In a move worth of Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar unexpectedly dropped a new album last night (March 3). "untitled unmastered." features eight previously unheard (and untitled) tracks. As usual, the Compton MC spits truth, and the tracks themselves have the intricate, live, layered sound he established on "To Pimp A Butterfly," complete with the heavy jazz and funk influences. Listen now: It’s streaming on Tidal, Apple Music and Spotify, and it can be purchased on iTunes.
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And then there is the matter of his short film. “To Pimp a Butterfly” may be the album that won Lamar a Grammy (or five), but “good kid, m.A.A.d city” is the project that forced the world to listen to K-Dot. Anyone who has played it from beginning to end can attest to the fact that the 2012 album is a cinematic experience, and in 2014, Lamar partnered with director Kahlil Joseph to turn it into a short film of the same name.
It showed at the Sundance NEXT Festival and at the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art, but anyone who couldn’t make the screenings—so, basically everyone—was out of luck if they wanted to watch the film. Until now.
The nearly 15-minute film hit the Internet yesterday. It’s at once ethereal and grounded, providing a glimpse of the Compton streets that shaped the emcee, but filtering that gaze through a dreamscape where the basic laws of time and space don’t exist. From evocative new footage to Lamar’s home videos, the visual elements are perfectly synced with relevant songs and other audio from the album. Watch the full project below.