Kendrick Against the World
On "GNX" and the depths of rage
Hey! wassup! hello! It’s been two years since I’ve updated this newsletter, but I’ve returned to write about Kendrick Lamar. Hope y’all are doing well and enjoying the holiday season.
It’s often hard to articulate—the searing urge to fight an unknown opponent. I feel this every day. Forming a fist and not knowing where to aim it. Constantly on the defense. Battling trust issues. Trying hard not to think everyone is an enemy. Getting angry. Reliving past trauma. Getting angrier. Hating myself for not doing more to prevent it. Getting quiet. Critiquing myself into depression. Getting quieter.
The mind games can be overwhelming.
That’s a snippet of my complex PTSD, a diagnosis I received in 2018 but only mustered the courage to start taking medication for last year. The treatment helps significantly. But I still have days with immense internal warfare that I don’t think will ever go away. Balanced anger—embracing it without causing harm— has become a healthy coping mechanism. All fight and no flight. The anger is so potent that I’ve contemplated getting my first tattoo simply to commemorate it.
I want all the smoke these days. I wonder if Kendrick Lamar feels the same way.
Because for the past year, his epic coup d'état against Drake has sheltered my rage. I’ve added his diss tracks to my aptly-titled (and very private) gym playlist “I Don’t Trust You Niggas.” Jumping rope now transports me into an imaginary boxing ring. His spicy lyrics have made my anger enticing and exciting. “GNX,” Lamar’s surprise album still manages to carry that momentum while being a rocky ride. As he said on the title track, he’s “trippin, and I’m lovin’ it.”
I like Kendrick the hater more than Kendrick the hotep.
This is why I enjoyed every line of his cut-throat verse on the 2021 Baby Keem single “Family Ties” (“Smokin’ on top fives/Motherfuck that album, fuck that single/ burn that hard drive”) more than any song on the subsequent “Mr Morale & the Big Steppers,” my least favorite Lamar album. The former is the precursor to the Compton rapper’s pure villainy that defined rap music this year. The latter is a chaotic ethos of Black saviorism and a cringey allegiance to Black Hebrew Israelites that’s filled with contradictions (Kodak Black, an embattled rapper and fellow Hebrew Israelite, who pled guilty to lesser charges stemming from a sexual assault case, is featured prominently on the album that insists men should “give the women a break.”)
I’m so glad “GNX” is more like “Family Ties.”
For 12 tracks, Lamar re-emerges as a peerless provocateur who seeks to balance his rage with peace. All’s fair in love and war. Opening track “Wacced Out Murals” offers listeners the high-octane viciousness that fueled “Not Like Us:” “I'll kill 'em all before I let 'em kill my joy.” “Squabble Up” takes that baton, dazzling in the bliss of rage like a child skipping in a candy aisle. Don’t you dare piss Kendrick Lamar off.
He counters that spirit with the more meditative “Man at the Garden” (a track rich with self-reflection) and the lovey-dovey “Luther” duet with SZA (whose sharp melodies keep the song afloat).
But kung fu Kenny restores the wrath-driven order with “TV Off.” Produced by Los Angeles maestro Mustard, the track’s orchestral sound and fury has the competitive energy of a football team warming up for a championship game. Lamar later enters a more subdued and less thrilling conclusion to the album: the isolated, hazy synths on “Dodger Blue” sounds like it could slip on his 2017 album “Damn” without anyone noticing. “Gloria” (a love letter to his pen) is a nice idea, but sounds more like a creative writing exercise.
It’s the type of album you’d expect from a rapper pushing 40—standing ten toes down on hip-hop traditions, leaning on old-school samples and ruminating on a decorated legacy while proving he’s still hip enough to embrace local favorites. SZA is the only big-name feature on “GNX.” The rest are a warm collection of lesser-known Los Angeles-area rappers (including, but certainly not limited to, Dody6, Lefty Gunplay, Wallie the Sensei, AzChike and Roddy Rich).
On “GNX,” Lamar’s angst is brash, bold and infectious. It could be the accompanying playlist to a course titled, “How to Hate, Ethically.” He makes “FUCK YOU” sound endearing. Yet, I still question the root of his anger. Maybe that’s not for me to know. Maybe it’s for the same reason why I’m not explaining the source of my PTSD in this post—the fear of not knowing what others might do with that information. Those damn trust issues, again.
What I do know is that Lamar’s diabolical soundscapes have provided sweet comfort to my own anger. So much so that I now have an answer to what my first tattoo will be:
“‘Me against the world,’ written in cursive on the left side of my chest,” I recently told a friend.
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO THAT’S NOT “GNX”:
“Act 2” by Megan Thee Stallion
“Saaheem” by SahBabii
“Anyway I Can” by Elmiene
“Charm” by Clairo
“Access All Areas” by Flo