Maintaining the same energy of his historic Pop Out concert five months ago, Lamar is surrounded by emerging Los Angeles artists – from EzChic to Payoh – and the new West Coast shaped by his longtime producer Sounwave with Jack Raps on soundscape. Antonoff and a garage full of other beat mechanics. He is once again “under the spell”, spreading references to 2Pac, Biggie and Nas and maintaining hatred towards me throughout the world, including from a certain Canadian as far as: “I “Just strangled a goat” and “Just now is plural.”

Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Andrew Schultz and even Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast can’t escape K-DOT’s chaotic crosshairs. Here’s hoping that the chorus of “Turn off the TV” during their New Orleans halftime show in February – an urgent call to “turn off this TV” repeated eight times – will confuse the public.

This Lamar is leaning toward the same creativity-fueled pride, self-righteous anger and supreme confidence that fueled the Grammy-nominated “Not Like Us” and won his Drake controversy: “I kill them all, with this Before I let them kill my happiness.” And yet, as was the case with their first hit “Swimming Pools”, even the most club-ready braggadocio songs – and there are plenty of them, including the massive “Squabble Up” and synth-stabbed Mustard production “Hey Now” has been slapped on a cautionary sticker. Introspection is inherent in Lamar’s art. In “Man at the Garden”, he surveys his state and pride. and declares that “I deserve it all,” “Dangerously / Nothing’s changed with me / There’s still pain in me.”

At 37, Lamar is in peak form and stands alone in the rap world as a star who connects generations without chasing trends. He generates his own gravity in the hip-hop universe. Drawing samples from the early ’80s – Debbie Deb, Luther Vandross, Whodini – he’s able to change tempo and lyrical approach mid-song without losing the listener.

The album, “Gloria,” one of two tracks featuring former TDE labelmate SZA, is a rousing celebration of the pain and power of writing. Along the lines of Common’s “I Used to Love Her” or Nas’ “I Give You Power”, Lamar’s love story details a “complicated relationship” that listeners may first think is his longtime partner. About Whitney Alford, but it happens. Dedicated to his pen.

While carefully structured, “GNX” sounds a bit more defiant than Lamar’s traditionally concept-heavy studio albums. And there are signs that this collection of 12 songs is more than a “Part 1” or some more formal mixtape-type prologue: The brief music video announcing the album featured a snippet of a song that also appears on “GNX”. does not appear. ,

Whatever happens next, the Pulitzer Prize winner has written another exciting chapter in hip-hop’s most fascinating long story: an ambitious and immensely talented poet from Compton working his way through his — and the world’s — contradictions on the biggest stage. Is, forever uneasy with his crown. ,

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