How does someone like Kendrick Lamar cap off best year of his career? By dropping a surprise album named after one of the greatest American sports cars of all time.
The Los Angeles rapper’s sixth studio album, GNX, popped up on streaming services out of nowhere on Friday afternoon. Lamar has yet to reveal why he named the record what he did—and is unlikely to—but considering that its cover features him leaning against a 1987 Buick GNX, it’s hard to imagine the two aren’t related.
If you’re going to name something after a car the GNX is a strong choice. Looking to capitalize on its success in the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series the automaker released a performance version of the Regal Sports called the Grand National in 1982. This two-door featured a bigger version of the base model’s turbocharged V-6 and other sporty upgrades. It was only supposed to be a limited edition but the variant proved to be enough of a hit that it was brought back in 1984 with an even more potent engine and its now trademark all-black guise. The best was yet to come.
In 1987, just as the second-gen Regal was nearing its end, the company released an even more powerful version called the GNX. This experimental version (hence the X) was co-developed with McLaren Performance Technologies and featured turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 that made over 300 hp and 400 ft lbs of torque, allowing it to hit 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and to top out at 124 mph. It was also more exclusive, with just 547 examples rolling off the line during its only year of production.
The Grand National is a good sports car, but the GNX is a legend considered by some to be the last truly great muscle car (though Dodge Viper fans may disagree). It’s also become a pop culture fixture thanks to its ultra-cool blacked-out appearance, appearing in countless TV shows, like Watchmen, and movies, like the Fast & Furious series.
Kendrick is clearly a fan. Even before the release of GNX, the emcee wasn’t afraid to share his love of the vehicle. In March, he revealed he’d bought an example of the car on his formerly private Instagram burner account, and wrote “the best thing you can do is find a gnx.”
He’s certainly not alone in feeling that way.
