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By nature, hip-hop feuds are divisive, but the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar was polarising in a way that had nothing to do with whose side you took. There were people who thought it was the greatest rap battle in history, outstripping Jay-Z and Nas, Ice Cube and his former bandmates in NWA, even Biggie and Tupac. Equally, there were others who questioned if it even counted as a rap battle at all: noting that both participants were already superstars, rather than a “young, hungry MC using this as a vehicle to get to the next place”, veteran critic Nelson George described it as “rich Black men attacking other rich Black men on their social media, from the comfort of their own homes”. But whatever stance you took, it was obvious who the winner was. Lamar’s Not Like Us not only landed a knockout blow, it achieved things no diss track has done before: it went to No 1, affected the campaign messaging of US election, became an American sports anthem, inspired a video game, was nominated for five Grammys – including record and song of the year – and got Lamar tapped as the headliner of the 2025 Super Bowl half-time show.
It is a victory that seems to power GNX, a surprise release that couldn’t be more different in tone from Lamar’s last album Mr Morale and the Big Steppers, which spent 75 minutes thrashing about, filled with self-criticism and doubt, contemplating the inevitable end of his moment in the spotlight and reassuring himself that “you can’t please everyone” on a track called Crown. No such issues on GNX, an album that covers a lot of different topics – from romance on two duets with SZA, to the dissolution of Lamar’s Black Hippy collective – but on which the overall message seems to be: who else wants some? “It used to be ‘fuck that nigga’, but now it’s plural,” he offers on the opening Wacced Out Murals. So it seems. Although Drake gets it in the neck again, what’s striking is how his targets have now expanded to include Snoop Dogg (who posted a link to Drake’s diss track Taylor Made on social media), Lil Wayne (who was apparently aggrieved about Lamar’s Super Bowl slot), those with “old-ass flows”, people who offer “backhanded compliments”, sundry unnamed figures accused of trying to “hate on me” in Peekaboo and, potentially, Lamar’s own grandma, whom he threatens to cut off “if she don’t see it like I see it” during TV Off.
You could read a lot from the fact that, SZA aside, there are no guests even remotely of Lamar’s critical or commercial stature on GNX: if it seems altruistic of him to cede the mic to up-and-comers Hitta J3, Peysoh and YoungThreat on the title track, another reading might be that Lamar doesn’t consider any of his actual peers to be worthy of sharing his spotlight, a feeling reinforced by Reincarnated, which appears to suggest that Lamar is the reincarnation of both John Lee Hooker and Billie Holliday (and, the sample of Made Niggaz that drives the musical backing suggests, Tupac Shakur). The track concludes with God – voiced by Lamar –appearing in order to admonish him. When he does, Lamar momentarily sounds abashed. Nevertheless, a man who literally requires divine intervention to get him to wind his neck in a bit is clearly not beset by a lack of confidence.
It’s a huge leap from the wracked figure at the centre of Mr Morale, and it would seem faintly risible were it not for the fact that GNX is evidently an album made by an artist at the top of his game. The braggadocio is richly, hugely entertaining, his depictions of his early years and of his Los Angeles home town consistently enthralling. The rhymes shift away from Lamar’s trademark storytelling, but what they lack in plotting and depth, they make up for in the sharpness of wordplay and wit: “I put a square on his back like I’m Jack Dorsey,” he spits on Hey Now; Gloria presents itself as a love song, but turns out to be an impassioned paean to Lamar’s relationship with writing.
The implication behind Gloria seems to be that Lamar has got where he is – the only rapper, indeed pop artist, in history to win a Pulitzer, the name that always gets pulled out to counter old hip-hop fans’ complaints about declining standards in lyrics and technique – because he works harder at his craft. Something similar is suggested by the production on GNX. Employing Jack Antonoff – who works on virtually every track here, pairing up with long-term collaborator Sounwave – is both a swaggering move and risk: the former because Antonoff is one of the hottest producers in the world, the latter because he has virtually no form in the field of hip-hop.
But the results are frequently amazing: that GNX sounds more like an album aimed at the club or in-car entertainment than ponderous home listening doesn’t preclude it having a rich and surprisingly eclectic sound, with room for mariachi singer Deyra Barrera and jazz hero Kamasi Washington; for the kind of abstraction found on the title track’s itchy, fidgety backing and old-fashioned 80s Latin freestyle, the latter referenced on Squabble Up. It’s big on beautifully deployed samples – Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s cover of If This World Were Mine on Luther,R&B trio SWV on Heart Part 6 – and on springing subtle surprises, as when, midway through TV Off, the clipped string samples are suddenly replaced by what sounds like a triumphal fanfare swiped from a movie soundtrack.
If it isn’t the kind of grand, complex statement found on To Pimp a Butterfly or Mr Morale and the Big Steppers, GNX is nevertheless hugely impressive: compact but substantial, punchy but broad in musical scope. “I deserve it all,” Lamar keeps drawling during Man at the Garden, and, at risk of swelling his head further – potentially requiring another calming visit from the man upstairs – you can understand his triumphalism.
