Kendrick Lamar launched his sixth studio album in November, GNX, an important evolution of his musical legacy. 

In this new project, he breaks away from his old record labels, Top Dawg Entertainment and Aftermath Entertainment, and is joined by PGLang and Interscope Records. The title of this album is in reference to the Buick Regal model, a car that Lamar relates very closely to due to his background in Los Angeles.

GNX comprises 12 tracks and has a runtime of 44 minutes and 20 seconds, making this Lamar’s shortest album to date. The project is an ode to West Coast hip-hop as it perfectly merges classic “G-funk” elements with modern sounds.

Most notably, regional Mexican singer Deyra Barrera features with Lamar on three tracks, adding mariachi to the album. The Guardian calls the album “a thrillingly ambitious experiment.”

“We haven’t had a new Kendrick album in two years, and I like listening to these new songs,” said Saint Paul’s sophomore Kelly Thompson.

A diverse team handles production on the album, including Sounwave, Jack Antonoff, Mustard, and Kamasi Washington. This makes for a dynamic and layered sound throughout the album.

Arguably the best song on the album, “tv off,” incorporates sounds from the clipped strings to the Viking-berserker horns. The album is unpredictable; at one point, Lamar screams “mustard!”

While most people claim that “tv off” is the best song on the album, some believe it’s the only decent song on the album.

“It’s the corniest album I’ve ever heard, and ‘tv off’ is a bottom-three song,” said Saint Paul’s senior Vincent Cruise. On the other hand, some respect the profound lyricism and poetry in many Kendrick Lamar albums. “Lamar’s lyrics aren’t made for the simple-minded,” claims Saint Paul’s junior Brady Johnson.

“tv off” asks the audience to turn the propaganda on TV off to focus on what he considers the truth.

Upon its surprise release, the album received widespread critical acclaim from critics. Finding the album “stunning” for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis continued with how “Lamar’s tone is often confrontational and yet peculiarly introspective, too.” It does sound like Lamar is often yelling at the listener when he raps, but it also seems like he’s attempting to incite positive change in the world.

However, Alphonse Pierre for Pitchfork rated it at 6.6 out of 10, saying that while “polished and hyper-local,” it falls a bit short of some of the deeper conceptual ambitions within Lamar’s other projects.

Similarly, Stereogum’s Tom Breihan called the record “the year’s best,” proof that Lamar had matured as both an artist and a person. He praised Lamar for having a distinctive voice while embracing a new sound.

Despite this, some critics felt the album occasionally lost the sharp edge that defined Lamar’s earlier work.

Regardless, “GNX” gained critical commercial success. The album opened at number one on the US Billboard 100.

Accumulating over 44.2 million first-day streams in the United States alone on Spotify at an average of over 3.6 million per song, the album is proof that Lamar continues to be a leading voice of the hip-hop world.

“This is the album we needed to end the year,” said Kaleb Enk, a Saint Paul’s sophomore.

To support “GNX,” Lamar announced the Grand National Tour, co-headlined with SZA. The tour will start on April 19, 2025, in Minneapolis and end on June 18, 2025 in Landover, Maryland.

Lamar also made waves on a global stage, appearing in the half-time show for Super Bowl LIX, in New Orleans.