Music Reviews

Kendrick Lamar is a busy man these days. Not only is the West Coast hip-hop superstar a) headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans and b) prepping for the Grand National Tour with SZA for 19 stadium dates starting in April 2025, but c) he also found time to drop a surprise new album, GNX, on November 22, 2024, just six months after his majorly successful May 2024 release, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (both albums of which are on PGLang/Interscope).

GNX packs a full-on variety pack of that patented Kendrick Lamar wallop, all of it wonderfully and widely mixed in glorious Atmos. Two of the album’s best tracks, “Luther” and “TV Off,” are in my Dolby Atmos review spotlight this week.

As is my custom, I listen to Atmos mixes in a variety of ways—earbuds, headphones, and open-air speakers alike—before deciding which way serves the 360-degree music at hand the best for my review. In the case of Kendrick, while I enjoyed being enveloped in the GNX Atmos sessions I had with my AirPod Pros and floorstanding GoldenEar Technology Triton One loudspeakers, my trust House of Marley Liberate XLBT headphones got the final nod.

First up is “Luther,” which features a nice vocal turn by Lamar’s upcoming stadium tour partner SZA. The track opens in first gear with plaintive classical guitar riffs playing off each other in the left and right quadrants and a breathily sung opening line, “If this world were mine,” slightly back in the mix down the middle before Kendrick chimes in with “Hey” and then hits the gearshift as his deliberately monotone flow picks up the pace slightly and drifts off to the right before heading back to the median and then over it to the left. He pulls a hard stop with his first “fa,” then repeats the syllable playfully across the stage before the second verse kicks in.

You should be able to discern the doubled vocal and orchestral swells in the clouds on that second verse until Kendrick dismisses the “Kumbayah” class with an emphatic “nah”—and then SZA takes over the lead, mostly in the center left. You’ll hear her take a breath after every few words before she and Kendrick harmonize sweetly together in the upper quads (and all around your head too). The more you listen to this section of “Luther,” the more you can focus on both their vocal blend and individuality as they rap/sing together. The 808 drum-machine beats and hi-hat percussion accents lay the groundwork but rightly stay out of the way of the song’s two titular stars.

You would also be correct in surmising the song title is a reference to the late, great R&B/soul vocalist Luther Vandross, and that the aforementioned sample of the phrase “If this world were mine” came from Luther’s version of the Marvin Gaye song of the same name—as does the sample of the “Where are you coming from” counter by Cheryl Lynn. Call it a love/lust ballad or whatever you will, but the smooth ’n’ sultry groove of “Luther” gives you everything you need to know about Lamar’s breadth of aural vision.

Switching channels (so to speak), “TV Off” is an update of Lamar’s May 2024, Mustard-produced feudal track “Not Like Us,” opening with a John Barry horn sample and featuring much verbal sparring with L.A. rapper Lefty Gunplay. If you play “TV Off” on your open-air system, the recurrent thump of the bass will give your sub channel a run for its low-end money. In-ear, not to worry—you’ll still feel that persistent bump.

The beat switches up about two minutes into it, with Mustard’s signature “booming” ascension buttoned by Kendrick screaming “Mustard”—with the “aaarrrr” extended for a few good seconds, not to mention its subsequent return namecheck-hollering engagement about a minute later. The insistent horn/keys blend swirls all around you like a sneaky undertow, but always properly behind the repeat of the key phrase, “Turn this TV off.”

All throughout GNX, Kendrick Lamar flexes the balance of his hip-hop muscles in Atmos—all of which portends great things to come once he hits the stadium stage in N’Awlins in February, and beyond. “Somebody gotta do it,” indeed.

“Luther” and “TV Off” can both be listened to in Dolby Atmos here on Kendrick Lamar’s GNX album on Apple Music.