On December 4th, 2024, Luigi Mangione gunned down the CEO of United Healthcare in the middle of the street, to the delight of the entire country, if not the entire world. We’ve all known, or even witnessed first-hand, how health insurance companies kill the vulnerable by denying coverage of life saving medical care. United Healthcare isn’t the only company with blood on its hands, but considering that it denies claims 2-3 times as often as any other US health insurer, it is certainly the worst offender. Sure, murder is bad, but in the face of more grave injustices from the victim, its easy to see why folks from all walks of life are dancing on his grave.

However, Luigi wasn’t the only one to catch a body for morally justified reasons this year. In the spring of 2024, Kendrick Lamar fired several rounds at Drake, a known culture vulture, two-faced snake, and alleged sex pest and pedophile. Many know Drake as a musical superstar. But many were unaware, or just chose to ignore, the fact that Drake reached that status through shameless manipulation and with a willingness to conform into whatever aesthetic and sound was popular. This was the case until Kendrick fired his first shot, with “euphoria”. Drake attempted to fight back, but he was crippled by “Meet the Grahams”, Kenny’s second shot. And to settle the matter once and for all, “Not Like Us” was the kill shot that had the entire world dancing on the metaphorical grave of the Degrassi star.

While the beef between Lamar and Graham has been analyzed by dozens of people online, Kendrick himself has never given an interview about these shots heard round the world. But its unlike famous murderers to explain themselves in exhaustive detail, unless they killed in the first place to acquire fame. I don’t think either Kendrick or Luigi care for the spotlight their actions brought. Kendrick was already a legend before the beef, and it seems Luigi hadn’t even expected to live though the consequences of his actions, let alone get famous from them. You can tell Luigi lacked any real visions of grandeur by reading his manifesto, which is uncharacteristically brief and straight forward for someone characterized by mainstream media as a narcissistic monster. And for Kendrick, his latest album, GNX, also communicates why he did what he did in a similarly short and straight forward manner.

GNX is an album about the things that matter to Mr. Lamar more than anything in the world. This album is about the things that he’d fight for, die for, and how he’s handling the repercussions of those scuffles. “wacced out murals” is about that fallout, and was highlighted at release as the most scandalous track in the listing. I fail to understand why it was received as so sensational, as the track is pretty general, with minimal name calling of consequence. The closest on the track to a diss is the Lil Wayne mention, which is more of a surprised observation than a callout. But the sinister delivery and instrumental likely fooled listeners into reading this track as a diss track.

Instead, I read it as a statement of intent by Lamar. He is not only mapping out his morals and the bitter disappointment he has in seeing that not everyone holds themselves to such standards, but also is a declaration of his dominance and authority in hip hop. It even reads a bit as conflicted, as he struggles with revering the legends he grew up with while also accepting that he is now considered the legend he saw them as by most of hip hop culture today. It’s a fantastic opener, one that takes advantage of the fact that most first listens will be in the context of this being his first project since the beef. It grabs you by the ear and refuses to let go, even if it isn’t all that hype in the same way the following track is.

“squabble up” is the second track, and it is a certified west coast banger in the most classical sense. It samples Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music”, which is a choice that not only makes the track danceable in a way that will be felt at countless family reunions to come, but also feels reminiscent of the disco influence of hip hop’s origins. It’s also one of those rare singles that is less than 3 minutes long, but doesn’t feel cynically short in a way meant to game streaming revenue. It’s all killer, no filler, and the combination of disco and Kendrick’s manic and playful delivery of his verses, almost reminiscent of DJ Quik’s flow style, make this an instant classic. It’s a song so self-evidently satisfying that it’s hard to greatly elaborate at length on why it is so great.

“luther”, with Sza, is the biggest surprise on the entire album for me. Now, Kendrick is no stranger to smoother, more R&B centric tracks, as his previous collaborations with Rihanna and Summer Walker have shown. But this is easily the best of this style of track he’s ever done. I admit that, while I was delighted and surprised to hear Luther Vandross sampled on the track, I wasn’t initially excited to hear a softer track like this after the viciousness he just showed towards Drake. But the more I listened to it, the more I fell in love.

Seeing the song used in a Spider-verse clip montage one day made me understand why the song works so well. Sza and Kendrick really glide on this track, and it makes you feel just as weightless when listening to it. I genuinely feel like I’m flying, and the way that they intertwine and layer their vocals throughout makes it feel like they are swans, dancing in tandem with one another. This song feels how the tendrils of a jellyfish move in clear waters,  or how flower pedals float through the breeze, or a dozen other poetic images. The fact that thier lyrics touch on bettering others and looking optimistically towards better days ahead just add to the delight.  It just sounds so pleasant that it warms the soul and should prepare you for the much more sober track that follows.

“man at the garden” is a fascinating track with a fascinating title. This flip of the Nas’ classic, “One Mic”, is an affirmation anthem, where Kendrick claims all the things in life he feels he deserves. But he doesn’t feel entitled to these things simply because he wants them, he feels he has earned them all over his years of hard work. The title conjures up the image of one walking into a garden, enjoying the fruits of their labor after years of dirty hands and seasons of drought. The quiet, understated instrumental also makes the track more introspective and lonely as well, in a way similar to “Rich Spirit” on Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

The track slowly drifts from confidence with oneself and accomplishments to contempt towards those who want what he has without putting in the work. The increasing chaos of the instrumental and sharpening of the vocals leads to the final line ”tell me why you think you deserve the greatest of all time?”. It’s a question that not only could apply to Drake, but to the listener who may have felt inline with the opening half of the song. For anyone with humility, it is a hard-fought battle to get to the point where you truly feel like you are deserving of the blessings you receive. This final line highlights the hubris in believing one is “the greatest of all time” but also highlights the immense healing and hard work that Kendrick must have behind him for him to confidently say he deserves the overwhelming success he has found in music. It’s a fascinating track that makes me as confident in what I’ve accomplished while also pushing me to do more to earn the rewards that have come from these accomplishments.

“hey now” is yet another track that had to grow on me. Having the sparsely scored intro come right after a track that was similarly bare instrumentally gives the false impression that I’m in for another introspective track. Listening to the album in sequence invites that feeling, but as a standalone track, the escalation in this song is actually astounding. The distant chirp and breathing that opens the song gives a dark, sinister tone, but as layers of instrumentation are added, the song brightens into a vivid explosion of expression. The thing is, Kendrick’s delivery stays fairly consistent the entire time. If anything, he get’s slightly more animated as the beat crescendos, but I feel the beat slowly recontextualizes his flow as the song progresses. It makes Kendrick sound sinister in the same way that YG does on much of Still Brazy, but also brings along some of the disco inspired bounce of “squabble up”.

The track actually ends up being a brilliant blend of the old West Coast and the new West Coast, and the feature from Doddy6 only intensifies that contrast. He sounds even more raw on this track than Kenny, but the brightness of the instrumental at the back half, where his verse resides, refuses to let his works land as aggressively as they would alone. The track ends smoothly, with the instrumental progression looping, in miniature, over Doddy6’s verse. It gives the inverse effect of those movie trailers that summarize themselves in the first 5 seconds so you don’t click away to another tab. I suppose the closest analog to this is how Play of the Game in Overwatch or Marvel Rivals instantly activates nostalgia for the match you just played. It is an odd sensation to get from a song, but a welcome end to a great track.

“reincarnated” is the most shameless Tupac track Kendrick has ever made. It’s almost shocking, not because of it’s Pac influence, as Kenny has openly idolized him throughout his career, but due to how much it sounds like a song that Pac would have made. “man at the garden” and “squabble up” were heavily inspired, but there were elements there that made the track feel more like Lamar’s own work. But this track sounds like a straight-up cover, despite the fact that it is indeed an original song. The more aggressive, or rather, passionate, delivery and the heavy sampling of one of Pac’s last singles, “Made Niggas” are responsible for this, and they largely make the song so iconic.

The other part that makes this track is the expert storytelling on display. Even the title has multiple meanings, as Lamar invokes Tupac without ever speaking his name, and the track itself is about being reincarnated. Though a thick layer of symbolism, he describes the story of a fallen angel whose musical talents have repeatedly lead to his downfall in past lives. But ultimately, with his current incarnation as Kendrick Lamar, he feels he has finally done right by God and used his gifts for the benefit of others. He then linguistically battles with God over if he’s changed for the better or if he, deep in his heart, is still the same broken soul that was more plainly displayed in his previous lives.

This isn’t the first time in hip hop that I’ve encountered a view of reincarnation as a kind of purgatory. In the slightly underrated Logic LP, Everybody, reincarnation has one soul inhabit the shoes of every human being who ever has or will live just so that soul can ascend to godhood at the end of the process. Kendrick’s view of it is much more cynical, as he views being trapped in this mortal world endlessly as an eternal punishment and grave alternative to living in heaven. But all of that seems like backstory to give the final conversation more weight. Kendrick struggles to save his people, black people, after concluding that they may just be damned on the album of the same name. He takes this failure of black people to be able to ascend past the position inflicted on them as a personal failure, and as he talks to God, he effectively settles to ask not if he accomplished his goal of freeing his people, but if he at least did his best. In a turn that is actually pretty optimistic for Kendrick, and surely a result of the therapy, he writes himself an ending where God does indeed tell him he’s done his best, and he seemingly breaks the cycle of suffering he wished to be free from. The track at once reaffirms the conclusions made on Mr. Morale’s “Mirror” and reaffirms the care he still has for his fellow Africans that he expressed on To Pimp a Butterfly. It’s the deepest track on the album, but his delivery of the narrative is so dynamic that its’ also massively engaging to listen to as well.

“tv off” is a song so hard that I still can’t believe it wasn’t the album’s lead single. DJ Mustard once again has a staring role in both the lyrics and instrumental(s), and on the first part of the song he uses this staccato beat that is equally abrasive as it is bright. It has a bounce to it but also feels like it’s being interrupted on every single beat. It’s jarring, but it seeds delightful chaos inline with Kenny’s playful flow in the first verse. Even the vocals here, like one second of breathing that almost sounds like if one of the hyenas in The Lion King hyperventilated, add to the tone, which is appropriate as it kind of plays off of the fun of being the “boogeyman” he alluded to on “Not Like Us”.  There’s a certain kind of fun that comes with be a conniving little shit, it’s the same pull that attracts people to flamboyant and proudly evil villains like Ursula from The Little Mermaid.  Having this section of the song lean into it is fun to see, especially when this song is so clearly a spiritual successor to “Not Like Us”.

The second verse is the highlight, with Kenny’s crazed “MUSTARRRRRRRRRRD” scream being the most memed about moment of the entire album. And it deserves to go so viral, as that Kratos like scream is the perfect way to transition into the more epic instrumental of the back half. Honestly, Kenny’s flow on this back half is, well, not weak but maybe a bit subdued for a track this hype. This is the type of flow I’d expect from him on an Achamest or 9th Wondr beat, or something more relaxed like “You Ain’t Gotta Lie”. On here, it feels like a decrease in energy, but you forget that fact when the verse is over angelic horns and flanked by impassioned screams about condiments. But it ends the best trilogy of tracks on the album on an incredibly high note.

There is a very brief feature from Lefty Gunplay on the tail end, and while there’s not much to remark on about his addition, I did want to speak on his inclusion in the project. Lefty’s appearance here, along with the inclusion of mariachi performer and Mexican singer Deyra Barrera on several other tracks, ties into one of the core themes of the project: community. Kendrick, as far as he’s disclosed, has no Hispanic heritage, but he has undoubtedly come to love and respect the Hispanic community since there is such a large swath of them living in California. Often, these are his people just as much as much as the folks who look like him. Highlighting the Hispanic community in his project, and even including Spanish, which could alienate strictly English speakers, is a way to reach out to that side of West Coast culture and pay respects. I just think that’s a nice gesture because I fear that, due to the elected officials that are taking office, we’ll soon have to rely on our in-person communities more than ever. This representation helps hint towards the idea that the people you treat like family don’t always have to be your literal family, or even look like them. This kind of reaching-across-the-aisle is nice to see, and I hope it leads people to expanding their categorization of who they are willing to help and protect ever so slightly to cover those who may be in need, in the Hispanic community especially.

“dodger blue” is the second track to be more melodic and R&B influenced, but it feels less romantic than “luther”. It is aggressively laidback, with a soundscape that feels like cruising through a big city in the middle of the night, with the warm glow of building lights washing over your face. This makes sense because this is yet another lover letter to Los Angeles, as this album is covered in love letters and homages to West Coast culture. This is a vibe I enjoy, but it is both such a sharp drop in energy from “tv off”, and such a brief track overall, that I find it hard to catch the groove it provides. Even the features from Wallie the Sensei, Roddy Ricch & Siete7x don’t make much of an impact on this track, which is a shame for Roddy especially since I like a few songs from him. It’s hard to call this a bad track, as it does fulfill it’s transitional purpose on the album. I just wish this was labeled as an interlude because it feels like one in length and lyrical content. It is a dope piece that is indeed welcome, but its minimalistic execution means it can never stand too strongly as a track on its own. And sadly, this track begins a small lul in the album that continues onto the next track.

“peekaboo” is not a bad song, but it does present the second edge of the double-edged sword that is making an album that is more easily digestible to the masses. The song is destined to be a club banger, with it’s simple beat and catchy hook. I’ve already seen it light up the dance floor at a recent house party. But for me, whether or not have a more “discerning ear”, the instrumentation is too subdued and not nearly dynamic enough to stick with me. It’s yet another dark, broody bounce of a beat, but it stays consistent in that sound for the entire duration. The instrumentation almost feels like it’s missing another layer to add flair, and that flair does come in every few beats to emphasize parts of the song, but it doesn’t stay nearly long enough.

Though, this track is still a winner thanks to the charismatic and grimy feature from AzChike. He comes off on this track with equally as much confidence as K.Dot, but with just a tad more energy. In fact, I feel that these two complement each other on this track, with Az being more aggressive and sinister with his bars, and Kendrick being more playful and silly. It’s a refreshing change of pace from Dot too, as it’s particularly hilarious to hear him make a Supa Hot Fire reference on this track. But despite that, the song is still pretty underwhelming when compared to both previous Kendrick songs and other songs on this same album, like the next track, for example.

“the heart pt. 6” is a masterful gambit, sir. It’s effective on multiple levels, and the first of which is how potent it’s choice of sample is. SVW’s classic “Use Your Heart” is one of the greatest R&B tracks of all time, and despite not much discussion of them today, this group has a good dozen or so hits that are staples at cookouts and dances in countless black communities. Sampling the track here immediately creates an atmosphere of warm nostalgia, and the verses here match that vibe completely.

This song is his swansong to Top Dawg Entertainment. As he announced in the months before Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, that album would be his last under the TDE label. Going forward, he’ll be under his own label, PGLang, alongside Dave Free. That could have been due to infighting within the label or bitterness as a result of business mismanagement, but all external signs, including this very song, contradict that idea. On this song, Kendrick shares so much love, reverence, and respect for both his former label mates and management. He’s paints pictures of positive memories he’s had while trying to get other acts to blow up, and the affirmations he’d receive from his brothers on his own potential to blow up. There is a thread of brotherly love that is carried through on this entire track and it’s heartwarming to hear.

What makes this track insane though is that it pulls a similar trick to the one pulled on “reincarnated”. That track never mentioned Tupac by name, but the name of the track, the flow and instrumental, and the prior knowledge of Kendrick’s reverence for him made you have Tupac on your mind every time you listen to the song. “the heart pt. 6” never mentions Drake by name either, but knowing that Drake’s final diss track of their beef shared the same name, knowing that Drake doesn’t have an intimate network of creative peers and friends at Cash Money Records like Lamar does with TDE, and knowing that Drake would have no connection to SWV due to his lack of any Black American Heritage, you realize that this, in a certain light, is just as scathing of a diss track as “Not Like Us” or “euphoria”.

Even at the end of the song, Kendrick speaks on the difficulties of deciding to leave TDE. His creative priorities had long split from being in line with the label, and his desire to try his own hand at leadership had him itching for more independence. It resulted in some tough but necessary conversations because it takes time to make sure you can follow your dreams without the people you hold dear being upset that your dreams don’t align with theirs anymore. This indirectly digs at Drake once again, as he is forever signed to Universal at this point, and the Cash Money Records label he is heavily associated with is infamous for screwing over rap legend like Lil Wayne and being full of acts that all seem morally bankrupt. But the most painful part of it all is that you know Kendrick didn’t write this song as a shot to Drake, but as a love letter to some of the most cherished men and women in his life. Nothing can cut your nemesis deeper than the knowledge that they are the only one in a feud still actively upset. You can only imagine how much Drake might be seething from this track, but that thankfully is subtext that resides in the background as the actual text of brotherly love, nostalgia, and respectable reconciliation defines the track.

“gnx” is maybe the most unorthodox title track of all time. Typically, the tack that shares a name of the album it’s on is the core thesis of the album overall, containing som grand overaching message or vibe. “gnx” is not that. Its beat sounds almost intentionally off putting and discordant, like the first half of “tv off” but much less hype. It sounds like those scenes in Tom and Jerry where the characters fight inside of a piano but what should be a mess of random sounds accidentally results in a beautiful symphony. But this melody is not an accident, as the beat rises and falls in dynamic way throughout, and breaks down to it’s sparsest elements right at the end. The track feels decidedly not like a banger so that the melody can complement the lyrics more than overpower them, and the lyrical talent is absolutely on point here.

Peysoh, Hitta J3, and YoungThreat all ride the beat with infectious charisma and a playful, yet hard edge. In fact, Kenny is barely on the track, as he only shows up for the hook and to trade a bar or two with each rapper. But these young men make the track thier’s, and the song is much better for it. There are bars about guns, bars about doing women dirty, bars about living hard lives at a young age, and other subject matter you’ve heard if you’ve listened to hip hop in the last 5 years. But they deliver these familiar themes with enough flair to make the track engaging. Even some bars, like how Hitta has “Cuban links more than 2 Chains” or how YoungThreat gets on his “Bob the Builder shit” gave me a chuckle the first few times I heard it. And again, when the beat breaks down for the final verse, it’s hard to not sound like the hardest you possibly can on that portion of the instrumental, but YoungThreat manages to more than rise to the occasion.

I still don’t think “gnx” is my favorite track on the project, and its subversion of being the grand title track feels a bit disappointing. But, I respect this song. It’s bold, and because Kendrick stands back to let smaller artists take the spotlight, perhaps the tradition of the title track being the thesis of the album is actually continued here. We’ve seen Kendrick show love for his city, his community, his own, and hip hop as a culture, so a perfect culmination of that love is to minimize himself to maximize the exposure of these 3 West Coast acts. Whether or not they all grew up with Kendrick, their presence here marks them as members of his oh-so-cherished wider community, and there are not too many gestures of love bigger than that.

Speaking of love, “gloria” is the final track, with Sza returning to lay down some heavenly vocals. This is a genre of song that Kendrick somehow hasn’t done until now: the “hip hop as literary device” song. The most notable example of this is Common’s “I Used to Love H.E.R.” where he frames his waning relationship with hip hop as him falling out of love with a woman he once adored. In “gloria”, Kenny swoons over the woman of his own affection, which does end up actually being his iconic skills with a pen. However, the lines in this song could easily be adapted to Whitney, Kendrick’s high school sweetheart, the mother of his children, and star of his last album.

I think the double meaning is very intentional, because I don’t think Kendrick is shallow enough of a thinker to use the same familiar metaphor and just leave it there. I’m sure he’s grateful for his lyrical ability, but to write an entire song about it comes off as uncharacteristically vain. No, I’m choosing to believe that Kendrick is talking about Whitney first and his “pen” second.  This album already touches on themes of nostalgia and love for others. Yes, Whitney and Kendrick’s issues were aired out fairly thoroughly in Mr. Morale, but she seemed to stand by him loyally during his beef . I’m not here to dig into the current status of their relationship, but it seems they are at least on good terms. Even I know that strange feeling of the lingering love and respect you have for people who would have been cut out of your life by now if not for shared children or friends. It’s a complicated feeling, one that Kenny is more comfortable leaning into fully than I. But it’s a good choice, as it adds to the positive energy of the album overall, and at the end of the day, he can still just chop it up as symbolism alone.

Instrumentally, this track is…not minimal or too laid back, but aggressively familiar. In fact, it seems to have a similar cadence and musical vibe as “Father Time”, just less grand and emotionally charged. The tone of the song is more upbeat and reflective, but even the impact of the final lines of each song hit similarly as strong. It’s still a great note to leave the album out on, and fully contrasts the simmering rage of the opening track, but I can’t help but feel like this was a “Father Time” B-side that they just polished up to put on this album.

In fact, much of this album feels like something put together somewhat hastily, or just more causally. In addition to the familiar sound of “gloria”, “tv off”, “reincarnated”, & “man at the garden” all sound derivative of older songs. Deyra Barrera didn’t meet Kendrick until roughly 2 months prior to the album’s release, and “the heart pt. 6” appearing on the album has lead many fans to believe that this album is more of an EP than an LP. The latter point especially is telling as each release in The Heart series has preceded a new Kendrick album, but this is the first time it was included within a project instead of released as a standalone single. I do believe these theories hold some water, as I could see Kendrick wanting to fast-track a project to both capitalize on his defeat of Drake and release more mainstream bangers to perform during the Super Bowl next year. Even the last time Kendrick released an album comprised of mostly mainstream bangers, DAMN., the album had a more direct conceptual narrative throughout than GNX.

So, sure, I could see more music coming next year after the Super Bowl, and maybe even after the Grand National Tour, but I also remember when us most diehard Kendrick fans were also looking forward to the drop of the fabled NATION. all those years ago. This kind of theory crafting is fun, but dangerous if taken to far. Plus, I feel that theory disregards the quality of the work that lies in front of us today. And even if this was not made with the same level or effort and vision as previous Kendrick albums, Kendrick is so talented that he can still put out a classic album when he’s not trying. But thats’ the thing, I do think he tried. When you inject as much meaning into your work as Kendrick has in his previous project, it takes great effort to make something that appears low effort. For that, I feel he should be commended, and the expectation that this is just simply a prelude so something better undermines that a bit.

GNX will be considered a classic by many. It’s simply just too easily digestible, and easily enjoyable, to not go down as one of the best works he’s ever released. Even if I, as a die-hard fan, can’t say my life was changed by the album like it was with To Pimp a Butterfly, or that I was blown away by the vulnerability on the project like I was with Mr. Morale, but I can say I honestly love this album, mainly because the album itself about love.

Luigi Mangione suffered from chronic pain as a result of spondylolisthesis, a condition caused by vertebrae slipping out of the spine. This gave him first hand experience with the painful indifference of the American healthcare system. Revenge is likely part of the reason he did what he did, but as he says in his manivesto, he killed that guy because the morally unjustifiable exsistance of the health insurance industry. Thier goulish practices have been killing millions for a long time. His understanding of just how widespread this suffering is inherently painted his actions as much more than self-serving. For Kendrick Lamar, we spent the first half of 2024 bearing witness to his own acts of violence. Sure, to most of us, Drake is (was?) a villain who rightfully deserved the verbal lashing and resulting ostracization. But his metaphorical murder sent ripples through the entire music industry that will continue to be felt for years to come. Drake was the guaranteed hitmaker that many artists smaller than him relied on. Now that his well has seemingly run dry, or at least relocated, it’s hard to see the music industry operating in quite the same way ever again. And this massive corporate shake up happened at the hands of the same person who was rewarded the Super Bowl halftime show shortly after.

That is collateral damage that Dot was more than happy to inflict, as that isn’t nearly as important to him as the things he touches on in this album. He loves his family, both literal and found through TDE, so much that he would kill for them. He loves his city so much that he would kill for it. He loves his community, even the non-African descendants, so much that he would kill for them. And he loves the culture of hip hop, the same one that gifted him his vast success, so much that he would gladly strike down anyone who dares to defile or damage it. We saw him do just that at the start of the year, but now that we’ve listened to his manifesto behind that murder, I can’t help but look inward.

What are the things I care so passionately for that I’d lay it all on the line to protect? That question is more important than ever, for all of us, because, news flash, Drake isn’t the only villain out there. He’s not even the one with the most heinous sex crimes, or the most egregious wealth, or the most toxically masculine traits, or the one who’s disrespected people of color the most, or even the one with the most power to do harm. And many of those bigger, badder bosses are poised to take more power in the coming years. So, when the things and people we hold most dear are under threat, we too must choose violence to protect and defend them. But let this album be a reminder of why we choose violence in the first place: to protect those we love.

Final Score: