One of the hardest parts of writing this review was figuring out how to organize it. I have so many thoughts on this project, in terms of the actual music, the messages Kendrick is conveying, the album’s role in his discography, etc. I won’t say I’ve reached conclusions about these things, I just have thoughts and am sure it’ll solidify as I listen more, or maybe it never will.
So my plan is to state up front: my opinion of the project is overall positive. There’s a lot of dope songs on here, and Kendrick is doing a lot of stuff I’ve been anticipating for a long time and wish more artists would do.
But I do have some stuff I’m either confused by, annoyed by, or just uncertain about. So that’s why I’m saying up front that I like the album. Most of my favorite songs are in the second part of the album so I don’t want a track-by-track review to give the impression I don’t like the album because the first half isn’t my favorite.
Okay, let’s get into it.
Big Picture, Context — What Is This Album?
I think the most immediate question I had on my mind when first approaching this project, and each time I listen is — What is this album?
In the context of his career, what is this?
What I mean is, take an artist like Kanye — first three albums are his come-up arc, superstar status. 808s is his first experimental, rebellious, like-me-or-hate-me project — meant to move forward with a new sound and demolish expectations of traditionalist hip hop heads. MBDTF was his redemption arc to the traditionalist hip hop crowd — vast and conceptual, symphonic and grandiose. Yeezus again was a lash back — “soon as they like you, make em UNlike you”.
So what is GNX in Kendrick’s career?
Obviously, it’s a victory lap after murking Drake lol. Striking while the iron is hot and dominating the pop charts after dominating the critics for a decade. Best way to hit Drake right? Instead of out-rapping or out-arting him, make songs that are trying to be catchier than his?
That’s true, but it’s more than that.
I’d want to go back to when TPAB released, I thought “Okay, Kendrick has now had three landmark albums, each more conceptual and sprawling than the last. What’s next? How could he possibly release something that doesn’t meet that bar? If he made an album full of catchy songs, but they lacked that sprawling concept, he’d get torn apart wouldn’t he? Is he going to be stuck in a spiral where each project needs to be bigger and bigger? It’s like Jordan after winning 3 rings in a row — anything less would now be considered disappointing”
And honestly, I think it was that? Just like Jordan retired after 3-peating, I feel like I fell out of love with Kendrick’s music shortly thereafter. DAMN was solid — in most other artists’ discography, it would be their best. But compared to Kendrick’s previous work, I was a little bit underwhelmed. I’ll leave the content/subject matter criticisms out of it for now, I’ll get to it later — for now I’m just talking musically and artistically, per my tastes, I feel DAMN was a slight step back, and Mr Morale was another step back. Plus his work with Baby Keem, it wasn’t to my taste at all.
But that last part is key here — I think his work with Keem was indicating to me that Kendrick was kinda done with the conceptual shit, done with super serious traumatic heady music.
And this GNX album feels like it could’ve come right after TPAB to me, to answer my doubt. I feel GNX perfectly answers the question “How does Kendrick go from high-concept masterpieces to making fun banger music, without losing quality, stature, or impact?”
The answer, in hindsight, was on TPAB itself, on “Momma” — he came home. If he wants to “just” make bangers, it would need to be something more than the average catchy song — Kendrick does that here by going home and immersing himself in culture. GNX isn’t just an album of catchy bangers — it’s an album of catchy bangers deeply soaked in the sound and culture of LA — you can’t hear this album and somehow separate it from LA.
TPAB is an album of survivor’s guilt, a painful scream from someone torn apart by the fact that he made it big off of music and left his people behind in LA. And now, in his victory lap album brings all the LA artists with him to the front, the sound of LA to the front, LA producers to the front. To mend himself and reach his final form, he had to go back home and be with his people.
So yeah, the album is like a full acceptance of his victory over Drake, victory over the rap game, victory over his own survivor’s guilt, and victory over the culture.
It’s not just bangers, it’s bangers that are draped heavily in what hip hop culture is, what LA culture is, and who Kendrick is.
Elevated bangers, if you will, lmao.
Okay, but what do I think of this album?
I’m just going to go track by track now, hoping that I’ve given enough of my overall positive opinion on the album to be able to offer my honest thoughts on each track without sounding overly critical. I’m trying to capture all of my thoughts, however positive, negative, or underdeveloped they might be right now.
- Wacced Out Murals
The whole album is fire production wise. I’d give it a 9/10 on production. Not only are the beats great, but they’re unique and fresh, a new modern spin on what the west coast has sounded like for the past decade.
I like that he starts the album with this, it’s fiery and topical. Every Kendrick album in the past has been “Here’s what I’ve been up to the last 3 years”. This album is unique because he’s talking current, present. “I just killed Drake and played the Super Bowl, here’s where I’m at now.”
I think the fact he’s rapping about a mural of him getting defaced is starting the album with “Yes, I’m a legend, I’ve reached that level. Now what?”
He raps really well, especially the flows on the second part. Name drops a lot of other legends/GOATs.
But I still feel weird about the accent. I’m not coming at it from a “woke/appropriation” angle at all, I just feel weird about it. It’s clear he doesn’t actually talk like that — Maybe it’s for a reason, but the “sentiment”/”lyricist” doesn’t even sound LA, it sounds like that “Compton Cowboy” “brotherr” shit, or just mad exaggerated.
I remember we discussed “code switching” but I feel like that implies one of these accents is the code he is “switching” to and the other is his natural one. I don’t want to believe that the Kendrick we heard on all the other projects is the manufactured accent so I feel like it’s the LA accent one. Or maybe he just decided it sounded cool and wants to do it now. It definitely came out of nowhere — he didn’t have this accent on any previous project, any interviews, or even casual social media videos. In a way, I feel like this is like if I, an Indian-American, were to rap with an Indian accent. Technically, it wouldn’t be morally wrong, and I am part of the group permitted to do that, but nonetheless, it’d be somewhat inauthentic, and intentional. I would be doing it for a reason, not because it’s my natural way of talking.
Honestly, after a bunch of listens, I do want to believe that it’s intentional and meant to tie in with my previous point — bringing LA to the front. We have LA beats, LA lingo, LA rappers, why not lead the album with an LA accent? Maybe I’m just trying to get myself to look past it somehow — all I know is that he does this accent on the first few songs then pretty much drops it for most of the rest of the album.
I like the song overall musically and content wise but the accent just makes it feel weird to listen to, I can’t love it wholeheartedly. Not making a moral point but just one based on my taste.
- Squabble Up
I know this is a favorite among people but it’s easily my least favorite song on the album. The beat is fire, but I feel the pre-chorus always ruins it for me (the part where he enunciates taaaste etc). It’s just a matter of preference though. I also feel like the different parts of the song are really disjoint and don’t sound like they’re part of the same song. Idk, I get the appeal, but the song is just actively annoying to me. I like the production as always, it’s unique and catchy.
- Luther
This song is smooth but doesn’t really stick in my mind. Every time it comes on, I enjoy it. SZA is melodic and beautiful here, Kendrick’s melodies are beautiful, and the beat is nice — but I kinda just forget it as soon as it ends. Not much to say.
- Man at the garden
Verrrrrrrrryyyy obvious One Mic inspiration/homage on this. Considering he said Nas was the only one to congratulate him in wacced out murals, and a later song is a clear Pac homage, I want to go with the latter here. Everything from the minimal beat, the slow beginning, the acapella nature, the slow and eventual emotional crescendo in the end, back to the minimal at the close — all very clearly a throwback to One Mic. I love One Mic, but tbh I never really seek out this song on GNX. I don’t know if I just haven’t put all the pieces together or paid enough attention yet, but I didn’t notice anything content wise to point out here either.
- Hey Now
In tracklist order, this is the first song I wholeheartedly like on the project, and from here, it gets better and better to me. I think this song puts the unique production style of this album in full focus, as well as the minimal catchy song structure Kendrick plays with a lot on this album. I think later songs do this same formula better, but this one is dope too. I love the feature.
- Reincarnated
This is where the album gets close to the feel of previous albums to me. This is classic Kendrick storytelling, mixed with a VERY obvious 2Pac influence. The beat is straight from a Pac song, Kdot’s delivery is very intentionally mimicking the way Pac enunciates the ends of lines, “Reincarnated” is an obvious 2pac theme.
I do love this song though, the homage is done tastefully. I don’t think it comes anywhere close to previous storytelling/concept Kendrick songs like “How Much A Dollar Cost” etc., but it’s a return to that form for sure. Honestly, the second part of the song, where he’s in dialogue with The Lord, reminds me of that Alpoko Don video (this one). I love it. I don’t know that I’ve fully understood the song yet, so I’m not gonna really dissect the meaning and story.
I have a conceptual critique tangentially related to this song, but I don’t want to derail the track-by-track here, so you can read about that below in the “What is he actually saying though?” section.
- Tv off
BANGERRRRRRRRRRR
This is very obviously the calling card of the album lol. The first beat is a clear remix of “Not Like Us”, Kendrick rappin catchy as hell.
Mustardddddd tag is fire as hell.
Turn his tv offf turn his tv offf is way too catchy
Crazy sturdy spooky hilarious too catchy
Fire song, I don’t think I need to say more. I will add though, I think the “TURRRRN” in the hook is the only part after the first few songs where he does that LA accent.
- Dodger Blue
Forgettable. It’s not bad and I let it play when I play the album, and it doesn’t annoy me, but yeah it’s kinda just filler and I usually pay less attention here.
- Peekaboo
One of my favorites on the album. This is what I mentioned before — if I describe the sound of the album, this is the song where it’s done most perfectly, or tied at least. Feature is perfect, I like how they trade off and go back and forth. Tied for my favorite song. That little flair that gets added into the beat in the second half is too good.
- Heart Pt 6
Classic Kendrick, among my favorites on the project. Perfect to balance out the bangers. I like learning more about what happened with Black Hippy, reflecting on the past, and how he changed and got to PG Lang and his current vibes. Pretty perfect song.
- GNX
This is tied with “Peekaboo” for my favorite song on the album. Definitely tied in terms of production. The beat is SO DIFFERENT! It almost sounds like a ¾ time signature. I think I gravitate to things that flip the script, so I like the off-kilter nature of the beat. I think every part of this song is perfect. The features are soooo good and varied, and I love how Kendrick blends with them. Probably my most replayed song.
- Gloria
Same as Dodger Blue and Luther. It’s good, but I forget it usually. But then I enjoy it when it comes on. I don’t have too much to say. These three are what I call “glue songs” on albums. They don’t stand out, but they fit in well and extend the uninterrupted run of solid songs, even if they’re not amazing, they’re a net positive.
“What is he actually saying though?”
I couldn’t think of a proper title to this section, but basically I want to focus on content here. I still think it’s perfectly fine for an album to be catchy and have dope beats and not much content or meaning — a lot of my favorite artists do that, like Curren$y or ASAP Rocky or Quentin Miller.
But I think Kendrick is a phenomenal artist and writer, so I definitely want to probe deeper and assess some parts of this project that I didn’t want to cram into the track-by-track above. This might be a little disorganized since it’s more of a general synthesis of his albums and how they sit with each other, and a little dissection of what Kendrick seems to be getting at in his music message wise. These are kind of unrelated to each other so I’ll just write them in chunks with no real transition or structure between them.
—
Hero’s Journey
Overall I feel this album poetically puts a bow on Kendrick’s career so far, in the way I mentioned before.
First two albums are “I am in Compton and here’s what I see around me. It’s really tough being here but it makes me who I am.”
TPAB is “My art got me out of that dangerous situation, but I feel survivor’s guilt and trauma from escaping it”.
“DAMN” is succumbing to that trauma and reaches the depths of fear, guilt, pain and trying to find some spiritual meaning in carrying the cross.
Mr. Morale is…therapy and forgiveness I’d say. Being able to move past trauma and guilt and build the strength to forgive yourself so you can be stronger moving forward, unburdened by guilt. I can heavily relate to that, I feel guilt always played the biggest role in my decisions and it was toxic and really difficult, and I’m happier having gotten past that a bunch this year.
TPAB to Mr. Morale is him being away from home and his people, and losing his sense of self in the process, and struggling to find it again.
So then GNX is finding his place, returning home, returning to LA culture, returning to meat-and-potatoes rap without a crazy deep concept. I like this narrative overall, I feel it really sounds like a hero’s journey — like a macrocosm of TPAB. In TPAB he returns home and finds the guilt melting away a little and he feels more content. This GNX album is basically that.
—-
Savior or Not?
What’s up with the savior dynamic? Kendrick made a whole album in Mr. Morale talking about “I am not your savior, don’t look up to me” in response to people criticizing his Black Israelite/Hebrew + somewhat conservative views in and after DAMN. His point was basically, I am just an artist and a person, don’t hold these things against me if I don’t perfectly fit your view of right and wrong. That’s perfectly fair — we shouldn’t expect perfect political and social philosophy from artists, it’s not their job.
Okay, but then why does he act like a savior and call himself that on literally every other project?
In GKMC he’s literally calling himself “Compton’s Human Sacrifice”, the messiah that dies on the cross for everyone else.
Before that, he’s rap’s savior, coming to save it from its demise on Section80 and his mixtapes. Asking people to buy into his HiiiPower movement that is revolutionary and righteous, etc.
On GNX, he’s back to having literal conversations with God and saying he’s sent here to use his music to bring understanding, word for word. He’s talking about how there’s very few real ones left and he’s one of them, “but it’s not enough”. He asks “why you think you deserve the greatest of all time?” (meaning him). Pretty much he’s saying he’s sent by god to save rap and save his people.
Like, what the fuck lol. I get the point in Mr Morale, *IF* he let it sit like that.
But you can’t admonish fans for looking to you for your sociopolitical views by saying “Stop calling me your savior” on one project, and then go back to positioning yourself as a savior on the very next. Honestly it comes across to me like he’s saying “Yeah I’m the savior, yeah I am saving rap and saving my people, yeah I’m solid and real. Look up to me and emulate me if you want to be too.”
Tell ’em Kendrick did it, ayy, who showed you how to run a blitz?
Tell ’em Kendrick did it, who put the West back in front of shit?
Then when he gets criticized if he doesn’t use the platform correctly, it’s “Hey wait, I never said I’m your savior!”
Like, YES YOU DID KENDRICK, You say it all the time, before AND AFTER Mr Morale. Am I tripping??
It feels like he wants credit as a conscious and wise rapper who guides his people — but wants to deflect all criticism at the same time. I don’t mean to point fingers or get personal about it, but this always bothered me about Mr. Morale because Kendrick is such an insightful and brilliant artist but this one part of his messaging just feels so contradictory — and I don’t think it’s intentional or in service of a greater point.
—
GOAT
This album seems to also play with his “Greatest Of All Time” contention a lot. He talks about a lot of GOATs and his relationship to them.
The first song directly touches on Wayne, Snoop, Nas — and what they think of him. All these guys are goat candidates to certain people, and WOM is Kendrick saying “Well I did just as well as them, and I don’t care about all their opinions, I’m moving on with or without them”.
He then has an homage to Nas and Pac.
However, I feel the biggest influence on this rapper is the one who seems strangely missing from the mentions.
This whole project seems VERY much a tribute to Nipsey. Not in an homage way, but I truly feel Kendrick values Nip a lot, and his meaning to LA and rap, and wanted to do right by him and carry on his legacy. I see it in the production, the LA culture immersion, and the content of the lyrics. We know Kendrick values Nip from The Heart Pt 5, Dedication, etc so I don’t think it’s a reach. I’m not claiming Kendrick explicitly set out to honor Nip, but more so he just was influenced by Nip’s character and music and ended up continuing Nip’s presence in rap in Kendrick’s own way.
So I feel this album has a lot to do with Kendrick pondering his status at the top, and how he feels about it, especially after knocking Drake off, who many considered to be “winning” rap until this year.
—
Sonic Experimentation
I’ve always noticed that my favorite artists have a certain thing in common. Their albums sonically sound different from each other. There’s not an objective betterness about it, but I just love when each album an artist makes looks like it was painted with a different palette.
Whether it’s Pearl Jam, Lights, Freddie Gibbs, Kanye West, ASAP Rocky, Curren$y — they don’t have a single sound that defines them. These are my favorite artists, and they have a different sound on almost every album.
I love that Kendrick does this too. Section80 had a very new-school 2010 underground sound to it. GKMC had a modernized G-Funk and trap sound. TPAB was jazzy and funky. DAMN and Mr. Morale had a less cohesive sound, but they definitely didn’t sound like each other, or like the previous three. And now, GNX is a whole new sound. It sounds very LA, but not exactly like other LA artists. It doesn’t sound like YG, but definitely sounds like YG would sound at home on it. It doesn’t sound like Nipsey production wise, but Nipsey would definitely sound at home on it. It’s undoubtedly LA, yet doesn’t sound derivative. And it sounds nothing like TPAB or GKMC.
Mustard killed it — it doesn’t even sound like Mustard’s own stuff! His production sounds different — he had a tape with 03 Greedo I still play to this day and I thought Mustard sounded hella unique there — and this sounds different from that too! fireee
I wish more artists were like this! New sounds just always have an edge over old sounds for me. Just my preference.
NUMBERS AND RANKINGS AND SHIT
Production – 9/10
Rapping – 9/10
Content – 7/10
Catchiness – 9/10
Album Rating: 8/10, B
Favorite songs – GNX, reincarnated, peekaboo, tv off, heart pt 6
Forgettable – dodger blue
Least Favorite – squabble up
Best beat – GNX, peekaboo, tv off (in that order)