Kendrick Lamar has been shaking things up all year and it doesn’t look like he’ll be stopping anytime soon. The recent release of his new album, GNX was a surprise drop that has left the rap and hip hop communities in a frenzy.
Between March and May, Lamar released four songs that caused a commotion over the summer that
seemed to have the whole world yelling, “they not like us!”. Now only a few weeks after it has been announced that Kendrick Lamar will be performing at the 2025 Superbowl half time show, he has dropped a 12-track album out of the blue. For long time listeners who are familiar with Lamar’s past albums like ADHD, or Good Kid M.A.A.D. City, you’ll notice he doesn’t use as many skits, interludes, or fast basslines. GNX has classic Kendrick energy but with a much more controlled sound. Kendrick is known for his combative lyrics, in-your-face style of music that can sometimes be highly emotional and animated vocal performances. One minute you may hear him playfully tossing around a triple entendres, the next he may sounding demented in a performance like his feature on “Mona Lisa”. The range of delivery and ability to build complex topics is a big part of what keeps fans paying attention to what he has to say next. The first listen through the album is entertaining, Kendrick delivered the feel of Cali well on some tracks that sound like modern versions of Snoop or Dr. Dre track from back in the 90s. There’s enough variety to cater to different moods, but also enough uniform in tempos that make it an easy album to play through.
The 44-minute track list starts with Wacced Out Murals. The epic intro featuring Mariachi singer, Deyra Barrera, followed by a orchestra lead made for a strong theatrical start. Lamar made use of a slow build up that helped emphasis focus on the lyrics. The visuals for this song came out as a surprise as well just a few hours after the album dropped. One of the lines went viral where Lamar mentions Lil Wayne. “I use to bump ‘Tha Carter 3’ I held my rollie chain proud, irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.” What some saw as a compliment or a way of paying homage to Lil Wayne, others promoted as a negative shot towards him. The bar triggered a response from Wayne, who usually doesn’t respond to rumors. Before GNX released, Lil Wayne went viral for posting a video showing himself visually upset at the fact he was not chosen to perform at the Superbowl halftime show that would be in his hometown of Louisiana 2025. Instead they chose to have Lamar take the stage, so this line and Wayne’s response was definitely noted by any and everyone in the hip hop community.
SZA is featured on two different songs titled, Gloria, and Luther. Both songs give old school R&B collab energy that isn’t heard too often in today’s music. Kendrick and SZA tend to make great collabs together, these two songs may be the best of their creative partnership. The old love song feel mixed with their exaggerated claims of affection are bound to be stuck in your head after hearing them only once. The production of Luther has been appreciated by many music enthusiasts who love how they sampled from Luther Vandross’s “If This World Were Mine”.
Man at the Garden is a simple drum track with self-reflective lyrics. Kendricks chants of stating he deserves the best in life sway back and forth between sounding as if he is encouraged self-confidence or demanding it out of entitlement. The prideful chants are open for interpretation as he uses a tone that gives the idea that your listening to his thoughts. It seems to be making a positive impact on listeners as it has quickly gained popularity on social media as people use snippets of this song to act out motivational scenes and ideas.
Reincarnated is the most impressive song with a double sample of the late legendary rapper Tupac Shakur. Traces of Shakur’s hits “How Do You Want It” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby”. Kendrick comes in hard with a strong vocal presence heavily mimicking the way Tupac would rap, powerful punch vocals with distinct inflections; always telling a story of something with a bigger message. Three verses, are three different storylines that he has reincarnated into. His vocal performance heavily mimics Tupac Shukar’s passionate rap and use of power punch vocal delivery. By the last verse he introduces a perspective switch of the biblical belief that Satan fell out of Heaven as a punishment; but questions what if instead, he was actually reincarnated and given the opportunity to be forgiven. Each “character” throughout the song has their own weaknesses and abilities. It’s escalates into a rather heavy spiritual topic where he challenges a religious belief. Heart Part 6 was an exciting listen for long-time Lamar fans. Part 5 received a lot of recognition in 2022 for the somewhat eerie but fascinating visuals he released with it. GNX is the title track of the album, featuring Hitta J3, Young Threat, and Peysoh. It’s another track of first perspective stories that Lamar fans are fond of.
GNX gives a lot of messages about living up to your own worth and surpassing obstacles with no regard to disbelievers along the way. Kendrick took much time to speak on the importance of exposing the truth no matter the consequences.
He spends time elaborating on personal introverted and dialogues between himself and God. There are interesting topics, outside of the commercial drama that has come along with Kendrick making a few diss tracks towards other popular artists and their associates, there is not much room to deny that Lamar has been evolving into a new creative direction. Kendrick is known for telling raw stories. His musical direction has evolved since his Section.80 days but his song writing and performances have been keeping everyone on their toes. With that has unfolded in just the last six months, who knows what is up Kendrick Lamar’s sleeve for 2025. GNX is well put together and even if there were no lyrics, it’s production has a timeless sound with some instant classics. 9 out of 10.
