In hindsight, we should have known he had it gassed up and ready to go. Things had been very quiet in the world Kendrick Lamar, but then the summer’s spiciest rap beef prodded him out of self-exile with teeth-showing bangers, which begat an entire citywide Juneteenth celebration for his victory. What, with plans to play this coming year’s Superbowl’s halftime show, came the realization that he was just warming up before formally making sure even those in the stadium’s rafter seats could hear what he had to say before he again shifted the culture with his sixth album, GNX.

Even if your mileage may vary on which version of Lamar you like best — be it the accidental pop star whose rhymes are always matched with an all-too-cool beat or the poetry of when he gets all jazzed up and twisted up in his head — GNX brings all of the voices of the Compton rapper together in an album that matches the blown out energy of DAMN with the flotational inner monologues of good kid, m.A.A.d. city. Kendrick has arguably his most choice selection of words here, too. He hasn’t forgotten what his haters brought onto themselves as of late, but he’s also having a hell of a lot of fun serving up flagrant fouls in their direction that keep his place as the top dawg safe through a widescreen scale complimentary of this past summer’s heat.

There will be no hate from this end for Jack Antonoff on his occasion, as the producer of choice for nearly every mainstream pop girl, alongside Sounwave, were the right hands to bump the dozen tracks’ surfaces with coating loud and clear enough to move the masses. Kamasi Washington and Mustard’s assists steer the listen between confrontational introspection and holy reaction, and now we’ve got two new SZA collabs in the bank that are also getting us a co-headlining tour out of it? For a guy who kept his profile low enough since his last album to the point where some were wondering if he had quietly retired, Kendrick Lamar has returned harder than ever to remind us why he is the true master of all ceremonies in the game.

Highlights: “squabble up”, “reincarnated”, “gloria”

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

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