Prelude – The Recap

To think, I was ready to call it a day and let the Tyler review be the last one I do for this year… but nope! As soon as there was a surprise announcement that Kendrick Lamar dropped an album, I knew I had to get back into review mode and here we are!!

To recap the events that happened in 2024, it’s the GREAT RAP BEEF of OUR TIME!! You first heard the track “Like That” from Future and Metro Boomin feat. Kendrick Lamar. Most will never forget the diss he laid out for Drake and J. Cole, and soon shots were thrown everywhere. First Drake releasing his own disses via “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” (even though the latter was later dismissed and slammed due to usage of AI); next Kendrick followed those up with “Euphoria” and “6:16 in LA.” It seems that Drake had the upper hand as later into the night of the latter K.Dot track dropping, he released “Family Matters.”

You think Drake would have the spotlight with that… but nope! That was followed by “Meet The Grahams,” released 20-30 minutes after “Family Matters.” AND THEN! Not even a day later, in comes the closing finish with the now-hit track of the year “Not Like Us.” Yeah, it’s unanimous that Kendrick was the victor of the beef, not only in terms of quality but through playing Drake’s game by having chart success, the biggest being “Like That” on top of “Not Like Us” reaching #1 and staying on the charts for weeks. Hell, there was even a Juneteenth concert he ran with them playing “Not Like Us” five times! Yes, that many times.

Meanwhile, Drake afterwards did not have much luck with his chart success dwindling down. He couldn’t even help Camila Cabello get much play when her album came out a few months back, and thus the Drake Stimulus Package was null and void.  Oh, and did I forget that him trying to sue UMG because he thinks there’s bots and streaming payola for “Not Like Us?” Yeah, the rapper whose always featured on a lot of curated playlists and even part of that payola when it caters to him is suing the record company because they like the other rapper’s disses better than his. Yeah, the downfall of Aubrey Graham is not stopping anytime soon. I bet by the time this review is out, more stuff will come up.

As for J. Cole… well, he got lucky ducking out before things got worse, although his part of the beef with making a diss track on his very lackluster mixtape Might Delete Later unavailable to stream after release because he had a change of heart and wants to find his peace. I mean, good for him but “Port Antonio” just made him look dumber now and unworthy of being in that ‘top 3’.

Even after the beef settled down, Kendrick Lamar still gained momentum with him performing for the upcoming Super Bowl LIX  Halftime Show in New Orleans, as well as dropping another track exclusively for Instagram on September 8th, which most of us titled “Watch the Party Die,” focusing on his frustrations at the hip-hop media, culture and the music industry. And that’s where the story concluded….

….or so we thought.

November 22, 2024

Again, around November or later November, usually I would go over and re-listen to albums for my best of list and see what would be high on my list… and then out of nowhere (kinda), it came.

That’s right. A new Kendrick album has dropped.

Now, most did speculate that he would come out with a new album before the end of 2024 and well, he did the damn thing. Here comes GNX, his sixth-studio album and the first since his departure from Top Dawg Entertainment, and yeah we did have a snippet minutes before the album came out although that snippet isn’t a part of the record (shame, it sounded dope).

And now for that usual question in these album reviews: what did I think of GNX?

Going into this, I know most expected either some beef-related tracks, some introspective joints or maybe some more bangers out of him and well… yes. Just yes.
First, to clarify in case you don’t know what a GNX is: it’s the car on the album cover – an 1987 Buick GNX aka Grand National eXperiment (1987 being the year he was born in). It was also nicknamed “The Assassin” which ,considering the way he delivered those diss tracks, you can absolutely say that about him. Going from the van from Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City to this….

Does this album have a concept? It is anything like we heard on Mr. Morale?

Yeah, I don’t know most of the answer but there are some parallel themes to this. The first track we get is “wacced out murals,” and this 5 minute track does set off some things from how after the beef, it went from ‘fuck that guy’ to fuck everyone’ and how he’s not putting up with the bullshit, and then during the 2nd verse:

Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud
Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down
Whatever, though, call me crazy, everybody questionable
Turn me to an eskimo, I drew the line and decimals
Snoop posted “Taylor Made,” I prayed it was the edibles
I couldn’t believe it, it was only right for me to let it go
Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me
All these niggas agitated, I’m just glad they showin’ they faces

Yeah, remember the whole Super Bowl thing? You remember that people were questioning why Lil’ Wayne wasn’t an option for that considering he’s from New Orleans and how he’s disappointed (although the Super Bowl has been in New Orleans several times and even around the time he was hot, no one asked for him back then and now, he disappointed?)  Plus, they have never gotten artists from their hometown to perform at the halftime show anyway. To me, Wayne just sounded whiny, and people backing him up was even worse. Plus, aside from a few features here and there, Wayne as a live performer hasn’t been that great from what I heard. Plus, having only one of his peers congratulate him while others act like he stole it is disheartening.

Then we go to what most of this album exceeds at: delivering some West Coast certified bangers! “squabble up”  has those G-funk and hyphy sounds (and oh yeah, it was featured as a snippet on the “Not Like Us” music video). The song also has a sample of Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music,” and not only does it got a sweet vibe going on, Kendrick is still coming with some meaty bars on this.

Tell me why the fuck you niggas rap if it’s fictional?
Tell me why the fuck you niggas fed if you criminal?
“Ayy, Dot, can I get a drop?” I’m like, “Nigga, nah”
Ace boon coon from the Westside to Senegal
It’s a full moon, let the wolves out, I been a dog (Ah)

Following that is the very lush and soulful “luther.” And yes, the song does indeed have a sample of “If This World Were Mine” by Cheryl Lynn featuring Luther Vandross. This is your slow jam/love song of the album where its all about you and your partner/lover keeping you grounded, spirited, and level-headed, showing empowerment and light inside you. Kendrick and our guest feature SZA have such wonderful chemistry on the track showing their vulnerable sides.

“man at the garden” has Kendrick going on about the sacrifices and hardships he faced throughout his life and career, saying that ‘he deserves it all’ as he stays true to his community and home despite some opposition not feeling it as much (that being most of the music industry), and he is very relentless on keeping those genuine on his side and avoiding the toxicity of most figures.

Keep these bitch niggas away from me
Keep all my blessings faithfully
Keep my essence contagious, that’s okay with me
I burn this bitch down, don’t you play with me or stay with me
I’m crashin’ out right now, no one’s safe with me
I did it with integrity and niggas still try hate on me, just wait and see

“reincarnated” is birthed from a sample of 2Pac’s “Made N****z,” and his flow, rhyme scheme and production definitely have that 2Pac sound. There’s also a reminder that all of that came from skill, whereas Drake just used AI of him during the beef. The track earlier, “hey now,” is another bouncy joint where he raps on how he’s too important to be ‘slid on’ or exploited. I haven’t talked about features on here much as… well, I bet you were expecting some big names on here. But aside from SZA and Roddy Ricch, we got some west coast rappers very unknown to me, but that’s a net positive with these guys showing up on a Kendrick album with Dody6 being the feature on “hey now,” and I thought his verse was cool.

Production is another interesting facet of this with all these west coast sounds: the synths, the G-funk and bounce sounds, and the people brought into this. You got your usual subjects with Sounwave, Terrace Martin, and Sean Momberger; we also have Kamasi Washington with his contributions, and on the “unexpected but kinda expected” side, Jack Antonoff also produces. Yes, that Jack Antonoff — same dude that produces for people like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, etc. and last but not least…

MUSTAAAAAAARRRRDDDDD!!!!!

 

Yes, Mustard produces two tracks on here: “hey now” and “tv off,” the latter being the track where that infamous meme is born. Of course there’s a bit more going on with the song’s themes of exploring authenticity, accountability, society’s well-being and surviving deceptive tactics. Yes the song is more than just the daily meme, but it’s a damn fantastic song.

“dodger blue” has this blissed-out vibe that screams West Coast with the production, the ode to LA Culture, and the features with Wallie The Sensei, Roddy Ricch, and Siete on the chorus, as well as additional contributions from Ink and Sam Dew. It’s a short track but the vibes are still heavy with this. “peekaboo” features AzChike, and it’s another track about the industry that’s focused on calling out rappers with hollow, meaningless lyrics, and I did like the verse from AzChike.

Never got his ass whooped until we opened up that can
Damn, alley-oop me bands, I’ma slam, jam
Freak bitch, I like my MAC touchin’ yams
Play that opp shit around me, I’ma tell you, “Turn it off”
Heard what happened to your mans, not sorry for your loss
Should’ve prayed before them shooters came and nailed him to the cross
I let your boy get a pass, bitch, you lucky he soft, for real

Then the next two tracks are both my favorite highlights of the album.
“heart pt. 6” aka the REAL ‘Heart Pt. 6’ (and not that fail of a response Drake made to Kendrick after “Not Like Us”) doesn’t address the beef, but it’s this one is more personal with the culture, his personal life, his role in the dissolution of Black Hippy (the Top Dawg collective with him, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock) and wanting to be in line with his artistic vision more. Plus, there’s that sweet sample of that SWV classic “Use Your Heart” (and yes, that song is forever a classic, amplified moreso with this album). “gnx,” the title track, might be my favorite of the album, and that might be a hot take in case you read or watch other music critics.

The bounce, the flow, the cadence of “gnx” made me put it on repeat the first few times I listened to the album; it’s very high-energy and unapologetic in its hustle and pride. I have also noticed that this is more of a posse track with more focus on the features from Hitta J3, YoungThreat & Peysoh, and I actually dug their verses.

Last but not least, we have the closer “gloria” featuring SZA, and this one speaks about a woman being a metaphor for his craft – Gloria means ‘glory’ in Spanish as a nod to his rap pen and the art he’s doing. Once again, both SZA and Kendrick performed very strong here and highlight the dual sides of love (being pain and healing), and yet, if I had to pick a least favorite track, this would be it. Now it doesn’t mean it’s horrible. In fact there’s not a single track on here I would call bad; this one is just not the one I go back to on separate playback, but still the subject matter is excellent.

Yeah, there’s no doubt that GNX is a fantastic album — to me, it has the qualities of his past albums like DAMN, and maybe a smidge of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and Mr. Morale (but I might be reaching on that last one). I say that because this has both the artistic and commercial appeal, especially with the many West Coast sounds played throughout. This year, Kendrick Lamar has dominated not only the hip-hop atmosphere but just the culture in general. Between the infamous beef,  having a chance to perform at the upcoming Super Bowl, and finishing it off with this album… yeah, 2024 was a mighty year despite some setbacks.

FINAL VERDICT: BBBBBBUUUUUUYYYYYYY IIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT! Sorry, I had to do it. What a way to finish off the year with this album.

GNX is on pgLang through Interscope Records on digital download and streaming services. You can pre-order the album on physical (CD, vinyl, cassette) right here.