Earlier this year, after Drake had spent more than a month trying to beef with Kendrick Lamar, Kendrick released the first of his Drake-specific diss tracks, “Euphoria.” It’s a great song which has aged like fine wine. At one point, Kendrick tells Drake/his haters: “Headshots for the year, you better walk around like Daft Punk.” Well… Kendrick chose the 61st anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination to surprise-drop an album called GNX. Kendrick has been doing a lot around specifically American holidays – Juneteenth saw his special concert in LA and he dropped the “Not Like Us” music video on the 4th of July. I never would have thought Kendrick would have chosen JFK’s assassination date as a surprise album drop, but here we are. Headshots for the year.
Obviously, people have theorized for months that Kendrick had an album coming out. His friends in LA have even said that Kendrick was working on the album throughout his beef with Drake in the spring. What’s funny is that Kendrick didn’t include ANY of the Drake-disses on GNX. The only thing we got which was sort of related was “Squabble Up,” the full song which was teased ahead of the “Not Like Us” music video. That’s gonna slap at the Super Bowl Halftime show next year.
Speaking of slapping, Kendrick is calling out people right and left in this album. One of the big stories is about the performative “outrage” about how Kendrick was selected for the Super Bowl in New Orleans. A lot of people were like “what about Lil Wayne??” In the first track, “wacced out murals,” Kendrick addresses the issue: “Used to bump ‘Tha Carter III,’ I held my Rollie chain proud/ Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.” And then “Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me.” I’ll admit that I don’t actually care about the Wayne issue, and… um, I kind of think Kendrick doesn’t give a f–k either.
Some cool little items – Kendrick saw mariachi singer Deyra Barrera perform at a Dodgers game and he liked her so much, he put her on the album. SZA – who is basically Kendrick’s little sister – also appears on “Luther” and “Gloria.” Plus, the entire album was produced by none other than Jack Antonoff. Jack produced one of Kendrick’s Drake disses, and Jack is obviously very connected to Taylor Swift. Kendrick and Taylor are tight, and I kind of love that Kendrick is working with someone so closely associated with Taylor and the pop girls (Lorde, Lana, St. Vincent). Jack did a good job with the album too, I have to say. Last thing – apparently, Kendrick and Father John Misty are basically on the same album-drop schedule and have been for over a decade?
Obviously, NSFW for language.
GNX cover courtesy of Kendrick’s social media. Additional photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.