ELLIE SKJERSAA / ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

From creating chart-topping hits to partaking in ongoing celebrity feuds, Kendrick Lamar has been making headlines left and right. The last couple of weeks, headlines have been flooded with talk of his new surprise album “GNX,” which was released on November  22. This is Lamar’s sixth studio album, and it showcases 12 tracks that seamlessly blend together complex lyricism and catchy melodies.

Fans can only speculate why Lamar chose to release a surprise album. In May, he dropped the track “Not Like Us” which was a diss track of another rap artist, Drake. Afterwards, the song remained in the No. 1 Billboard position   for  21  consecutive  weeks. USD senior  Ave  Sandstrom noted that Lamar’s recent   and  ongoing   success   could be attributed to this decision.

“He’s definitely had a crazy year,” Sandstrom said. “I guess most  of the time people will release singles before dropping. You know, maybe he was like, ‘I don’t need to do that. I’m gonna drop an album, and everybody’s gonna know about it, and everybody’s gonna listen to it. I don’t need to do anything to create hype, other than release the art that I make’.”

The   album  is   largely   inspired   by   his   life  in  Los  Angeles and more specifically, his roots in Compton. “GNX” embodies West  Coast  hip-hop and  R&B  at  its  core. He   addresses topics  such as  black  suppression, rap culture and Lamar’s personal challenges in the music industry specifically. USD senior Jude Van Matre touched on how these manifested in the tracks.

“You  have   spots  on  the  album where  he’s  definitely  calling out the rap industry especially,” Van Matre said. “In his view, rap is no longer about dissecting or analyzing culture, black culture especially. In his view, rap has really just become about  getting  the  highest  numbers and chasing whatever’s trendy or whatever’s popular. It’s no longer about the music. It’s basically everything outside the music.”

Lamar’s intricate song-writing and storytelling abilities feature introspective revelations and poetic messages about the social, cultural and political world. Often, as seen in “GMX,” he uses criticism and art to expose norms that society does not question because we are so deeply intertwined in them. For some students, this is what sets him apart from other artists. 

“I think [his music is] definitely  more grounded in  reality and addresses what is urgent and  what we  need  to  change  and  reflect  on  as  a  society,” Sandstrom said. “This  has to do with thinking deeply about ourselves, our values, the groups  that  we’re  in and the  people we associate ourselves with.”

Even after listening to the album many times, there may be new messages that one may not have noticed before. The element of interpretation that is enriched in poetry and lyricism allows the listener to draw individual takeaways that others might not have noticed. This is something that students enjoy when listening to Lamar’s music, especially “GNX.”

“At  first, I interpreted [the song ‘Gloria’] as him talking about his fiance,” Van Matre said. “Now, I think that ‘Gloria’ is in reference to the art of music itself. He’s referring  to music  as a person, or as Gloria, and he’s kind of exploring  his  relationship with music and how it’s evolved over time. Sometimes he’s grown kind of cynical of the musical  landscape  as  a  whole,  and whether what he’s doing with his music actually means anything, whether it actually impacts or  brings change, what  his  place  is  in  the music  industry.”

Throughout the years, Lamar has won 17 Grammy Awards and is the only rap artist to win a Pulitzer Prize, which he was awarded for his album, “DAMN.” However, this recent album has set a new tone that has not been seen in his previous five albums. Songs such as “Reincarnated” are leading fans to speculate whether this album marks his transition into a new era of music and has raised questions of what’s to come in the future as he embarks on this next journey. 

“To me, when you compare this album to his other works, it’s him at his most accessible, but also at his most free,” Van Matre said. “Instead of worrying about getting across to people, it’s just like, ‘I’m gonna create whatever music I want to and just kind of have fun with it a bit’.”

As the end of the year approaches and with a Super Bowl performance looming  in the near future, Kendrick Lamar has a mysterious and exciting future ahead, not only for himself, but for his fans as well. His recent  announcement of his “Grand National Tour” with SZA is also spurring excitement amongst those who hope to see the  album live. What ultimately brings students back for more, time and time again, is the catchy beats in tandem with  reflective  and critical messages he wraps into his music.

The cover art for Kendrick Lamar’s new album, ‘GNX.’ Photo Courtesy of @kendricklamar/Instagram