In the middle of his snarling Drake diss, “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar issued a brief, but powerful personal mission: “Sometimes you gotta come out and show the n-as.” It was both an action plan and a self-fulfilling mandate.
Since then, he’s won that rap beef in the most unequivocal terms imaginable: “Not Like Us” has been nominated for multiple Grammys, a rare diss song to achieve that status (ironically, the last Drake‘s Meek Mill sweep “Back to Back”), the pinnacle of a six-song surge, starting with his guest verse from Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” which received only one response before the target conceded silence. Months after his historic, LA-boosting “Pop Out” concert on Juneteenth, he was selected to perform at halftime for Super Bowl LIX. After “Mr. Morale and the Great Steppes,” Lamar’s strong but challenging sixth studio album, it was another coronation for the best rapper in the world – a flawless album rollout, but without an album. Keywords: Where. On Friday, K.Dot took a break from intermittent Finsta posts to drop “GNX,” a surprise LP that instantly eclipsed every rap release this year. Combining wicked sincerity, kaleidoscopic sounds from California and the athleticism of a decathlete, “GNX” is Kendrick Lamar at his most compelling – a mosaic that undoubtedly confirms his status as the most dynamic spitter the world has to offer.
A warehouse of Cali provenance, “GNX” stands as a self-contained museum of the West Coast sonic diaspora, with producers like Sounwave, Mustard and Jack Antonoff others providing the canvases. There are also interludes of mariachi (“Gloria”) and hyphy (“Hello now”). If you’re looking for G-Funk, you can find its basic DNA on “Dodger Blue,” which feels like a cousin to “Computer Love”; imagine Caine pulling up Ilena in “Menace II Society.” It goes beyond soundscapes as well. You can find a Drakeo the Ruler-inspired flow here (“Peakaboo”) and a Roddy Ricch feature there (“Dodger Blue”) — aside from two SZA spotlights, all other features are from relative newcomers. Somewhere in between are verses from LA’s sprawling underground (“TV Off”). Lamar’s deeply encoded genius is everywhere.
At 44 minutes, “GNX” is simultaneously versatile, homogeneous, expansive and concise – fun and deadly serious. The latter part appears on the “Wacced Out Murals” intro, where Lamar unloads barrages of righteous indignation against both Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne and, apparently, a certain Toronto rapper who allegedly paid for illegal Kendrick information. It’s a searing and vengeful debut that soars due to both Lamar’s vocal performance and a track that sounds like a dystopian prison lock-up.
Sometimes the production is as inventive as the lyrics. For “Peekaboo”, Sounwave reworks a small beaver sample into an ominous 405 joyride. Embedded with strong features from fellow Cali native AzChike, it plays out with all the nocturnal bounce of a “Paramedic, Part 2” with an even more indelible hook, itself reinforced by constant callbacks that turn every beat into a micro-chorus. Here, Lamar also serves up another reminder of his technical rap prowess – his kinetic couplets back-handspring off the beat. His words are layered in eccentric wit and compelling menace: “Peekaboo, I just put them Boogers in my chain/ Peekaboo, eighty-pointers like a Kobe game/ Peekaboo, 7.62s’ll make ’em plank/ Peekaboo, poppin’ out, you better not besmirch my name.”
Infectious as it is, “Peekaboo” isn’t even the catchiest song here — it’s tied for “Squabble Up.” For the track, Kendrick skips a track that turns a Debbie Deb classic into a peppy hip-hop anthem. Kendrick’s fluttering syllables and a shaky bass line bounce like a slinky’s recoil. The chorus, a nod to Cali street skirmishes, is simple, yet emphatic — an easily repeatable hook that could send the track to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s threaded by Lamar’s instincts as an artist — another key word.
A violent swirl of cadences and emotions, Kendrick can turn onomatopoeias and extended syllables into the best kinds of aural adventures. Remember him yelling, “Wop! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Dot, fuck ’em up” on “Not Like Us”? It’s an interactive touch that encourages listeners to repeat the beats – and they do. He repeats the technique throughout “GNX.” Within hours of its release, “TV Off” became a trending topic as fans have turned Kendrick’s manic “Mustard” shoutout into an inescapable collage of memes. Of course, that part wouldn’t have hit like it did if the song wasn’t incredible. His delivery, like a Mustard beat that feels like a futuristic LA drumline, drives a jerky chorus that will no doubt be shouted on dance floors everywhere. It’s hard to imagine the same artist topping “Not Like Us” in the same year, but “TV Off” and “Squabble Up” make it a little easier to stretch your imagination. It’s clearly easy for Kendrick to expand his.
And it’s all completely distinct – even when his songs may be remixes of previous concepts. The idea of having a conversation with God on your song is not new; Neither is reimagining important historical black figures like yourself. But doing both at the same time is probably a new one — let alone while emulating a Tupac Shakur classic with flawless cadence. For it, he spits over a sample of “Made N—az,” adding soft string arrangements that bring a layer of sentimentality to a tale of sin and redemption — a biblical rendition of a classic battle between good and evil.
As the album draws to a close, “Heart Pt. 6” is a warm reminder of his early career with his former label, Top Dawg Entertainment, explaining their amicable separation so that Lamar could “develop (and) place my skills as a black manager.” It ends with a moral: “To all my young n—as, let me be the demonstration/ How to bring differences with a healthy conversation… Pick up the phone and look it up before the story is lost/ Hand-to-hand is good when you have a heart to heart.”
He’s a little less successful on the “I Gave You Power”-like “Gloria”; Announcing a song’s central metaphor on the literal track in 2024 is a little less forgivable than when Nas did it in 1996. And yet the chorus and Kendrick’s conviction still sell most of it, even if the LP could have closed on a more climatic crescendo.
“GNX” is, more than any attribute, a testament to K.Dot’s ability to distill grand ideas through the lens of his own influences. Blended in a cauldron of sounds and sensations, these concepts meld into visceral songs for the ages: It’s all so meticulous and so regional, yet primal enough to bring about something universal. In the forgettable parade of everyday releases, it’s easy to forget that albums like this are possible. But once again, Kendrick Lamar came out and proved it.