The holiday season is here and Kendrick Lamar gave his gift to the world on Nov. 22 by shadow dropping “GNX” — his sixth studio album. Though it’s the shortest of his albums, all 44 minutes of its runtime are bangers.
Lamar seems to continue his recent trend of dropping without announcement that he started during his beef with Drake. Lamar tries to distance himself from the hate and chooses to return to his typical subjects — his life and experiences, but also personal growth.
Lamar often battles with deep topics in his music, and “GNX” is no different. Immediately he is reflecting on his success, especially being announced as the performance for the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show. This success does not always mean that everything works out, however.
“Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down,” Lamar said in “wacced out murals,” the album’s opening track. “Won the Super Bowl, and Nas the only one congratulate me.”
Many people were upset that Lil Wayne was not chosen for the gig and complained that Lamar got it. It hurts to see someone get the opportunity of a lifetime only for others to wish they didn’t.
Lamar also mentioned his love for Lil Wayne and his own disappointment that he took something so important from one of his idols. But that’s one of the costs of stardom, especially for a massive show that only happens once a year.
Lamar does not shy away from seemingly silly and shallow bars, only for them to be incredibly deep and well crafted after another listen. In the music video for his popular Drake diss “Not Like Us,” Lamar included a snippet of a song we had not heard yet.
This ended up being the intro to a song on this album, “squabble up.” In the song, we hear one of his first falsely goofy lines. “Woke up lookin’ for the broccoli.” On first listen I almost couldn’t help laughing because it seemed so odd. But it was much deeper than I thought.
Genius is a website that compiles song lyrics and analyzes them for the deeper meaning. For this particular line, Genius showed me just how profound this bar was.
“Broccoli could be used to reference weed, both broccoli and weed nuggets are green and in that shape. Broccoli also symbolizes growth and renewal. These vegetables are also known for their beneficial health effects. This means that when Kendrick wakes up he strives for growth and renewal,” according to this Genius.com page.
Not only is this in conjunction with many of Lamar’s songs, but it also demonstrates exactly why Lamar rose to prominence and is widely adored for his music and lyricism.
On the other hand, there are some solely entertaining bars, as seen in “tv off.” Halfway through the song, the beat changes and his producer, Mustard, plays his producer tag.
Immediately, LAMAR screams “MUSTARD!!!” at the top of his lungs and holds that note for a whole five seconds. This has resulted in a massive meme sweeping the internet.
There are many more examples of his lyrical genius in this album alone, but that would take up a lot more time and space than I have, so I digress. Overall, I believe that this is one of the best albums of the year, as well as the best rap album. I would even argue it is one of Lamar’s better albums.
I love how Lamar is open to different forms of his music. He has songs that are very high energy, like “tv off” and then also has much slower and lyrically deep songs like “heart pt. 6.” No matter my mood, I am always able to find a Lamar song that works for me.
For those that stayed up to date on the Drake vs. Kendrick beef, you may recognize that Drake also wrote a diss called “THE HEART PART 6.” Drake did this to steal Lamar’s series of songs, but Lamar didn’t care and took it right back — another power move even after the beef is more or less over.
But K-Dot, as Lamar is often referred to, is hardly thinking about the rap battle at this point. After all, he completely destroyed Drake, so there is really no reason for him to even think about Drake anymore.
By dropping the album out of nowhere, he also shows that he can do whatever he wants and still have success. Maybe he’s egotistical, but he certainly gets the listens to back it up.
For those interested, I think that “heart pt. 6” is the best song if you want the chill and melodic side of Lamar, and “tv off” is one of the best and most hype songs of the year. It feels like it was written to be played in locker rooms before a playoff game.
I can’t wait to see him perform in front of the whole nation on Feb. 9, 2025. I would wager this will be one of the more memorable Super Bowl performances we’ve seen in a long time.
DeGear can be reached at [email protected].
