Kendrick Lamar’s sixth studio album is here, and so are the new flows he promised.
On the 22nd of November, Kendrick Lamar posted a 1-minute snippet to YouTube teasing new music. Thirty minutes later, I was on Facetime with my friend, absolutely losing my mind.
Kendrick dropped a new album, and all hell broke loose in the rap world. GNX, the sixth studio album by Kendrick Lamar, has 12 songs and a runtime of 44 minutes. Lamar’s projects are popular for how intentional each one feels, often heavily influenced by events in his personal life, career, and his reality as a black man in America. This new project is injected with assertions of pride about the artist he’s become recently and the city that has carried him this far. In classic Kendrick style, the project also extends an emphatic victory lap that began when he released 5-time Grammy-nominated song “Not Like Us” in May.
An instant hit and Apple Music’s most streamed song of 2024, the song concluded a vicious beef between K.Dot and Drake. It is now considered one of the best diss tracks of all time (I personally think it’s “Euphoria”). This new album also reflects a style shift for Lamar as his first album since he left TDE in 2022 and the first one under pgLang, Lamar’s company founded with long-time friend and collaborator Dave Free.
“His abilities finally match his dreams, and I think he knows it.”
The album is full of quality contributions from all the featured artists and is a tribute to black, American West coast music. The album was produced mainly by Kendrick’s career-long producer, Sounwave, and Jack Antonoff in collaboration with other big names like Mustard. The album features a Luther Vandross sample on “luther”, which is one of two angelic duets with SZA on the album, an interpolation of FABO and Jeezy’s 2012 hit “Geeked Up” on “hey now” ft. Dody 6, and a sample of Tupac and Outlawz’s 1997 track “Made Niggaz” on “reincarnated.” The all-L.A. feature list (and SZA) brilliantly spotlights Californian and West coast talent like AzChike, Wallie the Sensei, Hitta J3, and Lefty Gunplay that delivered ambitious verses reminiscent of young Kendrick at the beginning of the 2010s.
Lamar sets the tone early. With the new flows he promised in 2021, he’s defiant of the industry and has no plans to back down. He addresses the hate he received during the beef and the pushback from Lil Wayne and the industry after his announcement as the performer for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show. He reasserts that there’s no truth he’s unwilling to tell, even calling Snoop Dogg out for supporting Drake’s diss “Taylor Made”. The negativity projected onto him seems to be bouncing off this project in tracks like “reincarnated,” where he reflects on his actions this year. He claims to promise to use his gifts for peace moving forward.
2024 has been Lamar’s most dominant year in music since 2017 after the release of DAMN, his fourth studio album. He’s felt both sides of the blade of fame this year, and on GNX, Kendrick assures us that he has emerged victorious.
We are seeing Kendrick celebrate the climb into immortality he has rapped about for so long. On the song “man at the garden”, he testifies, “I deserve it all.” His abilities finally match his dreams, and I think he knows it. He is more confident and free than ever, celebrating his friends, family, and city in the impressive, final track, “gloria.”.
It is heavily rumoured that more is coming from Lamar before the year runs out, and with his tour with SZA already adding locations due to demand, I cannot wait for what K.Dot has to say next.
Graphic by Forrester Toews
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