Kendrick drops To Pimp A Butterfly early a week early

Rapper Kendrick Lamar is the latest artist to ignore the traditional way of promoting an album before release.

The 27-year-old dropped To Pimp A Butterfly, yesterday - a week earlier than expected.

There was no fanfare or drama - just a link and a note from Lamar on his Twitter page, saying: "Keep calm. All is well".

He joins the ranks of Beyonce and Drake who released albums to the public with zero publicity.

Or, you could flip it and believe the tweet sent out by the CEO of the company which represents the star. It could all have just been a mistake.

Anthony Tiffith tweeted he would like to "personally thank @interscope" for messing up the release. And he added "SOMEBODY GOTS 2 PAY 4 THIS MISTAKE!!!!"

Some media outlets were also saying that the album had reverted to pre-order in iTunes.

So until the truth comes to light either way, here's a look at other artists who released music no-one (ok, someone) was expecting.

David Bowie - The Next Day

We have to credit David Bowie with the movement of releasing an album no one saw coming.

It is virtually unheard of for any artist to be able record and produce material without some eager beaver leaking a beat/picture/#workingwith update on Twitter or Instagram, but David Bowie managed to do it, back in January 2013.

He released his first single in a decade - Where Are We Now? - and announced his album - The Next Day - would be hitting all good retailers two months later.

It was a two year work in progress and, true to form, Bowie hasn't done a single interview, made any appearance on a red carpet and not performed any of the new material live.

Beyonce - Beyonce

A new album was expected from Beyonce, but instead we got a lot of pictures from the star travelling the world and looking glamorous.

Last year, she released a brand new album - Beyonce - exclusively on iTunes, with 17 music videos.

There are rumours of a repeat performance with an album with her husband Jay Z.

Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late

28-year-old Drizzy had just released a 15 minute short film called Jungle, showing him walking around his hometown of Toronto, reminiscing.

Hours later, and just before Valentine's Day, Drake sent out a tweet with a picture and link.

Then, because no one was really expecting new material from him, and because, well, YOLO, everyone took on the "Drake Drawl" (as in the writing from the album cover).

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