We’ve had our beef. Now Kendrick’s serving up dessert.
A 30 minute
album rollout isn’t fair. I need time to prepare for a Kendrick album. I need
to schedule events like this in my diary. Is this real? And is anyone else a
little underwhelmed?
Kendrick’s
last album Mr Morale & The Big Steppers took forever to come
out. In the time that album took to be released, I had two kids and the UK
had gone through 4 prime ministers. When the album finally dropped, some fans
weren’t satisfied. But I personally thought it was Kendrick’s best record to
date. It was a detailed and daring exploration of morality that still managed
to squeeze in its fair share of bangers.
I can’t help
but feel that this new album – like its rollout – was a little rushed. An
attempt to capitalise off the success of ‘Not Like Us’. It’s not a bad album,
but compared to previous K-dot records it feels a little basic. The Kendrick vs Drake rap battle was the main event this year. After two victory laps (the
Juneteenth concert and then the music video for ‘Not Like Us’), this new album GNX
feels like a hurriedly thrown-together afterparty.
Kendrick
albums are usually heavily thematic, whereas this feels more like a mixtape. Kendrick’s
gruff vocals and DJ Mustard’s ‘ratchet music’ production style do give the
album its own distinct West Coast hip hop sound. But unusually there’s no
narrative or message tying these tracks together.
That said, there definitely are some great songs here. ‘Hey now’ features some playful trash-talking
over a menacing trap beat that is very addictive. ‘Reincarnated’ is an
inventive track that sees him comparing himself to past musical legends Johnny
Lee Hooker and Dinah Washington. And ‘The Heart Part 6’ is a sunny nostalgia
trip about his rise to fame.
Other songs
aren’t doing it for me though like ‘Squabble Up’ and ‘TV Off’. DJ Mustard’s
beats on these tracks don’t cut the mustard – they end up just sounding like
lesser versions of ‘Not Like Us’. The wacky ‘I feel good, get the fuck out
my faaaaace’ hook on ‘Squabble Up’ is also kinda annoying, although not
quite as annoying as the clownish vocals on ‘Peekaboo’ (this has got to be a
parody track right??). They may grow on me over time, but for now they’re skips.
★★★☆☆
TRACK TASTER: