Kendrick Lamar - GNX ALBUM REVIEW
Woah, a new review? After this long? Yeah, sure. Why not? I got some plans in the works to keep this active in some form, and I’ll show off some more details in the post after this!
What timing for an album to end up bringing this little site back, even if it’s just for a little bit of time. The last post on here was last June, and a lot has happened in my life since then, whether it’s in music or my personal life. Arguably, the biggest moment in music of the year was the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, which exploded just before this summer with “Like That,” a song off of the first of two Future and Metro Boomin’ albums from this year, WE DON’T TRUST YOU. I don’t need to go into just how massive this beef was (and in still is in some ways), but if you need one major takeaway, I’ll say this: One of the biggest hits of the year, regardless of genre, essentially boiled down to Kendrick calling Drake a pedophile for four-and-a-half minutes. “Not Like Us,” a song where one of the most popular and highest-selling rappers active right now being called a sex offender and an overall awful human being, was played in the streets, on the radio, and at least for a little bit, was inescapable. I saw a lot of Drake stans say this was Kendrick’s peak in popularity, one that he’ll never reach again. While I don’t exactly agree, I can see where they’re coming from. If we really wanna play the numbers game, “Not Like Us” was his biggest hit since “HUMBLE.,” and only his second number one as a solo artist. His other number ones have been from features with Taylor Swift and Future. Drake’s had a lot of number one hits, I get it, but good kid, m.A.A.d. city hasn’t left the Billboard 200 since its release in 2012. I could go on, but I’m not here to talk about that. Everyone assumed that Kendrick would drop something soon, especially since he’s going to be performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in a few months. Although, I don’t think anyone expected it to drop like this, especially ten minutes after dropping a trailer with a snippet that didn’t even make the album. Now, though, we have Kendrick Lamar’s sixth album, GNX.
Right off the bat, there’s gonna be a lot of comparisons to some of Kendrick’s past projects to start off. I don’t exactly love doing that, so I’m just gonna get all of that out of the way. When it comes to the overall tone, it’s very much closer to something like DAMN. with its hard-hitting, in-your-face West Coast energy. There’s not too much of a concept throughout the album, with only the real thread throughout the album being snippets of Mexican singer Deyra Barrera opening three tracks: the opener “wacced out murals,” the halfway point of the album “reincarnated,” and the closer “gloria.” There’s nothing wrong with Lamar not going deep on a concept, but I’ve noticed that I do gravitate more towards the heavier ideas of his work (see the aforementioned good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly). Even his last project, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, felt like a massive achievement to me. The fact that Mr. Morale isn’t his best project just shows how incredible I think Lamar’s work is. Out of all of these projects I’ve mentioned, GNX is the most surface-level project that he’s released since Section.80. The production is mostly done by Sounwave, who’s been with Lamar since the beginning of his career, but also in tow is Jack Antonoff, who’s mainly been producing with Taylor Swift for the past few years. Just this year alone, he’s produced tracks with Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Lana Del Rey, and Paramore. He’s certainly got a niche that he’s been working in, but seeing him just take a left turn and co-produce nearly every song on GNX is fascinating to see.
I like damn near all of the songs on here, honestly. It may be a cop out to say that “heart pt. 6” is my favorite, but I cannot deny it. This is one of the only times I can think of Lamar being this up front and personal with his past as a rapper, coming up with Top Dawg Entertainment and hearing what influenced him. Also, that SWV sample is phenomenal. That’s the earworm that’s been stuck in my head since GNX dropped. “heart pt. 6” is definitely the track I’ve gone back to the most, alongside the very laid-back “dodger blue.” Most of the album, though, is made up of high energy, West Coast bangers. If you liked “Not Like Us,” “tv off” might be the closest comparison to it. It audibly does sound the most like it, especially with the Mustard beat and the viral “MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAARD” yell. I’ll be very shocked if that doesn’t become Mustard’s beat tag. Both “man at the garden” and “reincarnated” are also massive highlights, both of them being respective tributes to Nas’s “One Mic” and the Tupac song that is the first track on the second disc on the Gang Related soundtrack (I mean, how else would I identify that song?). Really, the only weak link on the album for me is “peekaboo,” where it really isn't that bad, but it just does the least for me out of all the tracks.
Overall, I think that GNX is just a very fun project. That’s not exactly the word I’d usually use for a Kendrick Lamar album, but it’s the most loose and ‘light’ project he's released since the Overly Dedicated days. GNX is Kendrick Lamar’s victory lap. A second or third one, but who’s really counting? He’s about to perform the halftime show at the Super Bowl and is rumored to embark on a stadium tour next year, so beef or no beef, Lamar’s on top of the world.
Favorite Tracks: "heart pt. 6," "dodger blue," luther"
Listen here
GNX is a pgLang / Interscope release.
What timing for an album to end up bringing this little site back, even if it’s just for a little bit of time. The last post on here was last June, and a lot has happened in my life since then, whether it’s in music or my personal life. Arguably, the biggest moment in music of the year was the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, which exploded just before this summer with “Like That,” a song off of the first of two Future and Metro Boomin’ albums from this year, WE DON’T TRUST YOU. I don’t need to go into just how massive this beef was (and in still is in some ways), but if you need one major takeaway, I’ll say this: One of the biggest hits of the year, regardless of genre, essentially boiled down to Kendrick calling Drake a pedophile for four-and-a-half minutes. “Not Like Us,” a song where one of the most popular and highest-selling rappers active right now being called a sex offender and an overall awful human being, was played in the streets, on the radio, and at least for a little bit, was inescapable. I saw a lot of Drake stans say this was Kendrick’s peak in popularity, one that he’ll never reach again. While I don’t exactly agree, I can see where they’re coming from. If we really wanna play the numbers game, “Not Like Us” was his biggest hit since “HUMBLE.,” and only his second number one as a solo artist. His other number ones have been from features with Taylor Swift and Future. Drake’s had a lot of number one hits, I get it, but good kid, m.A.A.d. city hasn’t left the Billboard 200 since its release in 2012. I could go on, but I’m not here to talk about that. Everyone assumed that Kendrick would drop something soon, especially since he’s going to be performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in a few months. Although, I don’t think anyone expected it to drop like this, especially ten minutes after dropping a trailer with a snippet that didn’t even make the album. Now, though, we have Kendrick Lamar’s sixth album, GNX.
Right off the bat, there’s gonna be a lot of comparisons to some of Kendrick’s past projects to start off. I don’t exactly love doing that, so I’m just gonna get all of that out of the way. When it comes to the overall tone, it’s very much closer to something like DAMN. with its hard-hitting, in-your-face West Coast energy. There’s not too much of a concept throughout the album, with only the real thread throughout the album being snippets of Mexican singer Deyra Barrera opening three tracks: the opener “wacced out murals,” the halfway point of the album “reincarnated,” and the closer “gloria.” There’s nothing wrong with Lamar not going deep on a concept, but I’ve noticed that I do gravitate more towards the heavier ideas of his work (see the aforementioned good kid, m.A.A.d city and To Pimp a Butterfly). Even his last project, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, felt like a massive achievement to me. The fact that Mr. Morale isn’t his best project just shows how incredible I think Lamar’s work is. Out of all of these projects I’ve mentioned, GNX is the most surface-level project that he’s released since Section.80. The production is mostly done by Sounwave, who’s been with Lamar since the beginning of his career, but also in tow is Jack Antonoff, who’s mainly been producing with Taylor Swift for the past few years. Just this year alone, he’s produced tracks with Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Lana Del Rey, and Paramore. He’s certainly got a niche that he’s been working in, but seeing him just take a left turn and co-produce nearly every song on GNX is fascinating to see.
I like damn near all of the songs on here, honestly. It may be a cop out to say that “heart pt. 6” is my favorite, but I cannot deny it. This is one of the only times I can think of Lamar being this up front and personal with his past as a rapper, coming up with Top Dawg Entertainment and hearing what influenced him. Also, that SWV sample is phenomenal. That’s the earworm that’s been stuck in my head since GNX dropped. “heart pt. 6” is definitely the track I’ve gone back to the most, alongside the very laid-back “dodger blue.” Most of the album, though, is made up of high energy, West Coast bangers. If you liked “Not Like Us,” “tv off” might be the closest comparison to it. It audibly does sound the most like it, especially with the Mustard beat and the viral “MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAARD” yell. I’ll be very shocked if that doesn’t become Mustard’s beat tag. Both “man at the garden” and “reincarnated” are also massive highlights, both of them being respective tributes to Nas’s “One Mic” and the Tupac song that is the first track on the second disc on the Gang Related soundtrack (I mean, how else would I identify that song?). Really, the only weak link on the album for me is “peekaboo,” where it really isn't that bad, but it just does the least for me out of all the tracks.
Overall, I think that GNX is just a very fun project. That’s not exactly the word I’d usually use for a Kendrick Lamar album, but it’s the most loose and ‘light’ project he's released since the Overly Dedicated days. GNX is Kendrick Lamar’s victory lap. A second or third one, but who’s really counting? He’s about to perform the halftime show at the Super Bowl and is rumored to embark on a stadium tour next year, so beef or no beef, Lamar’s on top of the world.
Favorite Tracks: "heart pt. 6," "dodger blue," luther"
Listen here
GNX is a pgLang / Interscope release.
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