Kendrick Lamar “GNX”
Courtesy Photo
This tape is for L.A., The LAnd, Cal-a-forn-I-A. The West.
Kendrick Lamar solidified his place in rap history this summer after he battled Drake for the game’s top spot and this album feels like a victory lap. GNX is named after the 1987 Buick GNX — the souped up version of their Grand National car that’s apparently very rare. According to the Bentonville Buick GMC blog, there were only 547 of these things made and Kendrick confirms that number on his Instagram burner account.
You see, because everything he’s been doing has been done with intention. There was a lot of smoke around rumors that he would be dropping a fresh project before the Super Bowl, and you know that old saying, right? Well, it looks like there’s a fire, folks. He’s far from finished and we should probably get used to it. There’s no sense in fighting it or hating on it, just let it be and let the chips fall where they may.
The crown now sits firmly in the West. There’s no more Big 3, that era is done. It’s over with. This guy is a maniac, he’s a tyrant. He’s still talking Drake and the rest of the game all over this record. You remember that “For Pharrell I’ll inherit the beef” line? He flipped SWV’s “Use Your Heart” from 1996 that was produced by The Neptunes and titled it “heart pt. 6.”
This is a diabolical mastermind that we’re dealing with here, so join me as I tried to pick and rank the 10 Best Lines from Kendrick Lamar’s new album GNX.
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“Play that opp sh—t around me, I’ma tell you, ‘Turn it off’/Heard what happened to your mans, not sorry for your loss/Should’ve prayed before them shooters came and nailed him to the cross/I let your boy get a pass, b—h, you lucky he soft, for real”
Song: “peekaboo”
This is an honorable mention right here because it’s not a Kendrick line. This rapped by Dody6 and was a line I kept thinking about, so I included it on here. The fact that he made sure to feature underground West Coast cats like Dody6, AzChike, and Peysoh is a pretty big deal. This is a major look for them and they delivered with some of the best features on this record. Dody snapped with that Her Loss double aunt andre, too. Salute.
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“B—tch, I cut my granny off if she don’t see it how I see it”
Song: “tv off”
Hey, man, sometimes family be on some b.s. It be like that.
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“My baby boo, you either heal n—s or you kill n—s/Both is true, it take some tough skin just to deal with you”
Song: “gloria”
Some feel like the his bitch being his pen is a little corny, but I was feeling the lead up to it because there’s been a lot of conversation about some of lyrical content and approach. Yeah, he’ll maybe come across as preachy or self righteous, but they in the next breath he’ll crash out. This is the dichotomy of man.
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“Was excited just to go to them label meetings/Wasn’t my record deal, but still, I couldn’t beliеve it/Me and Rock inside thе booth hibernatin’/It was simple math, if he made it, that mean I made it/Everything I had was for the team, I remained patient/Grindin’ with my brothers, it was us against them”
Song: “heart pt. 6”
This SWV flip is madness and then you couple that with these heartfelt lines about TDE’s come up and you have a special song. I felt like Stefon Diggs doing that postgame interview. You know the one.
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“Tell me every deed that you done and what you do it for/I kept 100 institutions paid/OK, tell me more/I put 100 hoods on one stage/OK, tell me more/ I’m tryna push peace in L.A./But you love war“
Song: “reincarnated”
This dude flipped 2Pac’s “Made N—az” and used his flow on the first verse, but this conversation with God in the last verse stops you in your tracks. Here he goes again putting the war that’s inside him on full display. His vulnerability turns some off, yet it’s one of those things that makes an artist generational. Snoop recently gave him credit for bringing L.A.’s gangs together and how important the “Pop Out” concert was.
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“Buddy pass, bet I get him splashed ’til he hydrated/Bounce out, know he spook town, eyes dilated/I got the money and the power both gyratin’
Song: “squabble up”
He has the money and the power to off the competition, but the boogeyman enjoys doing the job himself.
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“I burn this b—tch down, don’t you play with me or stay with me/I’m crashin’ out right now, no one’s safe with me/I did it with integrity, and n—s still try hate on me/Just wait and see, more blood be spillin’, it’s just paint to me”
Song: “man at the garden”
He’s still not finished?? This guy is a menace.
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“The Black Noah, I just strangled me a goat”
Song: “hey now”
I’m not sure Noah was killing animals aboard his ark, but I haven’t read the bible in a minute. Great line, either way. And of course, we all know how he’s referring to.
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“Tell me why the f—k you n—s rap if it’s fictional? Tell me why the f—k you n—s fed if you criminal?/’Ayy, Dot, can I get a drop?’ I’m like, ‘N—a, nah’/Ace boon coon from the Westside to Senegal/It’s a full moon, let the wolves out, I been a dog”
Song: “squabble up”
So, it looks like we finally got the snippet he did at the start of the “Not Like Us” video and it’s essentially a message to the game that the boogeyman is outside and he wants to play.
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“Peekaboo, I just put them boogers in my chain/Peekaboo, 80-pointers like a Kobe game”
Song: “peekaboo”
Calling diamonds boogers and comparing their carats to Kobe’s 81-point game is what this rap thing is all about.
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“Snoop posted ‘Taylor Made,’ I prayed it was the edibles/I couldn’t believe it, it was only right for me to let it go/Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me”
Song: “wacced out murals”
To be fair to Snoop, he posts damn near everything on his Instagram account. But him waking up and being confused about hearing his voice on Drake’s diss song and then reposting it was a little head-scratching to say the least. The West Coast legend has been adamant about wanting to stay neutral throughout this whole ordeal, so maybe he didn’t really mean anything by it? Either way, Kendrick’s disappointed in his OG. Let’s hope they can hash this out.
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“You crash out, then you better break the backboard/I got friends hopin’ that they make the tabloids/You know the last one figured he was Magneto”
Song: “hey now”
This is one of the best lines on one of the album’s best songs, and he’s still talking to Drake who some thought was too big to fail.
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“B—tch, I’m from the LAnd, don’t say you hate L.A., but live in L.A. and pretend/My neck on Tarantino, Alejandro, Spike Lee/Just know you took the scenic route if you stand by me, stupid”
Song: “dodger blue”
That line about his chain being so dripped in ice that it resembles the glare on the camera lenses used by some of the game’s greatest directors is special.
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“Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down”
Song: “wacced out murals”
Jigga tapping Dot to headline the Super Bowl has made everyone loose their minds, and perhaps there were some politics happening behind the scenes that made Wayne feel like he and Cash Money were going to get the nod in their hometown, but I’m not really sure how you can not understand this decision. Maybe Weezy gets the call if one of the most important rap battles since Jay-Z vs. Nas didn’t pop off.
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“Dangerously, nothin’ changed with me, still got pain in me/Flip a coin, want the shameless me or the famous me?/How annoying does it angers me to know the lames can speak?/Or the origins of the game I breathe, that’s insane to me/It’s important, I deserve it all because it’s mine/Tell me why you think you deserve the greatest of all time, motherf—ker”
Song: “man at the garden”
The crown sits in the West. We better get used to it. Now we sit back and see who tries to come for it.