Kendrick Lamar shock-dropped a new album on Friday, hot off his huge diss track this summer, Not Like Us.
GNX is an offering that feels less structured and high-concept than previous offerings. His last album, Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, is one of my favourite Kendrick albums, a deep treatise on his marital struggles and his position as a ‘saviour’ within the black community.
GNX is more relaxed in theme, reacting to his worldwide image growing further since his beef with Drake. This is an album about being on top, a victory lap by this artist who knows he’s king of the hip-hop world.
Sonically, this album features dark, horror-influenced beats, doubling down on Kendrick’s newfound reputation as ‘the boogeyman’. His penchant for linking songs with a leitmotif throughout his albums returns here, with mariachi singer Deyra Barrera providing vocals on three tracks, and mariachi guitar cropping up throughout. Lush, g-funk influenced beats fuse with hyper modern trap drums, defining a new west coast sound, this album explicitly claiming hip hop back from New York.
On tv off, there’s a refrain chanting ‘crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious’, which serves as a moodboard for much of this album. Kendrick doubles down on the fun he’s had on songs like Not Like Us and family ties, whilst reminding the listener constantly that he is on top, he is focused, and he is absolutely ruthless.
Kendrick’s new signature has become his strange cadences and interesting deliveries; evolving from To Pimp a Butterfly’s cast of characters, he’s not afraid to say something weirdly. Using his voice as an instrument and a texture, Kendrick often creates strange and unexpected earworms. This is used to devastatingly entertaining effect in squabble up, and I challenge you to listen a couple of times without singing along to ‘I feel good, get the fuck out my fa-a-ace / looks good, but she ain’t got no ta-a-aste’.
Swirling, sweeping synths and arena-filling horns cement his all-encompassing ego, perhaps gearing this up to be played at the 2025 Superbowl, which Kendrick was recently confirmed for. I can already picture hoards of crowds screaming ‘MUSTAAAAAAAARRRRRRD!’ when he plays tv off.
The opening track, wacced out murals, confronts the state of hip-hop today, especially in Kendrick’s post-Drake world. He talks his mindset post-beef and his disappointment in hip-hop in general; he speaks as an elder statesman, criticising Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne as idols who let him down. A menacing instrumental buzzes, war horns and horror stings raising hackles behind Kenny’s anger.
luther, featuring SZA, and dodger blue, have a similar sound to Kendrick’s 2017 album DAMN. To my mind these are the weaker songs, but I’m aware I’m allergic to most r&b and it wouldn’t surprise me if luther in particular blew up.
reincarnated is classic Kendrick, lyrics shifting first-person through stories of doomed musicians with an angry tone, spitting stories through gritted teeth. Rapping a song named reincarnated over a Tupac beat (Made N*ggaz) isn’t insignificant, recalling To Pimp a Butterfly where Kendrick repeatedly compared himself to 2Pac. The song ends with Kendrick having a conversation with God, reminiscent of his conversation with 2Pac at the end of To Pimp a Butterfly. He basically says that musical geniuses are reincarnations of the devil, and seeks forgiveness, seemingly to reclaim the power of troubled musicians throughout history.
tv off serves as a sort of Not Like Us sequel, echoing it sonically and featuring production by Mustard. His producer tag is the only one on the album, cementing his moment in hip-hop history that Not Like Us started. It starts with a similarly majestic beat, and moves into sweeping and brassy arena-fillers. Between this and hey now, Mustard on this album proves he’s got an ear for hard-hitting west coast hip hop, and I would imagine he’ll be very in demand.
The album starts to draw to a close with the heart pt. 6, which tells of Kendrick’s journey to this moment. He shouts out all of his former colleagues at Top Dawg Entertainment (his previous record label), thanking them for their help getting to where he is. This is especially significant on this first album since parting ways with TDE to release music for his own label, pgLang.
GNX is perhaps Kendrick’s least conceptual album, with no discernible narrative and a few themes only gently tying it together. This said, it is still a rich piece of work, Compton’s greatest poet still at the top of his game. And, in keeping with the Kendrick of late, he sounds like he’s having fun. Gliding over west coast beats, distorting his voice, you can almost picture him crip-walking in the studio.
Since linking with his cousin Baby Keem on a couple of tracks off his album The Melodic Blue, Kendrick has been able to have more fun in his music. From the weird little vocal tics to the danceable sonics to the intentionally meme-worthy moments. That’s why Not Like Us was a success, why range brothers is so addictive, and why this album will be remembered very fondly indeed. This is an era-defining artist, making really fun music, and seemingly having a bloody good time doing it. How rare is that?
There’s stuff for fans of all of Kendrick’s previous projects here, from the unapologetic west coast braggadocio of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, to the grand poeticism of To Pimp a Butterfly, to Mr Morale’s bleeding-hearted honest maturity. And if you’re a new fan, here because of Not Like Us, I have only one thing to say to you.
MUSTAAAAAAAARRRRRRRD!
