Kendrick Lamar Transcends Drake Beef & Unifies The West Coast With New Project 'GNX' [Review]

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Kendrick Lamar created what could be explained as a seismic event in his dismantling of Drake, and the embers are still warm even as their feud was largely settled after “Not Like Us” was released. Not content to rest, Kendrick Lamar last week surprised fans and released a new body of work in GNX, a celebratory collection of sounds influenced by West Coast sonics that is less a victory lap than it is a rallying cry.

Most observers find Kendrick Lamar’s image difficult to narrow down, and that seems largely by design. For portions of his career, K-Dot was narrowly framed as an imaginative lyricist who didn’t chase or want mainstream appeal. Lamar’s ability was forged in the flames of battling for respect on street corners and hazy nights in recording studios with other up-and-coming rappers during his time with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). For those aware, it was not a shock that Lamar dispatched Drake in their back-and-forth swings with the precision he did, even if the allegations laid forth remain speculative between the pair. In most eyes, Lamar won their battle on both the audio front and moral grounds, creating a divisive line of discussion between their respective fanbases.

After the Instagram-only release of the track “Watch The Party Die,” the somber tone and messaging suggested a return to a reflective and serene stance that the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper is noted for, but GNX leans deeper into the gritty aura of Lamar’s native Compton and Southern California culture as a whole. There is even some of the Bay Area’s “slaps” sound among the platters present on the new project, which some report is a mixtape and not a full album.

The project opens with the brooding “wacced out murals,” inspired by a real-life incident where a mural of Lamar was constructed by Gustavo Zermeño Jr. in the rapper’s hometown that was later vandalized. The track also opens with the vocals of mariachi singer Deyra Barrera, who Lamar first encountered during a performance at Game 1 of this year’s World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers emerging victorious over the New York Yankees.

The relentless nature of “wacced out murals” is bolstered by the production of longtime collaborators Sounwave and Dahi along with Jack Antonoff and is as tone-setting an opening track as any heard in recent times.  So much is packed into the track, including a mention of Lil Wayne, who Lamar idolized as a young rapper, and a third verse dedicated to Drake attempting to pay for information on his rival.

Moving on to “squabble up,” the project’s first single which also got the video treatment, Scott Bridgeway, Sounwave, Dahi, Antonoff, and MTech’s production samples “When I Hear Music”  by Debbie Deb which embodies the sun-soaked approach of both Northern and Southern California. Wearing its audio lineage proudly on its sleeves, “squabble up” delivers on the promise after it was heard as a teaser ahead of the “Not Like Us” video. Like the song before, Lamar peppers the third verse with shots at Drake, and if any song is indeed a victory lap of their battle, it would be this one.

SZA and Lamar have collaborated in times past and they continue their magic on “Luther,” shifting from the hard-driving songs that precede it. Because Lamar is not someone who favors simplicity for the sake of it, the tone of the song suggests the plight and triumph of two lovers giving the other support where it’s needed.  With “man at the garden,” Lamar reaches deep into his bag, rapping in a conversational tone while the refrain “I deserve it all” punctuates each stanza.  Once more, the song’s third verse suggests that K-Dot is acutely aware of his power to shift perspectives and tell the truth, and it nearly sounds like remorse more than braggadocio.

Mustard, who found himself involved in a hilarious meme trend, shows up for production on the track “hey now,” featuring a show-stealing verse from South Central Los Angeles native Dody6. Much of the first verse is aimed at Drake once more before standard issue trash talk, giving way to a fun back-and-forth swing with Dody6 in the closing verse.

For most listeners and certainly a standout for us, “reincarnated” finds Lamar at the height of his songwriting powers, channeling the flow of the late Tupac “2Pac” Shakur. The song samples 2Pac’s “Made N*ggaz” and finds him reportedly rapping from the reincarnated perspectives of John Lee Hooker and Billie Holiday before turning the lens on himself in the closing verse along with rapping as God and the fallen angel Lucifer, tying the concept of the track together. It is one of Lamar’s most impressive rapping performances across his decades-long career.

Kicking off the halfway mark, “tv off” has captured the attention of the masses by way of Lamar’s exaggerated “Mustard” adlib on the second portion of the track but as he’s done all across GNX, the shots at Drake and anyone else who dares to test are delivered with a knowing sneer that he vanquished any attempts to slander his name and took down one of the biggest artists in the game to boot. And yes, the adlib, co-opted by corporate social media accounts, will have plenty of shelf life especially if Lamar decides to perform the track at next year’s Super Bowl performance.

As the album winds down, “heart pt. 6” is mindblowing for its sampling of SWV’s “Use Your Heart” and telling an autobiographical tale of his come-up and days within the TDE camp. For the first time, listeners are allowed to peer into the tight-knit backrooms of the musical collective, learning from Lamar himself that his former labelmate Ab-Soul was a lyrical inspiration and even revealing that the Black Hippy quartet of Jay Rock, the aforementioned Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q and himself didn’t happen because Lamar found other creative interests. It also confirmed that Lamar leaving TDE to begin pgLang was a mutual split and that the love for the crew remains.

One thing that cannot be discounted is this album also proved to be a showcase for the likes of AzChike, who shows up for “peekaboo” and the project’s title track features Hitta J3, YoungThreat, and Peysoh, all taking advantage of the huge spotlight that comes by way of appearing on a song with one of Hip-Hop’s most revered acts.

At Hip-Hop Wired, we don’t have a scoring system, nor are we interested in ranking the creative works of an artist as that cheapens their vision. Instead, GNX should be appreciated for what it is — a collection of music that showcases the West Coast’s versatility and unification as of late, all spearheaded by Kendrick Lamar taking it straight to the chest of one of the biggest stars in music history.

It isn’t an album full of heavy self-analysis like Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, nor does it mimic the intentional commercialism of DAMN., and it it is nowhere near the jazzy and pro-Black To Pimp A Butterfly, biographical as shown on good kid, m.A.A.d. city, or freewheeling like Section.80.  GNX operates in a singular orbit just as those projects did, however, doing so with such aplomb that the world is anticipating his next stroke of genius with breathless anticipation.

Listen to the album in full below.

GNXhttps://t.co/h9NaZaivRd

— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) November 22, 2024

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Photo: pgLang