On the morning of Nov. 22, I woke to a notification that Kendrick Lamar had uploaded a teaser for a new song to his YouTube channel. Nice, I thought. Maybe he’s finally starting the rollout for his new album. I went back to reading my book.
30 minutes later, “GNX” was released. Murmurs of Lamar’s sixth album had been percolating online ever since the “Not Like Us” music video teased a new song back in July. Friday’s teaser was a slightly overdue but still welcome moment; Friday’s album was a discombobulating rush.
“wacced out murals” sets the tone over a slow-burning beat. Kendrick is not over anything, settling controversy over his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show while emphasizing his work ethic and integrity. This intro also introduces themes that recur throughout the album; reincarnation, exploring who deserves success and authenticity.
The idea of deserving acclaim was central in Lamar’s attacks on Drake back in the spring. The idea that Drake (or anyone else, for that matter) deserved the title of greatest rapper alive was so abhorrent to Lamar that it culminated in the creation and mass dissemination of “Not Like Us.”
These emotions show their face again on the intense fourth track “man at the garden,” where Lamar builds from a forceful whisper to an an angry shout, asking, “Tell me why you think you deserve the greatest of all time, motherfucker.”
Outside of songs like “gloria” and “man at the garden,” which would have fit right in with the subdued self-reflection of Lamar’s 2022 double album “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers,” a new sound dominates the tracklist of “GNX.”
Mustard’s iconic production from “Not Like Us” carries forth here with rolling 808s and looping samples throughout. “hey now” finds a particular earworm of a sample in a bouncing metal cable. The West Coast sound is loud and proud on songs like “hey now” and “tv off,” and most features are underground Los Angeles rappers.
Lamar could have anyone on his album at this point in his career, which makes his feature choices more meaningful. This was tougher to swallow when Kodak Black showed up across “Mr. Morale,” but here feels like a pointed response to Drake’s claim on “Family Matters” that Lamar won’t, “go back to [his] hood and plant no money trees.”
The low points on “GNX” come from two songs heavy with Los Angeles influence, “peekaboo” and “gnx.” “peekaboo” is a bizarre entry in the tracklist, with Lamar dishing out threats of violence alongside questionable scatting reminiscent of SupaHotFire.
The title track feels undercooked, with a basic piano and simple bass. YoungThreat lacks the charm to get away with eye-roller lines like, “Get on my Bob the Builder shit, get down with the pliers.” Bob the Builder never even used a pair of pliers… clearly Mr. Threat has not seen the source material he references.
My favorite on the album is “heart pt 6,” a classic storytelling song that continues the deconstruction of Lamar’s ego that began on “Mr. Morale.” Where that album focused on his ego as a man, “heart pt 6” confronts his ego as an artist.
Over SWV’s “Use Your Heart,” Lamar describes inspiration he took from friends and fellow Black Hippy supergroup members Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q. Lamar gives closure to fans of the group, which has not released music in years, with his admission that “Black Hippy didn’t work ‘cause of me.”
“heart pt 6” also discusses Lamar’s split with former label Top Dawg Entertainment and how his creativity isolates him from others. The Heart series has always represented a moment for Lamar to reflect before moving on to the next phase of his art. Here, it represents him reclaiming the title after Drake’s malicious misinterpretation of “Mr. Morale” in misfire diss “THE HEART PART 6.”
Two names in the liner notes of “GNX” are more recognizable than the others; SZA and Jack Antonoff. SZA appears on “luther” and “gloria” dripping with raw emotion as she touches on themes of unconditional love.
Jack Antonoff is a stranger one. Antonoff previously helped produce “6:16 in LA,” an Instagram-only diss track of Lamar’s whose inaccessibility prevented it from getting proper recognition. Here, he is credited on almost every song.
Not many people can say that they produced the best Kendrick Lamar song and worst Sabrina Carpenter song in the same year; Antonoff can add this to his list of accolades. I’m talking about “Please Please Please,” by the way.
Not every album has to be a grand statement on the artist behind it or the society they live in. Where Lamar’s previous albums were carefully assembled around core themes ripe for interpretation, “GNX” takes emotional inventory of his career while showing support for the sounds and artists of his hometown.
