GNX (album)

GNX
A black-and-white vignetted photo of Lamar leaning against the back of the titular GNX
Studio album by Kendrick Lamar
Released	November 22, 2024 (2024-11-22)
Genre	West Coast hip hop
Length	44:20
Language	English Spanish
Label	PGLang Interscope
Producer	Kendrick Lamar Jack Antonoff Craig Balmoris Bridgeway Dahi Deats Noah Ehler Frano Juju Kenny & Billy Rose Lilah Tim Maxey Sean Momberger M-Tech Mustard Rascal Sounwave Tane Runo Kamasi Washington
Kendrick Lamar chronology
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022) GNX (2024)
Singles from GNX (album)

GNX is the sixth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released as a surprise album through PGLang and Interscope Records on November 22, 2024. Titled after the Buick Regal model, and a follow-up to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022) and his feud with Canadian rapper Drake, GNX is Lamar's first album after his departure from longtime labels Top Dawg Entertainment and Aftermath Entertainment.

The album features appearances from AzChike, Dody6, Hitta J3, Peysoh, Roddy Ricch, Siete7x, SZA, Wallie the Sensei, Lefty Gunplay, and YoungThreat; Deyra Barrera, Sam Dew, and Ink provide additional vocal contributions throughout. Production was primarily handled by Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, with additional work by Mustard, Sean Momberger, and Kamasi Washington, among others. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim.

Background

Kendrick Lamar released his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, on May 13, 2022, to critical and commercial success. After concluding its accompanying concert tour in March 2024, Lamar shared on social media that he had purchased a vintage, limited-run 1987 Buick Grand National Experimental (GNX), the same model that his father used to take him home from the hospital following his birth.

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was Lamar's last album with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), to which he had signed in 2005. Before his feud with Canadian rapper Drake re-escalated, he quietly departed from Aftermath Entertainment and signed a direct licensing agreement with its distributor, Interscope Records. Lamar released five standalone singles during the latest installment of their conflict, including the Billboard Hot 100-toppers "Like That" and "Not Like Us". The rapper teased a then-untitled song in the beginning of the music video for the latter. Entertainment Weekly observed its inclusion and fan speculation that it could be included in his next album; the song was revealed to be "Squabble Up".

Rumors surrounding Lamar's forthcoming album began to emerge, with some being denied by close affiliates. After announcing that he was chosen as the headlining act for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, Lamar surprise released "Watch the Party Die" on his Instagram account. Rolling Stone said that the track bodes well for his next album–"whenever it comes". Dazed, on the other hand, predicted that he was gearing up for an "astronomical" era. By October, Lamar's longtime collaborators Terrace Martin, SZA, and Schoolboy Q confirmed that he would be releasing new music.

Songs and composition

GNX consists of 12 songs and has a running time of 44 minutes and 20 seconds; the shortest studio album of Lamar's career. Although no tracks from his feud with Drake are included, its sentiment "still looms over the album", according to Vulture. It is a West Coast hip hop album, drawing on both classic and contemporary conventions of the genre. According to Rolling Stone, the album is a tribute to Lamar's native Los Angeles, prominently infusing G-funk throughout its compositions.

The Mexican singer Deyra Barrera is featured on both opening and closing tracks of the album, as well as in "Reincarnated", after Lamar saw the singer perform at a Los Angeles Dodgers game. The production team played Barrera the instrumentation arrangements, and gave her a description of the emotions Lamar wanted to evoke throughout the album. "Reincarnated" sees Lamar present himself in imagined past lives before the lyrics transition to him having a conversation with God. "TV Off" features "clipped strings" that "dissolve into Viking-berserker horns" halfway through. As the percussion of the second part fades in, Lamar is heard "animatedly" screaming Mustard's name; this has since became an Internet meme. On "Heart Pt. 6", he recounts his history with TDE and the supergroup Black Hippy, acknowledging his role in the group falling apart due to creative differences. Ben Sisario of The New York Times noted that it is an "implicit rejoinder" to Drake's diss track of the same name, which in itself was taken from Lamar's "The Heart" song series. The title track, "GNX", is a posse cut with Los Angeles rappers Peysoh, Hitta J3 and YoungThreat. Lamar does not have a verse, instead providing a hook questioning "who put the West back in front of shit?"

Promotion and release

On November 22, 2024, Lamar unexpectedly premiered a one-minute teaser for GNX on YouTube and Instagram. The album was surprise released through PGLang and Interscope 30 minutes later.

On December 3, 2024, Lamar announced the Grand National Tour, co-headlined with SZA, in support of the album. The tour is scheduled to begin on April 19, 2025 in Minneapolis and conclude on June 18, 2025 in Landover.

Critical reception

Upon release, GNX received widespread acclaim from music critics. GNX received positive reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. It has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 17 reviews.

Various reviews considered GNX a victory lap for Lamar after his hip-hop feuds throughout 2024. Critics who praised the album's tributes to West Coast hip hop and Lamar's abilities to distill various elements to create a cohesive record include Exclaim!'s Wesley McLean and Variety's Peter Berry. Paste's Matt Mitchell upheld the album as a reimagination of rap's future and Lamar's past, and NME's Kyann-Sian Williams was impressed by the warm storytelling that acted as a palate cleanser after the diss tracks and loathing that had dominated the hip hop scene. Williams contended that GNX is an "easy contender for the rap album of 2024", and Tom Breihan of Stereogum hailed it as the year's best record and Lamar's greatest yet.

Many critics focused on Lamar's self-depiction as a driving cultural force in hip hop. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian commented that GNX found Lamar at his most confrontational, "deferring only to God". In The Line of Best Fit, Matthew Kim described it as "a concise statement of regional pride, braggadocio, and non-conformity", crediting Jack Antonoff's production for making the album feel "lush and expansive". Rolling Stone's Mosi Reeves felt that GNX provided more than sufficient explanations for why Lamar is the "GOAT of 2024" but not answers to a bigger cultural question of structural changes in hip hop, labelling the album "yet another treatise on hip-hop corporatism". Concluding the review for AllMusic, David Crone made several claims about the album, calling it, "a pillar of reflective realness, a flag planted in the lineage of Black musical visionaries, a silhouette of the West Coast in the high beams of fame -- and Kendrick's most speaker-knocking set to date."

In a mixed review from Pitchfork, Alphonse Pierre wrote that the album's supposed authenticity was blemished by Lamar's "heavy-handed, brand-conscious narrative", highlighting the production that is "too clean and synthetic", although his delivery remained stellar and the musical guests were memorable. In congruence, Will Hodgkinson of The Times shared his disappointment towards Lamar's self-aggrandizement that deviated from his intellectually provocative themes on past albums, despite the "frequently exceptional" production and flow. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times considered Lamar's tribute to his California roots somewhat a retreat to his "comfort zone", calling the album "impressive but slight".

Year-end lists

Select year-end rankings for GNX

Publication/critic	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
The Independent	The best albums of 2024, ranked	18
Rolling Stone	The 100 Best Albums of 2024	21

Commercial performance

GNX earned over 44.2 million first-day streams on the global Spotify chart, averaging over 3.6 million streams per song despite being available only seven hours prior. It also simultaneously occupied the top two slots on the American Spotify charts, with "Squabble Up" being at number one with 3.272 million streams. GNX became Lamar's first number-one album on the UK Albums Chart since To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).

In the United States, GNX debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 319,000 album-equivalent units, including 379.72 million official on-demand streams and 32,000 pure sales, despite only being available via streaming and standard digital download. It marked Lamar's fifth consecutive number-one album in the country and scored the sixth-largest opening week of 2024, among all albums. Furthermore, GNX logged the year's biggest streaming week for any hip hop or R&B album, the second-biggest debut streaming week, and the third-largest streaming week overall, only behind Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. All 12 songs from GNX debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, occupying the entire top five simultaneously. Lamar is the fourth artist in history to monopolize the premier spots, joining Swift, Drake, and the Beatles.

Track listing

GNX track listing
No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Wacced Out Murals"	Sounwave Jack Antonoff Dahi Craig Balmoris Frano Tyler Reese M-Tech Tim Maxey	5:17
2.	"Squabble Up"	Sounwave Antonoff Kendrick Lamar Bridgeway M-Tech	2:37
3.	"Luther" (with SZA)	Sounwave Antonoff Bridgeway Kamasi Washington M-Tech Rose Lilah	2:57
4.	"Man at the Garden"	Sounwave Antonoff Balmoris Reese M-Tech	3:53
5.	"Hey Now" (featuring Dody6)	Sounwave Antonoff Mustard	3:37
6.	"Reincarnated"	Sounwave Antonoff Lamar M-Tech Noah Ehler	4:35
7.	"TV Off" (featuring Lefty Gunplay)	Sounwave Antonoff Mustard Washington Sean Momberger	3:40
8.	"Dodger Blue" (featuring Wallie the Sensei, Siete7x, and Roddy Ricch)	Sounwave Antonoff Tane Runo Maxey Terrace Martin	2:11
9.	"Peekaboo" (featuring AzChike)	Sounwave Bridgeway Momberger	2:35
10.	"Heart Pt. 6"	Sounwave Antonoff M-Tech Juju	4:52
11.	"GNX" (featuring Hitta J3, YoungThreat, and Peysoh)	Sounwave Antonoff Kenny & Billy Rascal Maxey	3:13
12.	"Gloria" (with SZA)	Sounwave Antonoff Deats	4:47
Total length:			44:20

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies an additional producer
• All tracks are stylized in lower case.
• "Peekaboo" features uncredited vocals from Dody6.

Sample and interpolation credits

• "Squabble Up" contains a sample of "When I Hear Music", written and performed by Debbie Deb.
• "Luther" contains a sample of "If This World Were Mine", written by Marvin Gaye and performed by Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn.
• "Man at the Garden" contains an interpolation of "One Mic", written by Nasir Jones and Chucky Thompson and performed by Nas.
• "Hey Now" contains an interpolation of "Scotty", written by Carlos Walker and Lefabian Williams and performed by D4L.
• "Reincarnated" contains a sample of "Made Niggaz", written and performed by Tupac Shakur featuring Outlawz.
• "TV Off" contains:
  • samples from "MacArthur Park", written by Jimmy Webb, as performed by Monk Higgins, and "The Black Hole - Overture", composed by John Barry.
  • an interpolation of "Kick in the Door", written by Christopher Wallace, Jalacy Hawkins, and Christopher Martin, and performed by the Notorious B.I.G..
• "Peekaboo" contains a sample of "Give a Helping Hand", written and performed by Willie Hale.
• "Heart Pt. 6" contains a sample of "Use Your Heart", written by Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams and performed by SWV.

Personnel

Musicians

• Kendrick Lamar – vocals
• Deyra Barrera – additional vocals (tracks 1, 6, 12)
• Ink – background vocals (tracks 2, 10), additional vocals (8)
• Sam Dew – background vocals (tracks 2, 4–6, 8, 10, 12), additional vocals (3)
• Paul Cartwright – strings (track 3), violin (7)
• Caleb Vaughn Smith – strings (track 3)
• Drew Forde – strings (track 3)
• Geoff Gallegos – strings (track 3)
• Giovanna Moraga – strings (track 3)
• Kerenza Peacock – strings (track 3)
• Luanne Homzy – strings (track 3)
• Luke Maurer – strings (track 3)
• Stephanie Payne – strings (track 3)
• Stephanie Yu – strings (track 3)
• Lefty Gunplay – additional vocals (track 7)
• Evan Smith – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone (track 7)
• Miles Mosley – bass (track 7)
• Peter Jacobson – cello (track 7)
• Amber Wyman – horn (track 7)
• Malik Taylor – horn (track 7)
• Rickey Washington – horn (track 7)
• Ryan Porter – horn (track 7)
• Sean Sonderegger – horn (track 7)
• Serafin Aguilar – horn (track 7)
• Zem Audu – tenor saxophone (track 7)
• Chad Jackson – violin (track 7)
• Marta Honer – violin (track 7)
• Reiko Nakano – violin (track 7)
• Tylana Renga – violin (track 7)
• Yvette Devereaux – violin (track 7)
• Roddy Ricch – additional vocals (track 8)
• Bobby Hawk – violin (tracks 10, 12)

Technical

• Ruairi O'Flaherty – mastering
• Oli Jacobs – mixing, engineering
• Jack Antonoff – engineering
• Johnathan Turner – engineering
• Laura Sisk – engineering
• Ray Charles Brown Jr. – engineering
• Tony Shepperd – engineering (track 3)
• Tony Austin – engineering (track 7)
• Zem Audu – engineering (track 7)

Charts

Chart performance for GNX

Chart (2024)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	1
Australian Hip Hop/R&B Albums (ARIA)	1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	3
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	5
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	1
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)	6
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)	1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)	7
French Albums (SNEP)	11
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	8
Icelandic Albums (Tónlistinn)	3
1
Italian Albums (FIMI)	11
Japanese Digital Albums (Oricon)	12
Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)	52
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)	1
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	1
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)	1
Slovak Albums (ČNS IFPI)	5
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)	8
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)	1
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	2
UK Albums (OCC)	1
UK R&B Albums (OCC)	1
US Billboard 200	1
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	1