Kendrick Lamar drops surprise new album, "GNX"
CHICAGO (CBS) — Rapper Kendrick Lamar surprised fans with a new album release on Friday.
The 17-time Grammy Award-winning artist's new album features 12 songs and dropped just months before he is set to headline Super Bowl LIX in February.
The YouTube video release of the song "GNX" was viewed over 500,000 times in two hours. The song and album title would appear to reference the Buick Grand National GNX, which is featured on the promotional art.
The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX will takes place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. It will mark a return for Lamar, the artist who made waves this year with his hit "Not Like Us," stemming from a widely-publicized musical feud with fellow hip-hop star Drake. "Not Like Us" is nominated for this year's Grammy Awards for record of the year and song of the year.
But the upcoming halftime festivities are Lamar's first as a headliner after he performed at the 2022 Super Bowl during an ensemble act that also featured the likes of Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and 50 Cent.
Lamar's most recent album, "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers," was released in 2022. In addition to "Not Like Us," the rapper was featured this year on the chart-topper "Like That" with Future and Metro Boomin. He paid homage to his genre in a statement released when the headliner news dropped Sunday.
Kendrick Lamar last headlined Chicago's Lollapalooza in 2023.