Is there anything Kendrick Lamar can’t do?
Coming off a career-defining, unanimous rap battle win against Canadian rapper Drake, Kendrick Lamar assured us that 2024 was his year when he surprised-dropped GNX on November 22nd. As if Lamar’s dominance in the feud between him and Drake wasn’t enough to prove that he is the best rapper of this generation, he mastered what everyone thought he lacked, by showing us his more aggressive side and ability to make widely accessible ‘club bangers’, when what he is usually known for is his expert lyricism and experimental tracks. Lamar even says in the first track, “This is not for lyricists, I swear it’s not the sentiments. F**k a double entendre, I want y’all to feel this sh*t”, telling us that he is not only benching his layered lyricism to achieve accessibility but also to deliver a full blow to his enemies, as they can then fully understand his disses.
The album starts with an ominous choir-sounding beat and Spanish vocals from Mexican singer Deyra Barrera which translates to “I feel your presence here last night and we start to cry”. This chilling message shows Lamar’s power and dominance and also acts as a warning. This whole first track is an unapologetic, brutal blitz where Lamar name-drops many people who have let him down over an intimidating and powerful brass-based beat. The most notable criticisms were against Lil Wayne for being bitter about Lamar being selected for the Super Bowl halftime show, and Snoop Dogg for publicly endorsing Drake’s diss track which used AI to replicate Snoop and the late Tupac’s voices as Lamar saw this as very disrespectful to Tupac’s legacy.
Lamar makes it clear however that this disappointment and all the hate he receives doesn’t intimidate him or negatively affect his rapping ability but if anything improves it because it gives him the extra drive to be better than anyone else. In the chorus, Lamar lets us in on the secret of how he has never lost himself to the fame as he shares what he repeats to himself to give him motivation and always believe in himself. This has helped Lamar gain his wealth and fame and he believes he is now superior to anyone else in the rap genre right now as no one else is matching his efforts or hard work.
In ‘Man at the Garden’, which has a serious low-key beat very similar to that of ‘One Mic’ by Nas, Lamar insists that he deserves all his success, wealth, respect accolades because of his hard work, consistency, and dedication. In the third verse, he shows how important his family is to him saying that they deserve everything too. The song ends with Lamar declaring his superiority over others as echoed layers of his voice overlap to create a breathtaking crescendo climax to the track.
Another notable track is the sixth installment of Lamar’s iconic ‘The Heart’ series ‘heart pt. 6’. Lamar uses this track to tell us how he got to where he is today and tell us the stories from when he started rapping professionally. He also spends a lot of this track rapping about his friends and the members of his old rap group ‘Black Hippy’ singing their praises and crediting their positive influence on him. Lamar blames himself for the group not working together anymore due to his independent drive and passion to explore new sounds and concepts. As Kendrick grew he carved independence so he gave his all for his final project with TDE and then went on to start his own record label PgLang. This track perfectly paints the pictures of all the fond memories he’s formed throughout his time growing as a rapper and how much he respects all the people he can no longer work with anymore and thanks them for helping him get to where he is.
Lamar is clearly paying homage to Tupac on ‘reincarnated’ with the production almost being an exact replica of the instrumental in Tupac’s song ‘Made N****z’, even Kendrick’s flow mimics that of Tupac’s. Tupac has always been an idol of Lamar’s with many saying that Lamar is Tupac reborn, hence the name of the track. The story of this song is that god has sent Lamar to earth through the lives of many famous musicians until he learns how to be worthy of returning to heaven, “Reincarnated on this earth for a hundred plus. Body after body, lesson after lesson”. The past lives he lived through famous guitarist John Lee Hooker and stellar vocalist Billie Holiday, taught him how to be humble, honest, and disciplined. In the third verse, Lamar has a conversation with god, pleading to know if he finally got this life as Kendrick Lamar right and hasn’t sinned. God tells him he is doing well but his pride has to die and he needs to be a better role model by not spreading a love for war. Lamar reassures the lord that he will use the gifts god gave him to help others and lead them to god. This is a great story-telling track which is very personal and such a well-executed concept.
There are many hip-hop hits on this project that could be considered ‘club bangers’ such as the lead single ‘Squabble up’, which was teased at the beginning of the ‘Not like us’ music video. It takes its name from an L.A. slang term meaning to square up which is exactly what Lamar does on this track. Lamar presents himself as powerful, dangerous, and someone others should fear. He calls his enemies weak and easy to attack by rapping “I got friends, I got foes, but they all sitting ducks” and as a male duck is a Drake, this is clearly a shot directed at the Canadian rapper as Lamar later also insinuates that Drake is a coward as he attempted to stop Lamar’s disses by filling a lawsuit after he was losing.
Another one is ‘TV off’ which contains an impressive horn sampled beat very similar to ‘Not like us’, as Lamar says people try to challenge him but “it’s not enough”. Most of this track is Lamar bragging about his rap battle victory and was clearly tailored to his mainstream audience as the beat switches up to a very dramatic beat that is produced by Mustard, but just in case we didn’t catch his producer tag he dropped in, Lamar very aggressively yells “MUSTARD” giving us the biggest quotable from this album.
This album does have some slowed cuts too. ‘Luther’, named after Luther Vandross, is a heavenly track that shows the power of love and the strength of devotion. It samples Vandross’ ‘If This World Were Mine’ to aid the beautiful production with graceful violin and piano fills over a vibrant hi-hat beat. Lamar raps about a girl and how he would do anything for her with a laid-back but swift flow as if he is drifting over the beat. SZA features her gorgeous, relaxed vocals on the track, and Lamar and she harmonise over angelic strings about how love is beautiful and always breeds hope. ‘Dodger Blue’ is all about celebrating Los Angeles as Lamar shows his love for the city adopting a relaxed and comfortable flow over a rhythmic 808 drum-based beat with harmonising vocals scattered throughout. This track features three rappers from Compton who mix their similar styles together for the hook.
These three are not the only upcoming West Coast rappers featured on this album. In fact, the project contains nine features by rappers from Los Angeles with most of them being underground, Roddy Ricch being the exception. Something very important to Lamar is putting West Coast rap back on top and ensuring he makes his hometown proud by shining light on their young talent. A real highlight of the album for me is Dody6’s incredible, infectious, nonchalant flow at the end of ‘Hey Now’ as he and Lamar go back and forth asserting their dominance.
Lamar proved to us with this album that he is capable of achieving commercial success and appeal to the mainstream audience while still giving us an extremely well-written project with his wonderful lyricism still sprinkled throughout, such as in ‘Gloria’ as he personifies his music and likens his relationship with it to a romantic one. With its incredible production, led by Lamar’s long-time producer partner Sounwave, and quotable bars, this is an…
Amazing album.
8/10