Meet All of the LA Rappers Featured on Kendrick Lamar's 'GNX'
Kendrick Lamar's new album 'GNX' features a collection of underground LA rappers making noise. Here's a quick guide to those MCs.
Compton supernova Kendrick Lamar dropped his sixth studio album without warning on Friday morning. GNX is thrilling, kinetic, eminently bumpable and, above all else, very Los Angeles.
“Don’t say you hate LA when you don’t travel past the 10,” he taunts on “dodger blue.” He floats over a 2Pac sample (“reincarnated”) and transports us to Watts’ Nickerson Gardens projects (“wacced out murals”). He evokes the late Drakeo the Ruler’s flow on “hey now,” and the title track beat sounds like something ASM Bopster would chop up. The 80-pointers are for Kobe Bryant; the function unites Westchester, Gardena and King/Drew High Schools. There’s mariachi and G-funk in equal measure, and he salutes both Pirus and Kiwes.
Perhaps most notably, he takes us through the folklore of the city’s reigning rap apparatus, Top Dawg Entertainment and its Black Hippy crew. “heart pt. 6”—the authorized version, of course—finds Kendrick admitting that Ab-Soul was the early inspiration for his own pen game, that Jay Rock was the one to crack the door open, and that ScHoolboy Q protected his energy on the come up.
There are no listed features on GNX, but the whole album is dotted with guest spots. Outside of SZA, they all come from the Los Angeles subterranean. There is local Mexicano singer Deyra Barrera, who appears on three songs, “wacced out murals,” “reincarnated,” and “gloria." The rest is a collection of rappers who are either rising up or have already cemented their status as fierce underground bar slingers.
For the uninitiated, here is your guide to all the rapper cameos featured on Kendrick Lamar’s GNX.
Dody 6
Where they're from: West side of South LA
Proudly hailing from the Rollin 40s, the sapphire-dripped rapper initially had his career stunted by a seven-year prison sentence. He recorded off an iPhone while incarcerated, and flooded the streets with a vengeance as soon as he got out. “Section” with R3 Da Chilliman reflects that transition—it starts behind bars and expands to a full studio mix. Dody raps as if he’s in a fox-hole, chest out and with precision.
On “hey now,” he volleys back and forth with Kendrick. “Who the fuck I feel like? I feel like Joker / Harley Quinn up in the cut with a blower,” is a scene-stealing moment. Like a point guard leading the break, Dody puts Kendrick in position for the clean finish. He also helps close out “peekaboo” on the back-half of GNX.
Wallie The Sensei
Where they're from: Compton
Compton’s Wallie the Sensei is beloved across LA County for his bellowing hooks. He set the city on fire in 2020 with “Scandalous”—its thumping bass and anthemic chorus were inescapable in LA, even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He scored another local hit here with “03 Flow,” a tribute to then-incarcerated 03 Greedo. Wallie provides the hook on “dodger blue,” boosting a nostalgic tribute to Los Angeles summers. His melodic sensibility and big, warm vocals recall something of a modern Nate Dogg.
Siete7x
Where they're from: Compton
Another Compton standout with a contribution to “dodger blue,” Siete deals in auto-tune croons and poppier blues rap. His delivery is weightless and fluorescent. Like contemporaries RJ Mr. LA and Kalan.FrFr, Siete is a bridge between golden Death Row-era vocoder and today’s club sound.
Last month’s “Tell Me What You Know” is a groovy yet soulful loose cut, and 2023’s Long Live My Therapy is his most assured mixtape to date.
AzChike
Where they're from: South Central LA
A Los Angeles staple who traffics in Too $hort vibes, Az is a trunk-rattler best known for his 2022 album Chike Different. He made an appearance on ScHoolboy’s Blue Lips earlier this year, and has long-standing pick-and-roll chemistry with South Central teammate Rucci.
AzChike has already dropped three full-length projects in 2024, including a collaborative album with elite West Coast producer Low the Great. On “peekaboo,” he calls himself “Chike E. Cheese” and stomps along to the album’s most challenging beat work.
Lefty Gunplay
Where they're from: Baldwin Park
Perhaps the most viewed guy here, the inked-up Lefty Gunplay is an electric if polarizing artist from Baldwin Park. He is looking like a generational Latino rapper, coming out of nowhere in 2023 with “Blvd Babies.” He’s since worked with Jeremih, Shordie Shordie, Shoreline Mafia’s OHGEEZY and Stinc Team’s Ralfy the Plug. He is clever and crass, aggressive and charismatic across his work.
LA rap stars don’t usually originate from the San Gabriel Valley. But he’s won over a horde of fans with relentless output and unvarnished, often unhinged interviews. Lefty is the one supplying the “crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious” energies at the end of “tv off.”
Peysoh
Where they're from: Maywood
The 20-year-old Mexican American artist was incarcerated this time last year. Consider the first verse on “gnx” as his national breakout moment. “Do my dance, hit the chop when I see opps go,” he snarls. Peysoh ascended with Parkside Records, a collective captained by him and the late MoneySign Suede.
The loosie “Life I Live” is griminess distilled. His debut album, 2022’s Ghetto Journal, made an instant impact off the strength of the hit “Chosen.” And this appearance on “gnx” is meaningful to a music scene long in pursuit of Black and Hispanic unity.
Hitta J3
Where they're from: Compton
The second verse on that title track belongs to Hitta J3, a fellow Comptonite who has been in the mix for a minute now. He dropped “Do Yo Gutta” a decade ago, with an official remix featuring Kendrick, Problem and YG. He followed with “All off a Brick,” a buoyant club smash that will blow out your subwoofer.
Hitta raps with a steely rasp and finds his pockets a half-step behind the beat. He's dropped a dozen music videos in 2024, including an inspired freestyle over “Not Like Us.” He also has been a fierce defender of Kendrick online, speaking up for the rapper on X and in interviews.
Next up for Hitta? A collabo album with Mozzy.
YoungThreat
Where they're from: West side of South LA
YoungThreat takes the third and final verse on “gnx.” Never shy about his “Shady 80s” affiliation, the South Central livewire took off with 2019’s “Who Gon Slide,” playing John Wick across a creeping piano loop. He’s been on a steady run since coming home from prison in 2021. Among his latest drops, “Astro H Hat,” is one of the most underrated LA rap songs of the year.
Threat delivers his bars on "gnx" with more of a subdued croak, and he pops out to level off the crowded, heated energy of the posse song. YoungThreat’s flow drops temperatures and darkens rooms.
