At noon on Friday, Nov. 22nd, 2024, rapper and songwriter Kendrick Lamar released a complete album “GNX” on all major streaming platforms. This album, titled “GNX” caught many by surprise as Lamar had not prefaced the album with any promotion as most artists would do. Instead, Lamar published a one-minute video shortly before the album had been released. At Champe, this immediately caused a buzz among students as initial reactions to the surprise album varied. The consensus among many listeners was that the album was great, with review aggregator Metacritic claiming that GNX received an average score of 87 out of 100 from 17 critic scores.
“I really liked “Luther” I think it was his best song on the album,” listener Deveshwar Sudhakar said. “I’ve listened to the album a lot, and it feels very fresh and different compared to albums being released by other artists right now.”
The album consists of 12 tracks, and various tracks include features from bigger and smaller artists. Critics are praising Lamar for this tribute to West Coast hip hop, showing that Lamar is doubling down on his support and love for the West Coast in this album after his feud with Canadian rapper Drake earlier in the year. Critics also commend Lamar for his storytelling and flow, which are almost a “palate cleanser” compared to the multiple diss tracks he released during the feud. Interestingly enough, Lamar had hinted at the release of GNX during the beginning of his music video for his diss track “Not Like Us”, which was released on July 4th, 2024.
