Stop whatever you’re doing. Kendrick just dropped. After probably the biggest year of his career, Kendrick Lamar has suddenly, out of nowhere, shared a new surprise album called GNX. It’s out, right now. The whole thing.
Kendrick introduced GNX with a short teaser video that hit the internet just before the album. The record has 12 tracks, and none of them were previously released. (The “Not Like Us” video had a snippet of “squabble up.” That song samples Debbie Deb’s freestyle classic “When I Hear Music,” and it goes hard.) One of those songs is called “heart pt. 6,” so Kendrick wasn’t going to let Drake hijack that series.
The album’s guests aren’t listed yet but there are definitely some on there. SZA and Sam Dew, for instance, seem to appear on “luther,” while Kendrick trades bars with LA shit-talker AzChike on “hey now.” If Taylor Swift is indeed on here, I haven’t heard her yet. Multiple producers are listed on every track, and Jack Antonoff and Sounwave seem to be credited on almost all of them. The other credited producers are Mustard, Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Dahi, M-Tech, Noah Ehler, Craig Balmoris, Tyler Mehlenbacher, Bridgeway, Rose Lilah, Sean Momberger, Tim Maxey, Tane Runo, Juju, Rascal, Kenny & Billy, Deats, and Kendrick himself.
There’s a lot to process here. I am listening in a daze, and Kendrick has definitely gotten into Lil Wayne’s objections over this year’s Super Bowl. On many of these tracks, Kendrick is absolutely going off, and he’s doing it in relatively straightforward fashion. I am only a few songs in, and I already know I’m hearing a classic. Stream it right now, below.
GNX is out now on pgLang.