Mike's Backyard Nursery

The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Bibs On!

The Unpolished Brilliance of Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered.

350–450MB

If the file size for an 8-track album is less than 250MB, it is not FLAC. A genuine CD rip is approximately for the entire album.

To understand the value of the FLAC CD, one must understand the paranoia of the source material. untitled unmastered was born from the "vault." After the grueling perfectionism of TPAB, Kendrick and his primary producer, Terrence "Punch" Henderson, realized they had nearly two hours of unused sessions. These weren't throwaways; they were alternate realities.

Pro Tip:

💡 Listen with open-back headphones to fully appreciate the live studio atmosphere. If you’d like, I can help you: Find the liner notes or credits for specific tracks. Compare the vinyl vs. CD sound profiles. Break down the meaning behind a specific "untitled" track.

  • Lamar, K., & Duckworth, D. (2016). Untitled Unmastered [Digital release]. Top Dawg/Aftermath.
  • Sterne, J. (2012). MP3: The Meaning of a Format. Duke UP.
  • Katz, M. (2010). Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. UC Press.
  • Red Book Standard (IEC 60908). Compact Disc Digital Audio.

The tracks are identified only by number and the date they were recorded, intentionally lacking formal titles to preserve their "unfinished" demo aesthetic.