BY ATTICUS STRALEY<\/p>\n
On November 22, Kendrick Lamar uploaded a one-minute music snippet on his YouTube channel. 30 minutes later, out of nowhere, he released a complete surprise album called \u201cGNX\u201d. Within its first three days, and despite zero prior announcements, the <\/span>entire<\/i><\/strong> project snatched the first 12 slots of the Top 100: USA Apple Music charts. \u201cGNX\u201d presents conscious crash out lyrics over classic West Coast production, while being released at a vital moment in rap, and addresses the issues Kendrick has with those in the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n The new release reasserts Kendrick and the West\u2019s current dominance, through a phenomenal catalog of songs. The project leads with \u201cwacced out murals\u201d, where Kendrick lets everything fly, setting the tone for the album by speaking on the recent beef with Drake, and calling out anybody who works against him, even including legends Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg. The line \u201cf*ck a double-entendre, I want y\u2019all to feel this sh*t\u201d, sums up the directness Kendrick forces. Throughout the album, \u201cGNX\u201d serves bouncy club songs like \u201csquabble up\u201d, \u201chey now\u201d, \u201ctv off\u201d and more. These songs use simple, yet wildly catchy LA beats to create some of the best hits on this project. Simultaneously, it includes smooth buttery flows such as \u201cluther\u201d and \u201cgloria\u201d that instantly bless your ears when played. One special song, \u201creincarnated\u201d, samples a Tupac beat as Kendrick even raps in the former artist\u2019s style, with him being a common reference during the year. The strong use of vocal inflection used in this song makes it extremely authentic, with Kendrick reflecting on past lives, addiction, and growth, including a conversation with a father figure.<\/span><\/p>\n The quality of these songs are exceptional, with this easily becoming a modern-day West Coast classic. To support this, many older listeners will recognize some of the famous samples from \u201cWhen I Hear Music\u201d by Debbie Deb on \u201csquabble up\u201d, and \u201cUse Your Heart\u201d by SWV on \u201cheart pt. 6\u201d. Balancing out the old, Kendrick also introduces wavy and untamed sounding adlibs, adding to the fun, \u201clooser\u201d vibe of the album. Additionally, local LA artists are featured, including HittaJ3, Lefty Gunplay, YoungThreat, and many more (with the exception of Roddy Rich and SZA). Many of the songs even feature mariachi singer Deyra Barrera, who brings a \u201cgrand mafioso\u201d feel through her striking vocal depth. The samples, features, and lyrics in the songs show that \u201cGNX\u201d is a clear tribute to all things West Coast culture.<\/span><\/p>\n There has been heavy talk that Kendrick would release an album following the Drake beef. However, there are many signs that point to this <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> being the album, and that it is still on the way. For one, the snippet in the teaser on YouTube (which did not follow the LA sound) was not included in this album, showing there is more music to be released, just as the snippet from the \u201cNot Like Us\u201d music video proved. Additionally, Kendrick\u2019s \u201cThe Heart\u201d song series has never been released on an official album before, rather as singles or on mixtapes. Some other worthy signs include the title track of this album being created only two days before its drop, and a plethora of tweets from those involved in \u201cGNX\u201d and Kendrick\u2019s label hinting that there is more to come, along with a tweet stating that his own label did not find out it was being released until the morning of. The arrangement also lacks a coherent story, which is a historically common theme in Kendrick\u2019s albums, pointing to it not being the main course.<\/span><\/p>\n While it is very likely Kendrick will be dropping new music in the not-so-distant future, \u201cGNX\u201d is still a phenomenal piece of work. Now, I will admit that it did take me a few listens to fully adjust to it. But after that, I completely agreed with all of the surrounding praise. Anyone who claims this to be an \u201cunderwhelming\u201d project for Kendrick\u2019s standards is simply not accustomed to hearing this subgenre, and may not fully understand its significance and impact. However, the numbers do not lie. People love this album. It is great to hear a new era of Kendrick, along with him dropping music left and right after complaints over the years. Some of my personal favorites from \u201cGNX\u201d include \u201creincarnated\u201d, as the combination of the Tupac flow, along with Kendrick\u2019s lyricism make for a timeless masterpiece. The features on the song \u201cgnx\u201d also fit perfectly over the beat, and has become one of the most enjoyable parts of the catalog for me as well. In addition, \u201csquabble up\u201d was an instant hit when I initially heard it, and shines as one of the grooviest songs on the list.\u00a0 But every one of them serves a unique purpose, ultimately leading to Kendrick stating: <\/span>You don\u2019t mess with me, or the West Coast<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY ATTICUS STRALEY On November 22, Kendrick Lamar uploaded a one-minute music snippet on his YouTube channel. 30 minutes later, out of nowhere, he released a complete surprise album called \u201cGNX\u201d. Within its first three days, and despite zero prior announcements, the entire project snatched the first 12 slots of the Top 100: USA Apple Music charts. \u201cGNX\u201d presents conscious crash out lyrics over classic West Coast production, while being released at a vital moment in rap, and addresses the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":81638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,4,3268,3235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-music","category-music-articles","category-music-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/gnx.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81639,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81637\/revisions\/81639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}