Kendrick Lamar is following up the massive success of “Not Like Us” with a new album. The rapper surprise-released his sixth studio album, GNX, featuring 12 new songs, on Friday, Nov. 22.
GNX follows the release of his Lamar’s last album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers in 2022, which served as his comeback album after releasing DAMN. in 2017.
The album opens with “Wacced Out Murals,” which features the Spanish vocals of mariachi singer Deyra Barrera, and hears K. Dot rapping scathing lyrics about his detractors. Barrera’s vocals return on track “Reincarnated,” and album closer “Gloria.”
“Luther” hears Lamar stretching his singing chops before being joined by SZA on the song co-written with INK. SZA is also featured on the closing track “Gloria.” Jack Antonoff, Mustard, Sounwave, and Kamasi Washington are credited as producers throughout the album.
Among the other tracks on the LP are “Dodger Blue,” Peekaboo,” and “TV Off.” Another notable track is “Heart Pt. 6,” the latest installment in Lamar’s long-running “The Heart” series, which was released all the way back in 2010. Subsequent installments have been released as loose singles, or appeared on releases like Lamar’s mixtape Overly Dedicated or Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
The album comes several months before he’s set to headline the Super Bowl Halftime show in 2025. It also arrives after “Not Like Us,” his Drake diss track, which earned the rapper five Grammy nominations, including Song and Record of the Year.
“Not like us? Not like us is the energy of who I am, the type of man I represent,” Lamar told Harper’s Bazaar. This man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He’s not pandering. He’s a man who can recognize his mistakes and not be afraid to share the mistakes and can dig deep down into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling like he’s less of a man.”
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GNX track list
1. Wacced Out Murals
2. Squabble Up
3. Luther
4. Man at the Garden
5. Hey Now
6. Reincarnater
7. TV Off
8. Dodger Blue
9. Peekaboo
10. Heart Pt. 6
11. GNX
12. Gloria
