If you haven’t yet had a chance to absorb
Kendrick Lamar’s monster surprise drop (via
pgLang/
Interscope), writer
Miles Marshall Lewis has done a deep dive that’ll definitely enhance your listening experience.
“WACCED OUT MURALS”
Starting with Spanish vocals from mariachi singer
Deyra Barrera,
GNX’s opener (co-produced by
Tyler Mehlenbacher) comes off moody and dramatic, with a motivational chorus. Kendrick’s verbal onslaught touches on fallout from his upcoming
Super Bowl halftime show, his infamous
Drake beef and more. The titular Buick Grand National GNX gets its first shout-out here, too.
“SQUABBLE UP”
With a hook referencing
Debbie Deb's 1983 freestyle classic “When I Hear Music,” this track—sonically similar to K.Dot's rap-battle songs from earlier this year—was first previewed in the summertime video for “Not Like Us.” Compared to the more thematic
GNX tracks to come, it's West Coast-style bragging, boasting and reminiscing, full of Black & Mild cigarillos, Smirnoff and paper cuts from money trees.
“LUTHER”
After conjuring ’80s adult-contemporary queen
Anita Baker, this soulfully lush track opens with vocals from the genre’s king, the late
Luther Vandross. Kendrick’s fifth collaboration with
SZA, “luther” lays out a love story with the most pop-radio-friendly production since
DAMN.’s “LOVE.” (Except for “Not Like Us,” obviously.) Stalwart Kendrick presence
Sounwave, frequent
Taylor Swift collaborator
Jack Antonoff and jazzman
Kamasi Washington are among the producers.
“MAN AT THE GARDEN”
This meditative reflection faintly recalls
Nas’ contemplative “One Mic,” especially as Kendrick’s flow rages to a boil by the end. His repetition throughout of “I deserve it all” also evokes the therapeutic revelations of
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. It's a mantra designed to convince himself of worthiness. What he deserves specifically includes that GNX, white diamonds, beachfront property and time to watch
Tom Hanks in
Cast Away. (
Primary Wave-inked Mehlenbacher once again shares a co-production credit.)
“HEY NOW”
“Hey now, say now, let me pop my shit” sums up Kendrick’s aims on this
Mustard-produced boast co-featuring L.A. rapper
Dody6. Anyone searching for subliminal Drake digs on
GNX will most certainly find them; “hey now” is full of haymakers about strangling goats (aka G.O.A.T., the rap greatest of all time Drake claims to be) and the spooky days of October (a veiled reference to Drake’s
OVO label—OVO for October’s Very Own, naturally).
“REINCARNATED”
A
GNX highlight, here Kendrick sports a
2Pac-influenced flow over a sample of 2Pac and the
Outlawz’ “Made Niggaz.” Featuring the conceptual storytelling that moved the
Pulitzer Prize committee to recognize him back in 2018, Kendrick moves verse by verse detailing the lives of unnamed music pioneers—
John Lee Hooker?
Billie Holiday?—and an abridged biography of Satan himself.
“TV OFF”
Production-wise, Mustard creates a fraternal twin of his
Grammy-nominated “Not Like Us” for Kendrick to spit braggadocio over, until the song’s part two halfway through. And though he centralizes wordplay, K.Dot also plays off themes of responsibility, authenticity and endurance in a superficial world. “Ain’t no other king in this rap thing, like siblings/ Nothing but my children,” he rhymes, then admonishes those kids to turn off the idiot box of artificiality like so many parents before him.
“DODGER BLUE”
An ode to California love, Kendrick name-checks filmmakers
Quentin Tarantino,
Spike Lee and
Alejandro González Iñárritu in verse one—reminding us about the cinematic ambitions of his pgLang company with partner
Dave Free. West Coast MCs
Wallie the Sensei,
Roddy Ricch and
Siete all guest on the track, which happens to come fresh off the L.A. Dodgers’ World Series win.
“PEEKABOO”
In the home stretch of a glorious album finish, this track opens with a sample from soul guitarist
Willie Hale’s “Give a Helping Hand” before unfolding into a bragfest with L.A. rappers
AzChike and Dody6. The catchy trifle moves briskly with the hyphy bounce of some of Kendrick’s earlier 2024 singles.
“HEART PT. 6”
Continuing his series of earnestly sincere “Heart” recordings dating back to 2010, this installment stands tall musically and thematically as an apex of
GNX. Detailing his history with former
TDE labelmates
Ab-Soul,
Jay Rock and
ScHoolboy Q, Kendrick goes back to his salad days using his famously acerbic eye. A chorus sampled from
SWV’s 1996 hit “Use Your Heart” gives this the same pop potential as “luther.”
“GNX”
Kendrick doesn’t exactly bless his latest album with the strongest title track (shades of Prince’s "Graffiti Bridge"); after a brief opening, posing questions à la “6:16 in L.A.” and “euphoria” (“Have you ever been a joint and you know it?”), Kendrick largely throws the song over to guest rappers
Peysoh,
Hitta J3 and
YoungThreat. The song also makes no mention of the GNX featured on the album’s cover.
“GLORIA”
Ending as it started, with vocals from Barrera,
GNX concludes with (spoiler alert) a loving relationship with a woman named Gloria serving as a metaphor for Kendrick’s relationship to his pen. Nas used a similar technique with a gun on 1996’s “I Gave You Power.” SZA returns, too, proving that their chemistry on the 2018 hit “All the Stars” was no fluke.
