How Kendrick Lamar Tapped Into the Spirit of L.A. to Make ‘GNX’

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hen Kendrick Lamar knocked out Drake with 2024’s “Not Like Us,” he did so with pomp and flair. It was an epic musical showdown that concluded with Kendrick being crowned not just the victor of the moment, but rap’s reigning ruler — and that moment made a lot of noise. But when Lamar deployed GNX several months later, he proved that being cool and calculating can be just as deadly.

The sixth studio album in Lamar’s discog, GNX arrived on DSPs without warning in November 2024. Widely considered a victory lap for Lamar and his camp, the project was hailed as confirmation of his kingship. It’s now been nominated in a host of major categories for the 2026 Grammy Awards — it’s tied to nine total nominations — including Album of the Year.

However, according to Sounwave, Lamar’s chief producer and longtime friend, GNX was in the works long before any gauntlets were thrown. The foundation for the album was laid in late 2022 and early 2023, after the L.A. rapper finished the first leg of his Big Steppers World Tour.

Speaking exclusively with Rolling Stone about the album’s creation, Sounwave, who oversaw the bulk of GNX with co-producer Jack Antonoff, recalls the first two songs recorded were “Squabble Up” and “Man at the Garden.”

“I remember putting [the sample] in the MPC and chopping it up,” he says of “Squabble Up,” for which he enlisted producer Scott Bridgeway — “a master of the 808” — to come up with the beat. “He put his imprint into it, and it finally started to form into something. But it was way too fast. Once we slowed it down, we knew we had something special.” 

“Man at the Garden” stands as one of GNX’s more introspective performances. Sounwave recalls recording the song in New York with Antonoff, and getting rap legend Nas’ blessing to interpolate his Stillmatic song “One Mic” on the track — but it was Lamar’s rhythm that brought it all together. “It started to form into something where Dot just all of a sudden had this flow,” the producer says. “The flow felt so nostalgic, so personal, and we just built off of that.”

According to Sounwave, not all of the tracks were initially intended to be full songs. “Luther,” the massive SZA collaboration, started off as an interlude and took shape with help from the songwriter Ink. “I got a call from our boy Sounwave, ‘Yo, pull up on this,’” Ink says. “We been locked in since then. It’s always good to work with people that inspire you.” 

Now, the Luther Vandross-sampling cut is up for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Melodic Rap Performance at the Feb. 1 awards. 

“There were no drums. It was literally me chopping the sample and Dot just humming melodies. We had the sample in the tuck forever, we just never could crack it,” Sounwave says. “But once he hit this one specific melody, I knew that this had to be bigger.” The shift in creative direction illustrated how material thought to be minor became central to GNX.

Sometimes that happened with the assist of another producer. While Sounwave was the chief architect, he leaned on a secret weapon, Mustard, on tracks like “Hey Now.” “Mustard comes through when he needs to come through,” he says, “and he popped up with that record. I remember, instantly, everybody in the room started to dance and we never could let it go.”

The seismic “TV Off,” up for Best Rap Song, evolved from a single idea into a two-part composition with help from jazz virtuoso Kamasi Washington, another credited producer on GNX who has worked on every Kendrick project since To Pimp a Butterfly. “Kamasi replayed the string section, and it just started to get bigger,” Sounwave says.

“It felt like I was a part of a group of people that were all very brilliant,” Washington tells RS. “It felt like an honor. It felt like, ‘Let me do my little part to add to it.’ I tried to absorb being with everybody else. I kind of have trust in Kendrick and all of them, and they got to take it to a place that’s the ultimate level.”

Everyone knew right away that the moment in “TV Off” where Kendrick shouts out Mustard’s name would be a fan favorite. “Once everybody first heard that ‘MUSTARD!,’ the reaction was instant laughter, joy, and energy,” Sounwave says. And Lefty Gunplay, whose six-word contribution to the same song is another highlight, recalls the positive vibe in the room: “I had a note pad and I was writing. Then Kendrick Lamar walked in the studio, came straight up to me, gave me a hug,” he says. “He told me that he’s had his eye on me and that I’m doing my thing in Los Angeles. That I’m the missing piece of the West.”

Elsewhere, “Wacced out Murals,” the song that opens GNX, was born out of an unexpected early-morning recording session driven by Kendrick himself. “Yeah, that was 100 percent a Kendrick moment,” Sounwave notes. “I think he did that at like 6 a.m. one night. I just remember being excited and getting pumped up from hearing it. I wasn’t even in the room when he created that.”

But the album’s heart and soul lie in two distinct callbacks. “Reincarnated” is a fiery reimagining of 2Pac’s posthumous cut “Made Niggaz,” while “Heart Pt. 6” samples SWV’s “Use Your Heart.”

The creation of “Reincarnated” required substantial reconstruction to preserve the authenticity of 2Pac’s original. It was difficult to navigate, Sounwave says, because of the way “Made Niggaz,” which originally appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Gang Related, is regarded as a conceptual masterpiece. 

“That’s Pac. That’s Gang Related soundtrack. That’s a moment for us, and we didn’t want to mess it up. I knew we couldn’t just sample it,” he says. To pay proper respect to the original, Sounwave brought in bassist Noah Ehler and pianist Matthew “MTech” Bernard to record new parts. “It started to feel more tailored to what we were going through,” Sounwave says.

Lamar and Sounwave are both proud Los Angelenos, and they give a nod to their hometown ballclub on “Dodger Blue,” featuring Wallie the Sensei, Siete7x, and Roddy Ricch. The song, released between two World Series wins for the city, underscores GNX’s themes of hometown pride and creative camaraderie — it takes a team, after all.

Siete7x notes that he was particularly proud of sharing the track with three other artists from the same section of the M.A.A.D. City. “I was proud,” he says. “I was smiling ear to ear, just grateful. We all from the same west side of Compton. We all from that little circle, that bubble, so that really felt good. We all come from the same place, trying to come out, make it out, and we’re doing it. We’re dedicated, we’re making it happen.”

Two more songs on GNX that capture that sentiment: “Peekaboo,” featuring AzChike, and the album’s title track with Hitta J3, YoungThreat, and Peysoh. Sounwave says they emphasize Lamar’s desire to collaborate with intention and showcase artists he respects. “That’s who his character has always been,” Sounwave says. “[He’s] just like, ‘I believe in y’all. I want you guys to shine.’”

Peysoh agrees. “It was all around good vibes,” he tells RS. “Everything was so natural. Conversations just flowed. We touched on certain topics with each other before even making any music, for real. It was just an all-around dope experience. Kendrick is a very humble, down to earth individual. He definitely did his thing for the West Coast, and brought out some of the [rising] artists. Gave us a platform, a spotlight, and boosted our voice, all together.”

Case in point: the vocal contributions throughout the album from mariachi singer Deyra Barrera. “Compton is a small city, but it’s a big gumbo pot. My neighbors will play Juan Gabriel all day, loud,” Sounwave says. “That was a missing piece to us. We needed to capture the same feeling we had back then. And when she came in, it was just magical instantly. She understood. Hopped in a booth and had everybody in the room chills.”

But after years of studio work, sometimes into the wee hours, how did K. Dot and Sounwave know it was time for GNX to shine? It all comes down to emotion, the producer says.

“If I don’t shed a tear by the last second of the album, it is not ready,” Sounwave says. “Once that last second of the last song stopped, 6 a.m. in the morning, I shed a tear. I was like, ‘We’re done.’”