Drunk (2017)

Drunk is the third studio album by American musician Thundercat, released on February 24, 2017, by Brainfeeder. It features guest appearances from Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, Pharrell, Kamasi Washington and Louis Cole. It was released nearly four years after his previous studio album, Apocalypse.

Drunk incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including funk, hip-hop, jazz, pop, psychedelia, punk rock, R&B, soft rock, and soul. The album received positive reviews from music critics. A ChopNotSlop remix from OG Ron C, DJ Candlestick, and the Chopstars entitled Drank was released as a special edition purple vinyl record.

Songs

Overview

Drunk has been described as incorporating the stylistic influences of funk, hip-hop, jazz, pop, psychedelia, punk rock, R&B, soft rock, and soul. Multiple reviewers noted jazz fusion influences in the album, and The Independent's Andy Gill wrote that the album "switch[es] abruptly between cool jazz, prog-fusion and sleek soul".

Discs one and two

The album's opening track, "Rabbot Ho", is one of several songs on the album that references alcohol, recreational drug use, and partying, and concludes with the lyric "Let's go hard, get drunk, and travel down a rabbit ho[le]". "Uh Uh" is a jazz-funk instrumental. "Bus in These Streets" makes reference to problematic smartphone use and disconnecting oneself from digital technology. "A Fan's Mail (Tron Song Suite II)", derives its title partly from Thundercat's pet cat Tron; its lyrics pertain to how Thundercat would prefer to be a cat than a celebrity, and features a chorus of repeating "meows".

"Lava Lamp" has been described by Thundercat as follows: "Feel like it's a never-ending tale. It is a lover. It is a person that loves you. There's love and love lost. That's what that is for me." Both "Lava Lamp" and "Show You the Way" have been characterized as "soft rock-tinted"; the latter song, which features vocal contributions from Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, has also been described as yacht rock. Thundercat said of "Show You the Way": "That song to me is about going down the rabbit hole, taking you to another place. It's me denoting, 'I can show you how to get to another place.' On the edge of dark, there's the brightest light. It means a lot to me in the sense of the experience that I've had growing up with friends and people that I've been around where it's inviting them into where I come from emotionally".

Regarding "Jethro", which has been characterized as "synthy R&B"—and by Thundercat himself as incorporating "a little bit of disco"—Thundercat stated: "That song feels closer to me talking about death than anything. It's the inevitable. I don't know. That was just my identification with it. That's literally all I can tell you about that song." "Walk on By" is a hip-hop duet between Thundercat and Kendrick Lamar that utilizes a drum machine. "Tokyo", which features references to the anime Dragon Ball Z, was influenced by Thundercat's love of anime and his experiences in the eponymous Japanese city. "Jameel's Space Ride" is named after Thundercat's younger brother Jameel Bruner, and contains lyrics alluding to police brutality "over a synthy Nintendo beat".

Discs three and four

"Friend Zone", named after the interpersonal relationship concept, contains references to the video game series Diablo and Mortal Kombat. "Them Changes"—a track first released on Thundercat's 2015 EP The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam—features a sampled beat from the 1977 song "Footsteps in the Dark" by the Isley Brothers. "Drink Dat" is a slow jam featuring rap verses by Wiz Khalifa; the song's lyrics explore the futility of alcohol and drug use as a means of escape from one's problems. Describing "Drink Dat", Thundercat said: "Wiz smokes, and I always had this theory that the smoker and the drinker find each other. He would trip out watching me drink sometimes and be like, 'Whoa.' He'd be like, 'Man, it's pretty crazy.' I was like, 'The way you smoke, that's just the way I drink.' It didn't scare him—it was definitely intense for him, though. It was like, 'Wow, there it is.' The smoker and the drinker personified, and I feel like that's that song."