American rapper Kendrick Lamar’s album GNX has tracks that have stayed on the Billboard Top 100 for two months. Although it launched at the end of last year, the album remains high on the charts.
On November 22, 2024, Kendrick Lamar surprise-released his sixth album, “GNX.” This shocked fans after his 2024 year of music the infamous ‘diss tracks‘ against Canadian rapper Drake. Diss tracks including “Not Like Us,” “Meet the Grahams,” “Euphoria,” and his feature on rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin’s song, “Like That,” climbed the charts soon after their release. GNX tracks did not disappoint either, climbing to the Billboard Top 5, including “Wacced Out Murals,” “Squabble Up,” “Hey Now,” “Luther,” and “TV Off.” Kendrick is now the second rapper to have five songs in the top five of Billboard.
“My favorite song off of ‘GNX’ has to be ‘TV Off,’” sophomore Macaih Grooms said. “I love how he opens up for the second half of the song.”
Lamar’s sneak launch of his album left many stunned. The delay in release, however, affected streaming from his fans. On December 7, 2024, songs from “GNX” immediately controlled the charts, surpassing popular songs like singers Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s “Die With a Smile” or the famous Christmas song by Mariah Carey, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”Once the media found out about the album’s release, the streaming rate quickly rose. Even with the lag in listeners, Kendrick and SZA’s ‘Luther’ stays in the Billboard Top 10.
“I honestly think it may have hurt the album’s first-week performance,” Billboard writer Kyle Denis said.“I think giving people some notice, even if it was just 24 hours, would have resulted in slightly better numbers than a full-on surprise drop.”
“GNX” also included underground rappers like Lefty Gunplay on “TV Off,” Dody6 on ‘Hey Now,’ and Wallie the Sensei on ‘Dodger Blue.’ These kinds of features are infrequent at this moment, so having one of the best rappers in the industry execute this idea makes the album more attractive. It also helps these rappers become recognizable. Fans of Lamar now branch off into listening to these rappers, keeping the tracks on GNX alive on the charts, and bringing life to the featured artists.
“Artists on “GNX” like Dody and Azchike have a good sound on and off the Kendrick Lamar album,” freshman Wyatt Millway said.“After hearing GNX, I went and listened to the other artists, and found them enjoyable.”
Now, “GNX” has over 379 million on-demand streams, exceeding the number needed to go platinum. Lamar also performed at the NFL Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, featuring R&B singer SZA as a special guest. Lamar’s Fans have praised him for the poetry in his lyric flows, the creativity in his albums, and the fire he brings in his tracks against Drake leading up to GNX.
“I would rank GNX at three out of five for my top favorite rap albums,” freshman Brayden Smith said.