from the likes of FOCUS, Agallah, Illinformed, Klassic, and more. In other words a definnite listen, and if you're feeling this please support it over at iTunes, or if we're really lucky we will eventually get a physical relase. TURN IT UP!

Talib Kweli / Kendrick Lamar / Curren$y - "Push Thru" [Remix]

Marco Polo is responsible for this impressive remix of Talib Kweli's latest single "Push Thru", featuring young stars Kendrick Lamar and Curren$y. I wouldn't mind this version appearing on the much anticipated "Prisoner of Consciousness". That doesn't seem too likely however, as this was conceived during the remix round of latest Beat Society gathering in NYC.

TALIB KWELI - "PUSH THRU" [MARCO POLO REMIX]