2024 has been an interesting year for Kendrick Lamar. Readers may remember his infamous feud with the Canadian-born artist Drake, which spawned some of this year’s biggest rap hits. Somewhere along the line, it seems that Kendrick finally realized something fairly important. No matter how much music you release, you can’t win Album of the Year if you don’t release an album.
This is where “GNX” comes in.
“GNX,” Kendrick’s sixth studio album, was released with almost no warning on November 22. It was produced by Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, with work notably done by Mustard. The album also features what seems like every artist out there, including SZA, Hitta J3, Roddy Rich, Sam Dew and a slew of other artists.
The album itself is, while somewhat experimental, essentially a continuation of the work Kendrick has been putting out all year, particularly the unnamed song referred to as “Watch the Party Die,” which covers Kendrick’s frustrations with the music industry as a whole, particularly coming out of his feud with Drake, which has now entered the legal realm.
All in all, it’s a very solid release. No song on this album has a shot at being Kendrick’s best, but they can all claim to be good. Some of the standouts are “Luther,” featuring SZA, “TV Off,” featuring Lefty Gunplay and “Heart Pt. 6.” The titular song of the album also deserves a mention as one of the better tracks.
The whole work is incredibly atmospheric, with impressive mixing and production. Kendrick, as always, is far above the competition in a lyrical sense, with the sort of smooth flow that a lot of rappers envy. All that said, this is an artists’ album, at the end of the day. Some critics are going to say it is the best album Kendrick has ever made and other critics are going to say it is mediocre. A few of the tracks seem like a bit of a reach for Kendrick, as if he can’t really be bothered to conform to what the music industry might want from him, and instead wants to make the music that he feels is important, which is really what his creative journey this year has been all about. Despite that, the album never loses the listener and every track has at least something to offer.
So, is it his best album ever?
Probably not. Kendrick has fairly consistently said that “Damn” is his best album, and seeing as how it won him the first Pulitzer Prize for Music that wasn’t jazz or classical, that seems to be an accurate assessment of the situation. That said, “GNX” is a very good album. If it was any other artist releasing it, it could very well be their best album ever, but since this is Kendrick Lamar, he simply has too good of a discography, which is a very good problem to have.
If you have 45 minutes to spare, consider giving Kendrick a listen, even if you don’t typically like rap. Artists like Kendrick are the people continuing to move the music industry in new and exciting directions, and that, at least, is something worth supporting.
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