GNX by Kendrick Lamar: An Album Review

Photo from Wikipedia

Kendrick fans and music lovers alike were all shocked to see a new Kendrick Lamar album on a random Friday. But if it had an announcement, or any hype at all, it definitely would have lived up to it. Immediately, GNX starts off with a long build up of “wacced out murals,” then a West Coast banger with “squabble up.” Next, Kendrick changes it up with a SZA-featured full R&B track “luther.” The odd thing about this album that sets it apart from any other Kendrick Lamar project is that it doesn’t take the structure of a concept album, compared to every other one of his works. It varies heavily from song to song and has very little consistent ideas or themes. A lot of the album feels like a victory lap from the Drake beef earlier this year, with many hard hitting songs that don’t necessarily have much deeper meaning. He also reclaims his song and continues “The Heart Pt. __” series. Drake released his own “The Heart Part 6” during the beef as a diss, so it was only right for Kendrick to reclaim it, and even subtly diss Drake again, while not referencing him once in the song.

He also heavily dipped into his bag of slower R&B songs. Two songs with SZA, along with tracks like “dodger blue,” truly switch up the vibes throughout a listen. Many of the best songs in this album, as well as throughout Kendrick’s entire career, are the longer, deeper, more conceptual songs. What makes these so great on GNX is how not only the storytelling is amazing but how he makes them into genuinely enjoyable listens. Songs like “wacced out murals” and “man at the garden” are great, but what I personally believe is by far the best track on the album is the high tempo banger “reincarnated.”

“reincarnated” consists of three verses. With the first two, Kendrick puts himself into the lives of two legendary musicians he feels connected to. He starts with the highly influential guitarist John Lee Hooker, and then goes on to tell the story of Billie Holiday, one of the most famous jazz musicians ever. While both artists were extremely influential and successful, they both faced issues, one with gluttony, the other with addiction. The song ends with a verse about Kendrick’s present life and his own struggles and issues. It heavily reminds me of his well known but unreleased song “Prayer,” with a very similar concept and structure. Overall, GNX is messy, but it comes together in an amazing way. It provides many different sides of Kendrick and simply some great songs; top three Kendrick for me, personally.

OVERALL RATING: 9.2/10

Best Song: reincarnated

Worst Song: peekaboo (still great; it had strong competition)