Kendrick Lamar, Man at the Garden

Kendrick Lamar’s sixth studio album, GNX, is a meditation on practicing peace and standing on business when necessary. GNX carries a spiritual significance that carries over to the listener. Lamar gives back to Los Angeles by putting on smaller LA based artists and combining their sound with older R&B samples, freestyle, and the general west coast sound into a singular cohesive project. Hard hitting bass, smooth melodies, and experimental structure make for an extremely dynamic listening experience. 

To speak on Lamar’s roll out for the album, he released the album with zero lead up or promotion, arguably making his album in general more memorable and lasting. Personally speaking, GNX has been an album on repeat and the songs I keep going back to are “Man in the Garden” and “Hey Now (feat. dody6)”. Both songs are back to back and they carry an interesting contrast in message. 

A repeated chorus in “Man in the Garden” is “I deserve it all”, a mantra that holds a trust within self. As I write this review, during finals week, this mantra has been helpful in maintaining a trust within my own self. Life can be difficult and stressful, especially during finals week, but this mantra has been keeping me on the straight and narrow with my own peace of mind. 

As for the next song, “Hey Now (feat. dody6)” Lamar and his feature, dody6, have a fantastic chemistry. Over an instrumental of deep rumbling bass, and a rising energy in chorus, the song is a staple in the overall album. I could definitely see this song as an encore for Lamar’s upcoming tour with SZA. 

To speak on Lamar’s feature, dody6, an upcoming artist within the LA sphere, I would say dody6 has immense potential and he has the best feature on the album GNX.