Kendrick Lamar: GNX review – stunning surprise from a rapper determined to be the greatest

(PGLang/Interscope)
After his beef with Drake, Lamar expands his list of targets with enthralling rhymes and adventurous arrangements. At this point, he’s deferring only to God

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.