Kendrick Lamar releases new music video after surprise album drop

New Kendrick just dropped.
Rapper Kendrick Lamar released his latest project, a 12-track album titled “GNX” on Friday. It’s his first full-length studio album since 2022, and it came as a complete surprise. Just minutes before the full release, Lamar posted a teaser video for the album’s title track.
Lamar, whose tongue-twistingly quick rhymes propelled him to fame in the 2010s, has had a landmark year, including a multi-song rap beef with Drake, Grammy nominations for 2025’s ceremony and the announcement that he’ll be headlining next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
The description for the album on Apple Music reads simply, “He asked us to ‘watch the party die,’ but only so he could resurrect it.”
Superstar producer Jack Antonoff, known for working with pop royalty like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, and frequent collaborator Mustard also produced multiple tracks for the album. Guest features include SZA, Dody6 and Sam Dew, and many of the tracks lean into sampling (including of Luther Vandross and Tupac Shakur), creating a more textured experience by blending hard rap with operatic vocals and retro R&B sounds.
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On the first track “Wacced Out Murals,” Lamar raps, “Riding in my GNX with Anita Baker in the tank.”
The album’s artwork features a black-and-white image of the rapper leaning against the back of a car — presumably a GNX, the Buick high-performance coup. The cover image was shot by Dave Free, who Drake suggested in his song “Family Matters” could be the father of one of Lamar’s kids but was later featured in Lamar’s “Not Like Us” music video.
Days after Lamar’s surprise album drop came a surprise music video for “squabble up,” the second track on “GNX.” The song builds on a snippet from the start of the video for Lamar’s Drake diss track “Not Like Us.”
The video released Monday takes place entirely in one room with green walls and a chandelier, and it sees Lamar dancing in a blue sweatshirt and jeans while various things happen behind him. At one point, three people get into a fight, which the rapper ignores while looking the other way.
When Lamar raps about having both friends and foes, he sits in a chair with two balloons on it and reads a book titled “How to Be More Like Kendrick for Dummies.” Later, he holds a sign that says, “Jesus saves gangsters too!”
The video, which was directed by Calmatic, concludes with a sign appearing on the wall for a Compton Christmas parade. The song itself is slightly different in the video than on the album, featuring a tweaked bridge.
Watch the “squabble up” video here.
Kendrick Lamaraddresses Lil Wayne, Super Bowl on ‘GNX’: What to know about the controversy
It didn’t take long for the album to spark a meme that spread like wildfire on social media.
About halfway through the track “tv off,” Lamar loudly shouts “Mustard!” extending the word out for about five full seconds. He wasn’t referring to the condiment, but rather the record producer who produced on the album.
But shouting “Mustard!” soon became a meme that even brand accounts started getting in on, from McDonald’s to the “Shrek” franchise.
It also didn’t take long for one of the people mentioned on Lamar’s new album to respond. In the first track, “wacced out murals,” Lamar raps, “I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.”
Wayne had previously expressed disappoint that he was passed over as the headliner of the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is being held in his hometown of New Orleans, in favor of Lamar.
After the album dropped, Wayne appeared to address the lyric, writing on X, “Man wtf I do?!” He added, “I just be chillin & dey still kome 4 my head. Let’s not take kindness for weakness. Let this giant sleep. I beg u all. No one really wants destruction, not even me but I shall destroy if disturbed. On me. Love.”
Listen to the full album here.
The Pulitzer-prize-winning artist found chart-topping success recently with “Not Like Us,” a diss track in a since-sizzled beef between the Compton, California-based rapper and Drake.
Kendrick Lamarreleases untitled track; song references feud, is first since ‘Not Like Us’
The Drake-Kendrick spat kicked off officially in April when Drake released two diss tracks targeting Lamar specifically: “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.” Lamar fired back with “Euphoria,” and “6:16 in LA,” sparking a domino-like beef in which the two rappers exchanged insult-laden tracks laced with allegations that ranged from petty to criminal.
The high-octane (and available for streaming) exchange certainly raised the beef’s profile, but the two rappers had been quietly feuding for years.
Lamar is also set to headline this year’s Super Bowl Halftime show in New Orleans.
“Not Like Us” is notably absent, signaling it was truly a standalone single for beefing purposes rather than part of a larger work.
“Heart pt. 6,” track 10, may be yet another chess move in the Drake-Kendrick battle. Lamar has a song series entitled “The Heart,” with a 2022 installment called “The Heart Part 5.” In the thick of their 2024 spat, Drake released a diss track titled “The Heart Part 6,” which got such a negative fan reaction that he took down the Instagram post promoting it.
The latest may be Lamar throwing shade back, or just continuing “The Heart” series as planned.
This story has been updated to include additional information and to meet our standards.
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, Brendan Morrow