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.

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.

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.