Two Fridays ago, Kendrick Lamar suddenly dropped GNX, a truly great album. The album is really good, which makes it even funnier that Kendrick didn’t include any of his Drake diss-songs from the spring on the album. No “Euphoria” or “Meet the Grahams” or “Not Like Us.” Instead, it’s all new material, and it’s already topping almost every chart. GNX is #1 on Billboard’s chart, GNX sold 319,000 album units in a week, and GNX is his fifth #1 album. It’s 2024’s biggest rap album. His first single, “Squabble Up,” is already topping the charts too. He’ll probably get at least three #1 singles from this album – my guess is “TV Off” and “Wacced Out Murals” will also hit #1 at some point.
Speaking of “TV Off,” Kendrick starts the song with: “All I ever wanted was a black Grand National/F–k being rational, give ’em what they ask for.” A larger message about Kendrick feeling reincarnated this year, leaning into his more commercial side post-Mr. Morale. Well, now Kendrick has just announced a new tour – the Grand National Tour, co-headlined by SZA. I love that. Kendrick really does treat SZA like she’s his little sister. You can see the tour dates here – he’s hilariously only doing one show in Canada. In Toronto, to be exact. Drake’s hometown.
Kendrick’s last tour, The Big Steppers Tour, was a huge success – it was a nearly two-year international tour which became the highest-grossing rap tour of all time at that point (although Travis Scott outsold him this year). The Grand National Tour sounds like something Kendrick wanted to do for his American fans.
Grand National Tour @szahttps://t.co/7CY9OyXU2D
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) December 3, 2024
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instar, Kendrick Lamar’s social media.