There are, of course, counterarguments. This century alone, you have Future’s 2015 and Kanye’s 2010, 50’s ’03, and Eminem’s ’02; pick any Wayne year from Bush’s second term. But even if you reach further back—to DMX’s 1998, Snoop’s ’93, Rakim or Slick Rick’s ’88—Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 has to be on a very short list of the best calendar years a rapper’s ever had. This was true even before the surprise release last Friday morning of GNX, the lean, lively album that follows a string of acidic diss songs that argued that the biggest rapper on the planet is a pedophile who’s also bad at his job. GNX is at turns thoughtful and virtuosic; it’s an exclamation point at the end of a sentence lawyers hope to get stricken from court records. Pick another metaphor: ribbon tied, victory lap run.
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