Kendrick Lamar announces his sixth album GNX in blockbuster style

Latest update:Nov 23, 2024 05:58 PM IST

Kendrick Lamar’s new album, GNX, features 12 new tracks such as Squabble Up, which was hinted at in the video for his popular diss track Not Like Us.

GNX came out two years after Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morality. (Photo credit: Instagram)

Kendrick Lamar surprised fans with the surprise release of his sixth album, GNX. Having previously shared a teaser, he quickly released the full album on streaming platforms. Kendrick Lamar’s new album includes 12 new tracks, such as Squabble Up, as hinted at in the video for his popular diss track Not Like Us, as well as songs such as Wacced Out Murals, Man at the Garden, Hey Now, Reincarnated, TV . Off, Dodger Blue, Peekaboo, Heart Pt. 6 and GNX. The album also features collaborations with artists such as SZA on Gloria and Luther. The album will be released two years after Lamar’s previous album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, which was released in 2022.

According to the Associated Press (AP), Lamar initially teased GNX by sharing the cover art. The album also features Jack Antonoff, who co-produced all tracks except Peekaboo. Other key producers include Sounwave and DJ Mustard, who both worked on the hit diss track Not Like Us. Other participants include Kamasi Washington and Roddy Ricch, among others.

GNX includes a track called Heart Pt 6, which appears to be Kendrick Lamar’s response to Drake’s diss track The Heart Part 6, released in May. Speaking about their diss track and ongoing feud, the singer told Harper’s Bazaar: “I don’t consider myself an evil person. But I believe in love and war and believe that they both should exist. And my awareness of this allows me to react to things without identifying with them as who I am. I just let them be and let them flow through me. That’s what I believe.”

Revealing what Not Like Us meant to him, the singer shared: “Not Like Us is the energy of who I am, the type of person I represent. Now, if you identify with the person I represent, that person has morals, he has values, and he believes in something. He’s standing on something. He doesn’t condone. He is a man who can admit his mistakes and not be afraid to share them, and can also dig deep into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling less than a man. If I think about Not Like Us, I think about myself and those who identify with it.”

Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar has found success since releasing his debut album Good Kid, mAAd City in 2012. Over the years, he has won 17 Grammy Awards and made history by becoming the first non-classical, non-jazz artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album DAMN.