Kendrick Lamar, one of the biggest rappers in hip-hop at this moment, dropped a surprise album this past Friday which was both unexpected and also very exciting for fans of hip-hop. Named after the 1987 Buick model of the same name, “GNX” is an Old School inspired West Coast hip-hop record with elements of gangster funk and new school production.

Biography and Context:

Kendrick Lamar is a rapper who needs no introduction for those invested in hip-hop. The Compton rapper’s discography features the studio albums, “Section.80” (2011), “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” (2012), “To Pimp A Butterfly” (2015), “DAMN.” (2017), and “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” (2022), all of which have been met with smashing critical and commercial acclaim. He also has a variety of mixtapes that he has made over the years before his studio career and also made the soundtrack for the Black Panther movie (2018). His discography, storytelling, flows, and writing have led many to dub him the “Greatest Of All Time” or the “Greatest Alive” in terms of hip-hop which is certainly no small feat.

Each album has a unique conceptual theme, style, and tone behind it. “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” is a cinematic-style storytelling experience through a series of songs telling the growth of Kendrick Lamar through dealing with peer pressure, violence, and learning how to live in Compton as a “good kid”. “To Pimp A Butterfly” is a funky progressive jazz rap album told through the format of poetry inspired by a trip Kendrick took to South Africa in 2014 and tackles racism, self-love, hood culture, and politics.  “DAMN.” is a record filled with hits, bangers, and melodic tracks tackling more self-reflective topics. Finally, his newest record up until this point “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” is an emotional dark record discussing Kendrick’s trauma, grief, and mental physique and his recovery through therapy.

He is the only non-classical music artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for his album “DAMN.” in 2018 and many critics and fans consider his third studio album, “To Pimp A Butterfly” to be the greatest album of all time — not just the greatest rap album — but greatest of all time. His legendary status as an artist was elevated further after a historical beef with Drake, the most popular rapper in the world, earlier this year in which Kendrick and his allies trounced Drake in the eyes of mainstream audiences.

After the beef ended in conclusive victory, many wondered what Kendrick would work on next. It was rumored for a long time that he was secretly working on a new project with teases from people close to him being few and far between. After months of silence, he chose to drop this 44-minute, 12-song project on a seemingly random Friday. This album is by far the shortest in his career yet in terms of both song count and time. The album rarely focuses on Drake, only prominently talking about him on the intro track along with his relationship with many legends in the hip-hop scene and how it’s changed within the last six months.

Production:

Every song on the album (besides one) features a production credit from Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, two frequent collaborators with Kendrick. Sounwave is primarily known as Kendrick’s main producer and has been working with him for every project of his since 2009 so it’s not a surprise he’s on board as per usual. Jack Antonoff is primarily known as a pop producer, most famously being Taylor Swift’s main producer. However, he does occasionally dabble in hip-hop (mostly with Kendrick), and when he does it sounds great. This album isn’t an exception.

The album takes the direction of an old-school West Coast G-Funk hip-hop album blended with new elements and new school rhythms and flows. The samples chosen throughout the album seem very much inspired by the classics of the Hip-Hop golden age of the ’90s and early 2000s. This becomes evident in songs like “tv off” produced by DJ Mustard, which sounds awfully similar to his smash hit single “Not Like Us” from earlier this year.

The production seen through the album is just infectious and catchy. There are rarely any breaks from the thumping 808s and energetic flows delivered on this record. The more mellow tracks do a good job of limiting the party-like energy and they do their job of not distracting from Kendrick’s storytelling abilities or vocal talent.

Lyrics:

A common criticism by Drake fans before and after the beef regarding Kendrick was that he simply wasn’t a hitmaker; his songs were sleepy or boring and he couldn’t make big hits like Drake. This is naturally a consequence of Kendrick being a progressive rapper however he still has quite a variety of hits under his belt despite his smaller discography.

To counter the narrative being spun by Drake’s fans it seems that he has taken this album in a completely different direction. Kendrick’s last album was about his personal trauma, struggles in his family, and learning to be a father and the topics covered were very nuanced and could be considered inaccessible to a more general rap audience. This album seems to be taking a different approach in that he is still talking about issues regarding him and those around him but he is doing it in a more accessible manner, trying not to be elaborate but rather more direct. This is evidenced by the line in the opening track where he says “This is not for lyricists, I swear it’s not the sentiments. F–k a double entendre, I want y’all to feel this s–t.”

Kendrick’s projects tend to get more conceptual, poetic, and deep however this one was his most straightforward album yet.

A lot of the songs have these catchy choruses, and very infectious feature verses which is typical of many Kendrick songs however there aren’t many slow jams here and the lyrics aren’t as complex, unlike most Kendrick projects. However despite what Kendrick said earlier, there are still plenty of double entendres, metaphors, similes, allusions, and other figures of speech throughout the record, they just tend to be more simple to understand.

Favorite Songs/ Least Favorite Songs:

Favorites: “wacced out murals”, “squabble up”, “luther”, “man at the garden”, “reincarnated”, “tv off”, “heart pt.6”

“Wacced out murals” is the intro and only song to prominently talk about Drake. It’s easily my favorite on the entire album at this point. It talks about Kendrick’s relationship with the industry including with people he looked up to such as Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, and Nas. He expresses disappointment with Snoop after he finds Drake’s AI imitation of him amusing. He also discusses how he himself made Lil Wanye disappointed as he got chosen for the New Orleans Super Bowl HalfTime performance in 2025 over him which made him feel conflicted as he admired Wanye. He then finally discusses his gratitude towards Nas as he was the only person to congratulate him for the feat. The examination of fame in this song is very interesting as this is an angle you don’t hear about often. The song discusses how murals of him have been vandalized around Compton by Drake fans. In addition, Kendrick tackles many other topical issues that have been going on in the last few months or so and the beat is also very catchy too.

“squabble up” is a funky rap flow with a smooth hook. A snippet of this song came out earlier this year and went viral on TikTok and other platforms and hearing the full song finally feels liberating as someone who has been waiting for this song to release fully for a while now. It features this old pop vocal sample as a break which paired with the funky beat makes the song very groovy.

“luther” is a more relaxed and R&B based song featuring SZA and a Marvin Gaye sample. SZA and Kendrick Lamar singing together is very nice on the ears and the song is very similar to past collabs the two have made. The song itself seems very dreampop and lo-fi adjacent. The song features a building set of features such as a grand string section, a smooth perfect chord progression, and the harmonic back-and-forth dynamic we see in the singing of SZA and Kendrick.

“Man at the garden” is a more introspective song regarding Kendrick’s place in the game and he talks about how “he deserves it all”. I quite enjoy the more mellow and relaxed tone of the song with a quiet chorus in the background throughout with more introspective themes about entitlement which is similar to what we saw on “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.”

“reincarnated” is another introspective conscious song regarding Kendrick’s wants and his life. Very similar to what we saw on “DAMN.” Features many reflections about Kendrick’s messaging and what he dealt with throughout his life.

“tv off” is probably in my top three of the album. A West Coast trap banger produced by Mustard in the style of “Not Like Us.” In a way it feels like a spiritual successor to that record in terms of production and catchiness. The smooth sample chop is just so addictive and Kendrick’s infectious flow makes the song feel even more satisfying to listen to sonically. This isn’t even mentioning Kendrick just screaming “MUSTARD!” in the middle of the song which will definitely be used during the Super Bowl Halftime Show next year in some way to introduce either this song or “Not Like Us.”

“heart pt. 6” is the sixth installment in “The Heart” series of songs that typically tend to talk about social issues and are typically progressive in nature. The last installment came on Kendrick’s previous album in 2022. Notably, Drake made a song called “The Heart Part 6” earlier this year as a jab towards Kendrick as a part of the beef however there is no mention of this song on the entire album. As with most installments in “The Heart” series, it’s soulful and has great storytelling throughout. The story is surrounding the label that Kendrick used to be around, TDE, and how they felt like family to him and he discusses what they meant to him.

Least Favorites: dodger blue, peekaboo

These two songs didn’t really connect with me. The more I listened to “peekaboo” in particular, the less I liked it. The chorus was too repetitive for me with little content in between although I liked the backing track with the soft strained strings in the background and the feature was really good.

Overall:

This album has a very strong tracklist. My only two real complaints I have is that I wish there were more mellow and laid-back songs (although I appreciate the emphasis on more “banger” type beats and flows) and also I wish the album was a bit longer and more fleshed out too. Despite these setbacks, the album still provides a solid experience for the listener with many interesting dynamics throughout and it was quite enjoyable too. The concept was great and was well executed. This is probably one of my favorite albums of this year and I recommend any fan of rap to listen to this no matter what subgenres they listen to. It is both very accessible but very good. I even encourage non-rap fans to gain an open mind and give this record a try — who knows, — you may like what you hear.

SCORE: Strong 8 to Light 9 out of 10.