After his extensive features on Kendrick Lamar’s boundary-pushing rap-jazz fusion classic To Pimp A Butterfly, Thundercat’s profile has risen considerably over the past few years. Following the release of Butterfly, Thundercat, aka Stephen Bruner, released his own mini-album The Beyond / Where The Giants Roam, but hasn’t put out a solo album since. Which doesn’t mean he hasn’t been busy, aside from on an album with both Kamasi Washington, most recently Bruner was mentoring emerging musicians at Red Bull Music Academy, and apparently, making friends with Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald.
Today he’s announced a brand new twenty-three track album called Drunk out 2/24 via Brainfeeder, and shared the lead single “Show You The Way,” which features Loggins and McDonald. During the press cycle for his last record, Bruner frequently mentioned his fandom for Loggins, which led to an introduction through his keyboard player Dennis Hamm, and it was Loggins who suggested they add McDonald to the collaborative track.
“These are guys that I’ve listened to where I felt that I’ve learned that honesty in the music,” Bruner told Red Bull Music Academy Daily about the collaborations. “Kenny Loggins is one of my favorite songwriters. I think one of the most beautiful moments of it was realizing how amazing Michael McDonald was. He would go through so many ideas and have so much to offer.”
Aside from these two unlikely, legendary features, Bruner has enlisted quite a crew of other talent to appear on the record, including Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, Wiz Khalifa, and more. Listen to the track below, and check out the Drunk artwork and full tracklist.
Drunk tracklist:
1. “Rabbot Ho”
2. “Captain Stupido”
3. “Uh Uh”
4. “Bus In These Streets”
5. “A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song Suite II)”
6. “Lava Lamp”
7. “Jethro”
8. “Day & Night”
9. “Show You The Way” (feat. Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins)
10. “Walk On By” (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
11. “Blackkk”
12. “Tokyo”
13. “Jameel’s Space Ride”
14. “Friend Zone”
15. “Them Changes”
16. “Where I’m Going”
17. “Drink Dat” (Feat. Wiz Khalifa)
18. “Inferno”
19. “I Am Crazy”
20. “3AM”
21. “Drunk”
22. “The Turn Down” (Feat. Pharrell)
23. “DUI”