GNX (2024)

GNX is the sixth studio album by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was surprise-released on November 22, 2024, through PGLang and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from SZA, Lefty Gunplay, Wallie the Sensei, Roddy Ricch, AzChike, Hitta J3, and more. Lamar produced the album primarily with Sounwave and Jack Antonoff; other producers include Mustard, Sean Momberger, and Kamasi Washington.

Titled after the Buick Regal model, GNX is Lamar's first album to be released after his departure from longtime labels Top Dawg Entertainment and Aftermath Entertainment. GNX was released to widespread acclaim. Multiple critics hailed it as a successful reimagination of West Coast hip-hop and one of the best albums of 2024. The album was Lamar's fifth number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also topped the charts in numerous countries, including Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Denmark, and the UK; and top five in Poland, Nigeria, France, and Hungary.

GNX was supported by four singles: the Billboard Hot 100 number ones "Squabble Up" and "Luther", the number two hit "TV Off", and "Peekaboo". Lamar and SZA performed live at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show and embarked on the co-headlining Grand National Tour in 2025 to promote the album as well as SZA's Lana.

The album and its songs received eight nominations at the 68th Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, winning four for Best Rap Album, with "Luther" winning Record of the Year and Best Melodic Rap Performance while "TV Off" won Best Rap Song. With these wins, Lamar became the most awarded rapper in Grammy history with 27 career wins.

Background

Kendrick Lamar released his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, on May 13, 2022, to critical and commercial success. He began working on GNX immediately afterwards in collaboration with music producers Sounwave and Jack Antonoff. Together, they recorded around 80 to 100 songs for the album in the next few years at the studio, with twelve tracks being used in the final album. After concluding The Big Steppers Tour in March 2024, Lamar shared on social media that he had purchased a vintage, limited-run 1987 Buick Grand National Experimental (GNX), a high-spec version of 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. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was also Lamar's first album with his own company PGLang. 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.

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 regional Mexican music and mariachi singer Deyra Barrera is featured on three songs, both the opening and closing tracks as well as "Reincarnated", Lamar having discovered the singer when she performed at a Los Angeles Dodgers World Series game that he attended in 2024. The production team played Barrera the instrumentation arrangements, and gave her a description of the emotions Lamar wanted to evoke throughout the album.