Kendrick Lamar shocked fans Friday by releasing of “GNX,” his first studio album in nearly three years.
The album, available on streaming sites now, features appearances from Lamar’s former Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate SZA, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, Mexican regional musician Deyra Barrera, singer Sam Dew, rapper AzChike and many others.
Nearly every song on the 12-track album includes production by Jack Antonoff and Sounwave. Mustard, who produced Lamar’s smash hit “Not Like Us,” is also credited as a producer.
The title appears to be a reference to a 1987 Buick model, which appears on the album’s cover.
“GNX” arrives several months after a headlines-dominating feud between Lamar and Toronto rapper Drake. Lamar mentions the feud on the album’s first song, “Wacced Out Murals,” which references the Drake diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” a track that infamously used AI to replicate the voices of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur.
There’s also a song called “Heart Pt. 6” — the latest entry in Lamar’s “The Heart” series, which Drake attempted to mock back in the the spring when he released his own song titled “The Heart Part 6.”
Notably, but ultimately unsurprisingly, “GNX” does not feature Taylor Swift, as was boldly suggested earlier this week by the French-Algerian musician DJ Snake.
“GNX” is Lamar’s first album since 2022’s “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.”
In September, Lamar was announced as the headliner for the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
Lamar, 37, has experienced massive success since his debut album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” in 2012. Since then, he’s accumulated 17 Grammy wins and became the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album “DAMN.”
The surprise release caps a big year for the Lamar, who featured on the song “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin — a track that spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this year.
Lamar scored another hit with “Not Like Us,” a track emanating from his feud with Drake. The song, a brutal diss against the Toronto rapper, went No. 1 on the charts, and became one of the biggest hip hop songs of the year. The song’s success effectively ended the feud, with most observers declaring Lamar as the obvious victor. Lamar will play the Super Bowl halftime show in February.
With files from the Associated Press.
