Kendrick Lamar shocked the music world by dropping his newest album “GNX” on Nov. 22 without any notice, yet again stealing the spotlight of the music scene.
The album differentiates itself from every other in Lamar’s discography almost immediately. Whereas his last album, “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers,” focused on reconciliation and self reflection, this album is a completely different turn.
The first track of the album, “wacced out murals,” throws the audience into a colder and angrier atmosphere than most people are used to with Lamar’s music. The song itself is essentially one massive response to Drake, who he has been publicly feuding with throughout the year. The song takes aim at the music industry, including a reference to Lamar getting chosen to perform at the Super Bowl over Lil Wayne, as well as Snoop Dogg posting Drake’s diss track. Lamar also makes it clear he will never “peace up” with Drake.
This aggression is further explored on the track “tv off,” a high-energy song featuring Lefty Gunplay. The track contains DJ Mustard production heard on single “Not Like Us,” but with a distinct, now-viral twist: Kendrick shouts out DJ Mustard’s name as the beat switches. The song is on the fun side of the album, but still continues to address Lamar’s problems with the industry.
In the track “heart pt. 6,” Lamar continues to push his lengths in storytelling with a song akin to past narratives like “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” and “Auntie Diaries.” The song slows down the pace of the album, focuses on him splitting from his old label, Top Dawg Entertainment, and his thoughts about the reason for the split up. The track also shouts out multiple other artists who have dropped and supported him this year such as “Ab-Soul” and “Schoolboy Q.”
Throughout the album, he continues to fill the tracks with high energy and aggressive beats, including the song “squabble up,” a highly anticipated one that was teased in the “Not Like Us” music video. It features a bouncy beat, a sample of Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear the Music,” and collaborative production from Jack Antonoff, Sounwave and others.
One of the major changes that comes with this album is the involvement of Antonoff, who serves as the one of the main producers on “GNX,” having production features on almost every song. Antonoff shows a different side of his production here with songs like “reincarnated” and the title track “gnx.”
The album’s aggressive tone is rooted in the tension between Lamar and Drake, which began earlier in the year. Lamar made waves in March with a guest feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s album “We Don’t Trust You,” where he directly called out both Drake and J. Cole. The conflict continued with a rapid-fire exchange of eight diss tracks, the most popular being Lamar’s “Not Like Us” which has now earned Grammy nominations.
The album is a different taste from Lamar’s usual sound for fans of his, but is one of the better releases this year. It offers high energy and slow songs for those looking for an album with variety. The album gives a look into Lamar’s issues with the modern rap industry, as well as continuing his distaste for Drake in a scathing response.
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