Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the release of the critically acclaimed, culturally adored album Surfby Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment. Featuring contributions from Big Sean, Busta Rhymes, J Cole, Quavo, and of course most notably of all, Chance the Rapper, the record made waves for its jazz-inflected tones and heartfelt lyrical additions. To help mark that anniversary, Donnie Trumpet uploaded a completely new track to SoundCloud late last night titled "The First Time."
At almost 11-minutes long, "The First Time" is a sprawling, multi-part piece of music that features a number of different sonic flavors. "This is a collection of unused Surf pieces," reads the description. "An ode to the era. Thank you to everyone who's still listening and growing with the music." Given how it was put together, it's actually incredible how cohesive the whole thing sounds, and the features from Chance, Ady Suleiman, J.P. Floyd, Dustin Green, and Cam Obi are all put perfectly in place.
Working as a condensed version of Kendrick Lamar's own clippings compilation untitled.unmasteredthat came out earlier this year, "The First Time" is an interesting reminder of Chance's lyrical abilities as he moves into a new phase of his career. He clearly has an affection for working alongside his longtime friend Nico and his band, and having taken them out on tour, played with them on SNL, and even having hosted a show with them just recently at the Chicago Theater, its probably safe to assume that this won't be the last time that they link for a project.
