Music Review: Kendrick Lamar’s New Album ‘GNX’

With his the surprise drop “GNX,” Kendrick Lamar roars from zero to 60 faster than a turbocharged ’87 Buick, faster than you can yell “Mustaaaaard.” And waaaaay faster than you can decipher the tight biblical midpoint “Reincarnated.”

To keep the same energy as him landmark Pop Out concert five months ago, Surrounding himself with up-and-coming Los Angeles artists — from AzChike to Peysoh — Lamar raps over pounding New West Coast soundscapes shaped by his longtime producer Sounwave, along with Jack Antonoff and a garageful of other beat mechanics. He’s again “possessed by a spirit,” sprinkles in 2Pac, Biggie and Nas references and maintains a me-against-the-world antipathy that includes but goes far beyond a certain Canadian: “I just choked a goat” and “now that’s plural.”

Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Andrew Schulz and even Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast can’t escape K-Dot’s chaotic crosshairs. Here’s hoping the “tv off” chorus — an urgent call to “turn off this TV” repeated eight times — confuses the masses during his New Orleans halftime show in February.

This is Lamar leaning into the same creativity-boosting pride, self-righteous anger and supreme confidence that fueled the Grammy-nominated “Not Like Us” and won his Drake feud: “I’ll kill them all before I let them kill my joy.” And yet, as with his first-ever hit “Swimming Pools (Drank),” even the most club-ready brag songs—and there are plenty, including the massive “squabble up” and synth-studded Mustard production “hey now”—become slapped with a warning label. Introspection is baked into Lamar’s art. In “the man in the garden” he examines his kingdom and glory, declaring that although “I deserve it all,” “dangerous / nothing changed with me / still got pain in me.”

At age 37, Lamar remains in top form (that breath control!) and stands alone in the rap world as a star who bridges generations without chasing trends. He generates his own gravity in the hip-hop universe. Pulling samples from the early ’80s—Debbie Deb, Luther Vandross, Whodini—he’s able to shift cadences and lyrical perspectives mid-song without ever losing the listener.

Album closer “gloria,” one of two tracks featuring former TDE labelmate SZA, is a glorious celebration of the pain and power of writing. In the vein of Common’s “I Used to Love HER” or Nas’ “I Gave You Power,” Lamar’s love story describes a “complicated relationship” that listeners may initially think is about his longtime partner Whitney Alford, but turns out to be dedicated to his pen.

Although carefully structured, “GNX” feels a bit more scattershot than Lamar’s traditionally concept-heavy studio albums. And there are hints that this collection of 12 more songs is a “Part 1” or mixtape prelude to something more formal: The short music video announcing the album features a snippet of a song that doesn’t even appear on the “GNX .”

Whatever comes next, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize has written another exciting chapter in what remains the most fascinating long-form story in hip-hop: an ambitious and fieryly talented poet from Compton working through his – and the world’s – contradictions on the biggest stage, forever uncomfortable with his crown. ___

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