GNX

Kendrick Lamar released GNX without warning on 22 November 2024. The cover is a black-and-white photograph of him standing beside a 1987 Buick GNX, the dark car against a pale, hazy sky, with no title or text anywhere on the image.

The car is personal. Kendrick has said his father brought him home from the hospital in a 1987 Buick Regal, and the GNX is the high-performance version of the Regal from the year he was born. The photograph was taken by Dave Free, his longtime creative partner and pgLang co-founder, who shared creative direction with Kendrick, and the packaging was designed by Chris Burnett.

Burnett carried the car through the whole package, turning a wheel rim into the centre label of the vinyl. GNX debuted at number one, and its song "Not Like Us" went on to win the Grammy for Record of the Year.