12 Kendrick Lamar: GNX

I did it with integrity and niggas still try hate on me, just wait and see
More blood be spillin’, it’s just paint to me
Dangerously, nothin’ changed with me, still got pain in me
Flip a coin, want the shameless me or the famous me?
How annoying, does it angers me to know the lames can speak
On the origins of the game I breathe? That’s insane to me
It’s important, I deserve it all because it’s mine
Tell me why you think you deserve the greatest of all time, motherfucker

man at the garden

Yeah, could not be arsed with this album last year. It was released on November 22nd, which was already pushing it very tight for the December 1st deadline for inclusion on Necessary Evil 2024. The circumstances and context really made it feel like it was a bit of a rush release to capitalise on all the publicity surrounding the feud with Drake that we’ll likely be telling our grandchildren about.

I also heard how ‘GNX’ was, rather than an expansive and hugely intellectualised dissection of the black male psyche and how that very identity is being exploited by capitalism to be sold back to those very same people – the type of Kendricking that meant ‘Mr Morale & the Big Steppers‘ was very much on-brand – it was a more back to basic, West Coast infused straight hip-hop album, I decided it probably wasn’t really worth the intense study it would require to see if it would make that year’s list. I’ll probably give it couple of spins after Christmas, I thought.

And I did. And holy shit this album’s incredible.

At 44 minutes, it’s shorter than any album that Lamar’s released before, but that just means it’s tighter. The ‘West Coast’ (I’m a white bloke born in Ashton-under-Lyne) influence/homage might be the most touted musical core of the album, but ‘GNX’ is actually an astonishingly dense and musically varied work, that touches upon a myriad of templates that I am far too white to adequately dissect. The album still contains the mix of stone cold bangers and more contemplative and introspective “What if Jesus was a Lakers security guard?” type pieces. Only on other albums these beard stroking songs often came in the form of overindulgent (yeah, I said it) mood pieces that kind of break the flow (and eeeeeeeeeeeelongate the runtime), whereas on ‘GNX’ they’re integrated far more successfully. And still have certified donks on them.

And, yeah, a lot of the proper Kendrick fans turned their noses up at ‘GNX’ a little. They like the overindulgent mood pieces!! Actually, those boring and low effort pseudo philosophical songs are, actually, Kendrick Lamar’s best songs, actually, actually!! Mate, whatever, you do you, and more power to you. For whatever reason, I’ve never been the biggest Lamar fan. It might honestly because some of my friends were being really annoying about him at some point in the past. I ranked ‘To Pimp a Butterfly‘ as only the 14th best album of 2015, which I appreciate now is like hearing someone in 1976 say they only ranked ‘Pet Sounds‘ as the 14th best album of 1966. I’d probably rank it higher these days, but looking at that list now I’m more vexed that astonishing Young Fathers album didn’t even make the top 10. I still stand by the fact that Lupe Fiasco made the best rep album of 2015, and probably by some distance. There’s nothing on ‘TPAB’ anywhere near as good as Deliver. My favourite Kendrick Lamar album is probably ‘DAMN‘, which I gather is like saying your favourite Prince album is ‘Purple Rain‘ in some circles: proof that you don’t pay enough attention. Which… Yeah, maybe? A lot of the hardcore Lamar fans don’t like this kind of :Lamar because it appeals too much to the casuals (like me), which I do actually completely get. And I can definitely appreciate how the topics on ‘GNX’ are not quite as deep or as layered as in other Lamar albums (it’s basically this), but I still think it’s an incredible album, and the fact that Lamar can switch between pleasing his base and also the moderates is actually more evidence of his genius.

Don’t be fooled by the facade though. Kendrick Lamar played the US imperialism laundering Super Bowl. He’s Chanel’s (ahem) ‘Brand Ambassador‘, which I’m sure would displease Coco Chanel. He has endorsement deals with brands such as Nike, American Express, and Converse. He is supposedly worth $140 million.

He’s not like you.

2022 # 25 (+13), 2018 #3, 2015 #14

AOTY: 87

Pffffffffffff, standard Kendrick critical glaze. The man on the streets isn’t quite as entrapped by the woke mind virus, and only awards it 82.

Erm, wouldn’t that be a 100??