Coming off a historic victory in the largest rap beef in recent memory against Canadian hitmaker, Drake, Compton rapper, Kendrick Lamar, has had one of the most accomplished years in hip-hop history.
Beginning the year with the hit track, “Like That” from Future and Metro Boomin’s album “We Don’t Trust You”, Kendrick continued his hot streak during his feud with Drake while dropping the massive track “Not Like Us”. The beef culminated with Kendrick’s victory after the announcement that Lamar would be headlining the 2025 Superbowl in New Orleans.
After that announcement, it seemed like Kendrick would slow down and work on the album that he was teasing for release in 2025. Surprisingly however, on Nov. 22, 2024, without any rollout, Kendrick dropped his newest LP, “GNX”.
In the small time it’s been available to the public, “GNX” has largely seen praise from fans and critics alike. Sites such as Pitchfork, called the project, “Glossy” and “Hyper-local”. However, others, after hearing this newest project, have raised the question of whether Kendrick can live up to his previous acclaimed works such as “To Pimp a Butterfly”, “Good Kid, Maad City”, or “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers”?
On the subject of “GNX” being “Hyper-local”, Kendrick begins the album with the track “wacced out murals”. The song starts off with the lyric, “Yesterday, somebody wacced [sic] out my mural,” referring to a mural of himself in Compton, California that was defaced. With Kendrick hailing from Compton, this event sets up the overarching theme of the album, recognition, personal evolution, and authenticity. This theme is backed up by the opening sample of the song which is a poem by Deyra Barrera. The poem is mainly about the singer Anita Baker, signifying a moment of introspection and reflection while listening to her music. Lamar relates to it as in his music, he often finds himself in moments of reflection on his position within the industry.
The track continues with a menacing, bass-heavy beat produced by Jack Antonoff. Throughout the track, Kendrick throws shots at celebrities such as comedian, Andrew Shulz and more interestingly, Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg.
The lyric, “The irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down,” refers to a video Wayne released months ago where he mentions being disappointed that Kendrick was chosen to be the headline performer for the 2025 Superbowl in New Orleans. Wayne seems to have taken personal offense to this as he hails from New Orleans and has been passed up to host the halftime show there on two previous occasions. The shot Kendrick threw out at Snoop Dogg comes with the line, “Snoop posted Taylor Made, I hoped it was the edibles,” referring to when Snoop Dogg reposted the Drake diss track against Kendrick, “Taylor Made Freestyle”, as well as commenting that he thought the track was funny. Overall, “wacced out murals,” with Kendrick’s threatening and ethereal flow combined with the incredible production, makes for a perfect opening for “GNX”.
Following “wacced out murals” is the lead single of the album, “squabble up”. Many listeners may recognize the beginning of the song from the teaser to the album that Kendrick included within the “Not Like Us” music video. Like many of the tracks on this LP, “squabble up” continues the trend of being “Hyper-local” to Compton through its title which is common Los Angeles slang for fighting. The title beyond referring to Kendrick’s heritage, also serves as Kendrick delivering a reminder that he is on top of the rap game.
The next track off the album, “Luther,” has been making waves on the Billboard Hot 100 chart due to a variety of factors. Though at first glance, “Luther” can be seen as a generic love song, Kendrick’s melodic verse feels deeply personal, possibly alluding to the song being for his long-time fiancé, Whitney Althoff. The contains a lush hook from SZA, who brings her usual mix of ethereal vocals and angelic singing. Overall, “Luther” stands out from other tracks on the album due to its more R&B approach as opposed to the west-coast rap sound that permeates the rest of “GNX”.
Continuing to a slower point on the album, the track “man at the garden” while having decent production and powerful writing, Kendrick’s flow is underwhelming and repetitive. Throughout the track, Kendrick talks about how much he deserves within the music industry. For such a cocky song, the energy really should be higher. While the song isn’t bad, it does stand as one of the more underwhelming parts of the entire project.
Unlike “man at the garden,” the next track “hey now” is a massive highlight off “GNX”. The song opens up with a breathy beat and a menacing opening verse from Kendrick. Throughout the song, Kendrick alludes to himself being a better MC than everyone else in the industry, especially with the lyric, “I just strangled me a G.O.A.T”. The song continues into a beat switch to something grander where Kendrick repeats the lyric, “I’m way too important to ever let you slide on me again”, again referencing his perceived place in the music industry. The track also contains a very pleasantly surprising feature from LA rapper, Dody6, who reinforces the theme of confidence and finding your niche.
Another highlight track off the album is “reincarnated”, which contains one of the most infectious and energetic flows Lamar has on the album. On top of Kendrick’s fantastic performance, the track contains an incredibly catchy piano instrumental that is sampled from the 2Pac song, “Made N****s”. The song feels straight out of the 90’s wave of west-coast hip-hop, popularized by rappers like Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and more specifically 2Pac, who Kendrick is deliberately channeling the essence of. Overall, the track serves as Kendrick’s love letter to the west as well as his message of respect to his predecessors, but also a critique of the problems with those that have come before him and how he tries and fails to rectify their sins.
The following track, “tv off”, is currently one of the most streamed tracks on the album. “tv off,” like the previous track, is more of a love letter to the west through its feature, California rapper, Lefty Gunplay, as well as its production by Mustard. Many listeners will no doubt recognize the beat Mustard incorporates into the track as it derives from the same sample that he used when producing Kendrick’s diss track against Drake, “Not Like Us”. Aside from the production, the track stands out with Kendrick’s infectious performance, especially when the second half of the song opens with a beat switch and Kendrick screaming, “MUSTAAAAAARD!” at the top of his lungs. “tv off” stands as a massive high note in the album through Mustard’s fantastic production, Lefty Gunplay’s menacing feature in the final leg of the song, and an all-time rapping performance by Lamar.
After this streak of three fantastic tracks, “GNX” hits a bit of a standstill with the song “dodger blue”. While the track contains very melodic production and fun features from Roddy Rich, Siete7x and Wallie the Sensei, the track falters with Kendrick’s performance. Though it’s clear he’s going for a more relaxed approach in his rapping, in parts of the song he sounds half asleep. The track is supposed to be an ode to Kendrick’s home city of LA and the lyrics used are beautifully written to provide a message to those within LA that don’t claim the culture, cannot claim the city itself. “dodger blue” is not a bad track by any means, it just doesn’t live up to the other highlights on the album.
One of the more popular tracks off the entire album is the song “peekaboo” featuring AzChike. When listened to as part of the whole album, the track works very well as Kendrick describes what it means to be authentic and how he feels about the lack of authenticity within the music industry. The track falters however, when listened to on its own. The energy of the track comes to a grinding halt when Kendrick begins to repeat, “What they talkin’ ‘bout? They talkin’ ‘bout nothin’”, over ten times within the first minute of the song this pattern repeats three times in the entire song and makes the track feel like it’s one repeated bar with a little bit of filler in between. While the point of the track is to make fun of those who talk a lot without saying anything, the message is lost when Kendrick ends up stooping down to this level of artistry, even if it’s ironic.
After Drake released his horrific diss track toward Kendrick titled, “The Heart Part 6”, many fans were wondering how Kendrick would continue his trademark series of songs. To little surprise, Kendrick just ended up making his own version titled, “heart pt. 6”. The track contains grooviest production on the entire album that feels right out of some early 2000’s R&B. Like the rest of Kendrick’s “heart” series, this track is deeply personal as Kendrick tells the story of coming up in the music industry with the rest of Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). Throughout the song, Lamar mentions numerous artists under his label that he’s worked with such as Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q as well as his longtime friend Dave Free. “heart pt. 6” possibly has the best writing on the entire album as Kendrick uses his memories of TDE to describe the creative process of making art.
Unfortunately, after this massive highlight of the album comes the title track, “gnx” which is underwhelming for a multitude of reasons. The track’s production as a whole feels like the most generic trap beat of all time as it’s just a loop of drums, bass, and piano with no switch up for the entirety of the track’s runtime. The message of the track boils down to Kendrick and the artists he’s influenced being the ones to put meaning back into art. The track also contains a plethora of rather weak verses from west coast rappers: Hitta J3, YoungThreat, and Peysoh. Each of their verses are identical as they all have the same flow and repeat the same lyrics about putting the west back onto the top of the rap game. This is where the title, “GNX” comes into play. GNX refers to a 1987 Buick Grand National Experimental, a type of car that is deeply personal to Lamar. Kendrick was born in 1987, leading many to believe the title “GNX” is a metaphor for himself, however, the album purposefully keeps this vague and open to interpretation.
Lastly on the album comes the track “gloria” which, once again, features SZA. SZA’s vocals on the track are also exactly what you’d expect from her, they’re angelic. “gloria” serves as a perfect way to end “GNX” as it effortlessly encapsulates the main idea of the album. This is one of the more mellow songs off the entire project, as the beat is relaxed, and Kendrick’s performance feels more laid back. This stylistic choice works perfectly to the song’s favor as it wraps up the entire album with the theme of authenticity, confidence, higher meaning and the importance of substance within art, as well as serving as Kendrick’s own commentary on his personal relationships.
Ultimately, “GNX” is Kendrick Lamar’s least-great album, but it’s still fantastic. The production is close to flawless throughout as Kendrick brought out heavy hitters like Jack Antonoff or Mustard. The features as well did not disappoint. SZA did her thing on both “luther” and “gloria” and brought a sense of beauty to both tracks. Dody6 is an unexpected standout on the track “hey now” where he absolutely kills the final verse of the song. Kendrick’s own performance never faltered. While some tracks felt like he wasn’t going all out with his energy, he makes up for it with his wordplay and clever use of different flows and voices. Lastly, the album’s theme of substance and authenticity ring loud in a music landscape that is run by artists that just seek to make one more big hit. Overall, “GNX” may not be as amazing as other Kendrick Lamar works, it is still a fantastic addition to both his catalogue and the music scene as a total.
