Kendrick Lamar Drops Surprise Album 'GNX'
The new album, GNX, arrived on streaming services just five hours ago.
Kendrick Lamar live (Credit: Jared Leibowitz)
Yes, it’s Saturday morning, and I’m sure you’d love a sleep-in, but it’s time to wake up, as Kendrick Lamar dropped a surprise album overnight.
The new album, entitled GNX, arrived on streaming services just five hours ago. It contains 12 tracks and spans 44 minutes, with none of his diss tracks against Drake featuring on the release. GNX is the first album Lamar has released since departing Top Dawg Entertainment.
As Stereogum and Pitchfork report, the album features uncredited collaborations from SZA (on Luther and Gloria), Dody6 (Hey Now), AzChike (Peekaboo), Sie7e and Wallie The Sensei (Dodger Blue), and Hitta J3, Peysoh, and Young Threat (on GNX).
In addition to the album features, the album contains production credits from Jack Antonoff, Mustard, Kamasi Washington, Sounwave, Terrace Martin, and many more.
Lamar teased the release of his new album on social media with a minute of music that isn’t featured on the album. You can check out his social media posts and listen to the album below.
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GNX follows the release of Lamar’s 2022 album, Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, which featured artists such as Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Summer Walker, and Ghostface Killah.
The new album comes after the announcement that the rapper will headline the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show (which he acknowledges on the first track of the album, Wacced Out Murals).
He said of his forthcoming performance at the Super Bowl, “Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date. And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one.”
Jay-Z added that Lamar is a “once-in-a-generation artist and performer” whose love and respect for hip-hop and culture informs his artistic vision.
“He has an unparalleled ability to define and influence culture globally,” Jay-Z continued. “Kendrick’s work transcends music, and his impact will be felt for years to come.”
Kendrick Lamar is a 17-time Grammy Award winner and was the first non-classical or jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for 2017’s DAMN. In June, the rapper’s record-breaking diss track Not Like Us spent two weeks at #1 in the US after collaborating with Future and Metro Boomin on Like That, which spent three weeks at #1.
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