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March 4, 2016If you’re ever looking for evidence to back up the notion of Twitter being a small subsection of the actual world, look no further than what transpired on Thursday evening when Kendrick Lamar dropped a new album out of nowhere and the world began to give thanks to Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James who was, at the time, roughly 2,500 miles away.
For better or worse, James’ tweet game has been just as strong—if not more so—than his work on the court. There have been moments of zen. There have been moments of confusion. He’s tweeted at other athletes as he watches along with the rest of us, Steph Curry being one of the most recent, but Larry Fitzgerald was undoubtedly the loudest. Regardless of the message or intent, one constant remains: Every tweet sent from James’ phone is immediately retweeted by thousands and subsequently parsed by dozens. Each 140-character screed is the subject of countless blog posts and, more often than not, lines of questioning in the following day’s media availability.
One tweet that did not get much in the way of basketball-based attention (at the time) was an innocuous shout to Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith which raised the eyebrows of hip-hop fans worldwide.
Yo @dangerookipawaa after that @kendricklamar Grammy performance , you have to release those untitled tracks asap!!! What's up? Talk to me
— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 23, 2016
Wait. Just. One. Minute. In an interview with Complex Magazine last March, To Pimp A Butterfly producer Terrace Martin stated that Kendrick Lamar would not release the “Untitled” song that he premiered on the series finale of the Colbert Report that previous December. You’re telling me that not only did Lamar make the music world stop dead in its collective tracks during his three-song Grammy performance (on the same night he won a handful of awards), but there are more unreleased tracks that somehow didn’t make an album that was up for best of the year? Well, actually, yes—that’s exactly what James was inferring, subsequently putting Tiffith squarely on the hot seat.
Dam my nigga u on my head 2…The fans been killing me. Y'all just backed me in a corner..Give me a few days 2 think https://t.co/5mFIPYUMXJ
— TOP DAWG #TDE (@dangerookipawaa) February 23, 2016
And just like that, roughly one week later, Lamar’s name popped up on to Spotify with a mystery album named untitled unmastered, a collection of unnamed tracks, the dates they were recorded (or written, or …), and nothing else. The album art was merely a few shades of green, looking as if it were created on a PowerPoint deck. But what followed was an eight-track, 34-minute long album rife with rich instrumentation, pianos, jazz-like brass, and quintessential Lamar storytelling.
Always camaraderie, I can see, our days been numbered
Revelation greatest as we hearing the last trumpet
All man, child, woman, life completely went in reverse
I guess I’m running in place trying to make it to church
– untitled 01 | 08.19.2014
For all of the hand-wringing over James’ tweets, take a step back and try to imagine this happening in any other era. Imagine the magnitude of Stephon Marbury pulling back the curtain on some unknown collab between Notorious B.I.G. and Jay Z. Imagine Larry Bird hopping on Twitter, demanding that the Eagles get back together. And imagine that these events then just happen on the spot as opposed to, you know, albums having to be pressed and shipped and then sold at normal business hours instead of just a hair before midnight.
For this, it’s no surprise that Tiffith took to the web, urging fans to thank James for the release of untitled unmastered as going straight to the top oftentimes gets the job done.
@KingJames @KelECash you better thank lebron, he did this for us
— maynard (@aldfalk) March 4, 2016
@aldfalk @KingJames Thank you LeBron. I love you forever for this.
— Keldrick Catmar (@KelECash) March 4, 2016
@KingJames @kendricklamar @dangerookipawaa heck yeah thank you lebron!!!
— Reggie Delgadillo (@RDelgadillo27) March 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/nickkillian136/status/705619278343438337
You get the picture. As a slew of folks scrambled to Apple Music and Spotify and Tidal to get their first taste of Lamar’s new tacks, they simultaneously hit up the Cavs forward who has access to a vault full of bangers, one previously not even known to have been in existence.
Given that James isn’t about to scroll through thousands of tweets merely thanking him for sending one of his own, I took the yeoman’s responsibility of asking him about how this all went down. Lamar, as you may recall, played in front of the city of Cleveland during James’ return in 2014. The two men are also well established with Beats by Dre, the headphone company which was sold to Apple for a few billion dollars. Lamar’s single “I” was the de facto song for the NBA most of last season, a league in which James (much to the chagrin of those who prefer standard hierarchy) has considerable pull.
“A backstory?,” James asked me, rhetorically. “Just family ties, that’s all.”
But did he listen? It was a late release and there’s a big game on Friday, and well…
“I did.”
Well, what’d he think? What’d he make of all the vocal layering and production and psychedelic funk that has some gigantic shoes to fill in the wake of To Pimp a Butterfly? More importantly, what does he make of the man who, in crisply jabbing with “Justice ain’t free, therefore justice ain’t me”, is undeniably hip-hop’s political conscious?
“It’s great,” he said. “I think he’s great. It’s great to have family like that, even in different areas—not just sports—who you can look to for inspiration and things of that nature. It’s great to see.
“We’re really close. We admire each other’s work, each other’s craft. Despite him being on the west coast and me being over here, we share a lot of the same qualities, the same age.”
While James celebrates the successes of his friends, what does he make of all the fan fare surrounding his role in bringing this album to light?
“That’s what’s being documented as of right now,” said James to a few laughs. It’s appreciated, but—you’re welcome.”
There will undoubtedly be a sizable chunk of folks who have no clue what James is even referring to when he says you’re welcome. But with the current Cavaliers season unfolding the way it is, and fans seemingly having a tough time being appreciative of everything that’s unfolding before their eyes on the court, the least they could do is be grateful for his hand in some unreleased tracks from the game’s brightest star finally seeing the light of day.
1 Comment
love the standard hierarchy jab, nice