Reincarnated

The story of titular protagonist Edmond Dantes in Alexander Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo” may sound familiar. In Dumas’ story, a talented young man spends years honing his mind, ultimately possessing great wealth. He uses that wealth to support marginalized people who have fallen into crime, whom he sees as kindred spirits. At the right time, the man launches a campaign of vengeance upon wealthy, powerful targets to punish them for their wickedness. After the denouement of this elaborate plan, the man begins to have doubts. He is a man of God and fears that it was not his place to act as an angel of vengeance. Though it was written in the 1840s in France, this narrative could be the story of rapper Kendrick Lamar. Dantes’ evolution happened on similar lines to the one Lamar narrates in the song “heart pt. 6.” Dantes’ support for those on the wrong side of the law is reminiscent of Lamar’s attempts to unify West Coast gangs at his June 19 Pop Out concert or the empowerment of “hoods” that he narrates on “reincarnated.” Dantes’ plot against the forces of evil parallels Lamar’s famed campaign against fellow megastar Drake. Most prominently, the conflicted emotions of Dantes mirror those of Lamar on his new album “GNX.”

A welcome surprise

On Nov. 22, 2024, Lamar released “GNX,” a 12-track LP that checks in at 44 minutes. That makes it his shortest album to date, a punchy, ferocious sprint. It quite literally formed the centerpiece of Lamar’s Feb. 9 Drake-thumping performance at halftime of Super Bowl LIX. Foremost among its long list of collaborators is singer-songwriter SZA, who appears on album closer “gloria” and catchy megahit “luther” and will join Lamar for their upcoming Grand National Tour. Despite its lack of length, “GNX” effectively distills the essence of this stage in Lamar’s career, serving as a must-listen for anyone who wants to understand the Drake beef or halftime show.

Squabbling up

At first glance, the thread tying “GNX” together is the West Coast. The album is soaked in the region’s musical history, featuring a cast of artists from the Los Angeles area and containing a noted tribute to his city in the song “dodger blue.” However, despite it being derided as disorganized, there is a strong emotional undercurrent to “GNX” as well. That starts with the album’s most combative song, opener “wacced out murals.” From the moment the song begins, Lamar sounds angry. At literally everyone. Drake, Lil Wayne, and Snoop Dogg take the most direct heat, but the entire industry is implicated in the track. Lamar claims that other rappers were attending illegal parties and having multiple partners while he stayed at home with his fiancé Whitney Alford. As it’s not made clear, one wonders which parties Lamar might possibly be referring to. The verse smacks of Dantes’ assertion as a young man that he, unlike other young men, found it distasteful to take a mistress. Righteousness, and the assertion that one has it, figures prominently in Dantes’ monologues — and in “GNX.” In fact, even the explicit West Coast oeuvre sends a message, given Lamar’s commitment to authenticity. The race-traitor role played by actor Samuel L. Jackson, who was derided by Lamar on the 2014 single “i” for his role in the 2012 movie “Django Unchained,” in the Super Bowl halftime performance perfectly distills how Lamar feels about even Black performers who don’t have his bona fides. The implication is that he, unlike others who have sold out for fame, represents the essence of rap. That feeds Lamar’s willingness to “squabble up” with anyone who isn’t with his program, as the title of the second track on “GNX” indicates. Lamar’s strongest assertion of righteousness, however, comes during the quietly intense track “man at the garden.”

He deserves it all

It is deeply ironic how much “man at the garden” sounds like Lamar’s earlier work “Crown,” from the introspective album “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers.” “Crown” touches on themes such as the inability of worldly treasures to satisfy, the tenuous nature of relationships, and the responsibility that comes with fame. Despite the musical similarity, however, “man at the garden” is essentially the “anti-Crown.” It’s about pride, not humility. “I deserve it all,” Lamar repeatedly asserts, explaining all the reasons why he sees himself as holier than other rappers. If the song is to be believed, Lamar’s intentions are pure, he resists temptation, he enlightens others, he’s a family man and he stays close to God. Every line is voiced with pure conviction. The song is a disorienting experience in light of Lamar’s more self-critical works like “Mother I Sober.” Lamar truly believes that he has values and authenticity and that the rest of his industry does not. Like Dantes gaining wisdom under the tutelage of his mentor the Abbé Faria in prison, Lamar has been refined by fire, a process that he lays out more clearly in his album “To Pimp a Butterfly.” His difficult childhood in Compton inspired the current arc of his work and continues to fuel him. Drake, in Lamar’s view, appropriated Black culture, while Lamar believes he owns it and molds it. Still, for all the good points Lamar has made over the past year, it is never not dangerous to believe in one’s own righteousness. Some part of Lamar understands this, but that doesn’t prevent him from being drawn to war.

Rapping it up

Despite not being a Drake diss per se, “GNX” still reads like a last victory lap from Lamar’s dominance of the Toronto rapper. Nowhere is that more visible than on “tv off.” Across the song’s opening verses, Lamar praises himself as a sort of enforcer keeping the rap game in line, hassling anyone who won’t play by his rules. Then, if it wasn’t already apparent what he was talking about, he sears some confirmation into your ears with a piercing scream. Lamar’s viral invocation of “Mustard,” the producer who mixed beats for both “GNX” and the inescapable diss track “Not Like Us,” has been implanted into the collective consciousness. He wasn’t done taking shots, either. After rapper Lil Wayne previously expressed disappointment over Lamar’s being granted the Super Bowl halftime slot, a Wayne-esque pun using “die, I bet it” for “diabetic” and a reference to running through New Orleans, the site of the game, feel pointed. In “The Count of Monte Cristo,” Dantes returned from jail hoping to humiliate his enemies as thoroughly as he had been humiliated. On “tv off,” Lamar warns the world that he subscribes to the same scorched-earth policy. Like he promised Drake on “euphoria,” he will match any slight, and then some. Despite how it may sound, though, Lamar still isn’t totally convinced of his own incorruptibility.

Love of war

“GNX” is not an album filled with a lot of self-doubt, but the feeling creeps in on “reincarnated,” the album’s emotional center. Lamar narrates the exploits of spiritual predecessors who were caught up in a swirl of music, money, fame, lust and drugs, unable to rise above the corruption they are surrounded by. The song’s exigence, however, is Lamar’s verse about himself. This time around, he has wrested control from his desires and stayed authentic and selfless despite his rise to the top. Lamar isn’t the last character to appear in the song, though. God Himself, also played by Lamar, hops on the beat, unsatisfied with who Lamar has become. One more part of Lamar has to die — his pride. It is this pride that let Dantes allow himself to be an avenging angel, judging the works of man; it is this pride that allowed Lamar to become an avenging angel and declare war on Drake. On this track, Lamar finally allows himself to admit that he needs to embrace forgiveness. A decade ago, Lamar set out a prophecy in his song “Mortal Man” that he would test his followers’ faith in him and metamorphosize into a Nelson Mandela-like figure capable of redefining a culture. Now, as he steps out of a culture-changing rap battle as the undisputed champion of the industry, it’s hard to deny he did just that. There’s a reason that “The Count of Monte Cristo” is a behemoth of a book, and it isn’t just that Dumas was paid by the word. Self-transformation takes time. Perhaps, in another decade or so, the pundit class will find ourselves dissecting an album that proves that Lamar finally found how to truly be “HUMBLE.” For now, Lamar has at least earned his “PRIDE.” He’s in a class of his own.

For an impressive display of total hip-hop domination, the Pathfinder awards “GNX” an 8.9/10.