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.

Everyone suspected a new Kendrick Lamar album was coming soon — between a Super Bowl halftime show slot next year and a haul of Grammy nominations for “Not Like Us,” the time was as ripe as could be. Yet fans woke up Friday to the startling release of “GNX,” Lamar’s followup to 2022’s ruminative “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.”

GNX” is easily the most disciplined and direct music Kendrick Lamar has ever made, and if you really let yourself feel it, it might also be his most profound.