Photo courtesy of pgLang

Remember when some people thought Kendrick Lamar was taking a sabbatical from recording music, and possibly wasn’t ever going to release a new album ever again? His haters could only wish that were the case, and for all we know, maybe that thought crossed Lamar’s head at some point after cementing his legacy as one of rap’s Mount Rushmore with an all-classics run. This summer’s beef with Drake reawakened the beast, however, and incarnate he is at the expense of anyone who thought he was gone for good on “squabble up”, the hivemind highlight off his surprise album, GNX. The listen, initially teased in the music video for the Drizzy hit diss “Not Like Us” this past summer, connects the dots to this new era from that energy with Lamar shape-shifting through bars effortlessly. A techno-funk beat produced by Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, add in some deep bass to hit you hard with that Debbie Deb sample, is hype. “What the fuck? / I got hits, I got bucks, I got new paper cuts / I got friends, I got foes, but they all sitting ducks.” What would take every ounce of effort for those others to pull off the same fete sounds like playtime for Kendrick. They prodded the dog, and we as listeners get thoroughly entertained hearing the wolves come out instead.

Kendrick Lamar’s GNX is available now on pgLang / Interscope Records.