Leave it to Kendrick Lamar to do an anti-rollout. Most artists on his level might hit you with a single, music video and imminent release date to signal the beginning of a new album era. Kendrick just took it back to 2013 Beyoncé and dropped his sixth album, GNXout of thin air. Anyone betting on a release closer to the Super Bowl…guess again. There’s 12 new tracks of heat to dig into, on a project named after his beloved classic Buick which appears in a one minute teaser that he dropped along with the project.
After the year Kendrick’s had, this is going to be his most scrutinized and dissected project yet, and so far GNX doesn’t disappoint, with lines in the very first song referencing things like the Lil Wayne drama surrounding his Super Bowl halfitme show appointment: “Used to bump Tha Carter 3…irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.” Track 2, “squabble up,” is the long-awaited “broccoli” song that was teased in the beginning of the “Not Like Us” music video. Speaking of that song, Mustard returns for beat duty on two more tracks. And “luther,” which features a beautiful sample flip of Luther Vandross’ “If This World Were Mine,” reunites Kendrick and SZA.
Stream the album below.