The more-than-extended play, which runs a little over half an hour, is simultaneously off-the-cuff and dense each of its eight songs is titled with just a number and a date, and a tweet from Cee Lo Green, whose croon snakes through the sinewy “untitled 06 ,” would seem to back up the “title as rough estimate of when the song was initially recorded” theory. untitled unmastered., which Lamar released with little advance notice and to much adulation late Thursday, is a victory lap of sorts even though its title is low-key, the repeating refrain of “Pimp pimp, hooray” nods to To Pimp A Butterfly, the 2015 album that topped critics’ polls and won Grammys. The latest release from Compton-born MC Kendrick Lamar, meanwhile, takes the idea of the b-sides and rarities compilation-Nirvana’s Incesticide, the Smashing Pumpkins’ Pisces Iscariot-and transforms it into a musical sensation. Kanye West might well be working on the for-real final version of The Life Of Pablo, which arrived on Tidal-and Tidal alone-in mid-February meanwhile, eagle-eyed Beyoncé fans are ready to mobilize should she decide to engage in the surprise-release tactic that heralded her self-titled 2013 album. The ways in which digital distribution has upended the album-release cycle are still being sorted out.