Back in March of 2024, Kendrick Lamar’s name was all over the news, claiming the #1 rap song of 2024 with his single “Not Like Us,” teasing fans with a 20 second snippet at the beginning of the music video. Surprisingly, after his success with Not Like Us, Kendrick didn’t do much, releasing a single and announcing his performance in the 2025 Super Bowl, and eventually going silent. That would all change on November 22, when he would surprisingly announce an album 20 minutes before it would release. Nothing about the album was revealed aside from the cover and the title, “gnx.”
The album features 12 songs and a runtime of 44 minutes, with features from SZA, Roddy Rich, Dody6 and more. As opposed to the rest of his discography, gnx is not a concept album, and is more of an album to showcase Kendrick’s pure lyrical and rapping skill. Kendrick still has his storytelling prowess however, with songs like reincarnated and heart pt 6 showcasing that clearly.
gnx begins with the song “wacced out murals”, which utilizes strings and heavy kicks and bass to make the song sound anxious and somewhat climactic, with Kendrick bringing up the beef with Drake, and how Snoop Dogg had posted Drake’s “Taylor Made Freestyle,” and how had felt betrayed, hoping Snoop was on something, saying “Snoop posted Taylor made I prayed it was the edibles.” Kendrick also brings up how Lil Wayne felt as if he should have been the one performing at the Super Bowl, “I used to bump Tha Carter III I held my rollie chain proud / irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.”
From wacced out murals, the album moves on to “squabble up,” the song featured in the Not Like Us music video. There’s not much substance in the lyrics, but it’s still amazing. Kendrick also released a music video which references other works of art such as Ice-T’s “Power” and Spike Lee’s classic movie “Do The Right Thing.”
The next few songs (man at the Garden and hey now) are both mostly songs from Kendrick bolstering his status in the rap scene and bragging about everything he’s done for rap. After hey now is the song “Reincarnated” which samples one of Tupac’s songs. It takes on a similar form to one of Kendricks older songs “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst”, with Kendrick rapping from the perspective of multiple different people. Throughout the song Kendrick suggests how everybody is a version of him, and the last verse of the song is from the perspective of Satan talking to God, with Kendrick speaking about pride and hate and how it affects every person in the world. Reincarnated is one of Kendrick’s best lyrical works and fits in perfectly with the vibe of gnx.
After Reincarnated is one of the most infamous songs from this album, tv off. The first half of the song is already fire, however when the beat changes in the second half the song gets even better. The second half of the song has also spawned many jokes with Kendrick screaming his producer, DJ Mustard’s name at full volume, which is one of the most memorable parts of the whole album. Dodger blue and peekaboo are the next songs on the album and are both very good, with dodger blue being a more dancy song, similar to some songs on Mr Morale and The Big Steppers. Peekaboo is a harder and more direct song with Kendrick constantly speaking and bragging about different topics.
From peekaboo the album moves on to heart. pt 6. This song was important for Kendrick to nail for multiple reasons, mainly due to Drake’s The Heart part 6, and also because The Heart series has been a standout single for all of the albums he’s released The Heart for. Kendrick perfectly captures the same fire that was present in the first 5 hearts, as he addresses how he recently left Top Dawg Entertainment. heart pt 6 focuses mainly on Kendrick’s growth and introduction into the rap scene, paying respects to his influences and the people who he helped and who helped him, such as Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Top Dawg and many more. The song samples Use Your Heart by SWV and it’s a beautiful sample that perfectly complements the instrumental of the track and Kendrick’s voice.
After heart. pt 6 is the title track, gnx. gnx has become one of the most controversial songs on the album as most people either love or hate it. The song features an off-kilter beat that’s very different from Kendricks usual more tightly knit beats. The features on the song all tie together into the chorus, where they change a small amount of lines. Gnx itself isn’t a standout track and doesn’t feature much that stands out, however gloria, the track after, does.
On gloria Kendrick raps about his relationship with a woman who he calls Gloria, and how she’s influenced his entire life and how he’s had many fights and fallouts with her. After going through his life, with him growing up, getting more mature and gaining more respect for Gloria, he reveals that Gloria is actually his pen, or his rap career. Kendrick, throughout the album has talked about the amount of love he has for rap and how important it is to him, and gloria is a perfect representation of how he feels.
With the release of gnx, Kendrick displays the fact that his lyrical skills are on point, and he hasn’t even begun to falter in terms of writing, or making purely good music. Although gnx isn’t one of Kendrick’s best albums, it’s definitely worth a listen. In terms of Kendricks discography, the album is in his bottom 3, but is still within the top 5 albums of 2024.
