Kendrick Lamar stunned everyone on Friday afternoon. There had been hopes for months that a new album was on the way following his high-profile feud with Drake, and it looked like we were going to get another sign that something big was on the horizon when he released the music video for “GNX.”
And then, Kendrick took things a step further by just releasing his sixth studio album, which is also titled “GNX.” Because it is an album that Kendrick Lamar released out of nowhere, people went from being stunned to praising the project. And it’s possible that no one ends up being happier about this than the Golden State Warriors.
Why, you may ask? Well, as it turns out, good things tend to happen to the Warriors — which entered Friday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans with an 11-3 record, good for first place in the Western Conference — when Kendrick puts out an album. Each of the last four times that has happened, the team has gone on to win an NBA championship, with To Pimp a Butterfly coming out in March 2015, Damn. getting released in April 2017, and Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers dropping in April 2022. There was also the soundtrack to Black Panther, which came out in February 2018 and featured songs that were either performed or curated by Kendrick.
As for his other two studio albums, Section.80 and good kid, m.A.A.d city, the former came out a few weeks after they drafted Klay Thompson, and the latter was released in Oct. 2012, one week before the start of the 2012-13 NBA season, which marked the first time that Golden State made it to the postseason with Steph Curry on the team. Now, the overwhelming likelihood is that this is a bunch of insane coincidences, but if the Warriors do end up winning a championship, we’re going to think something weird is going on … and Kendrick will probably be a little bummed, as he’s a well-documented fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, which are currently the 4-seed in the West and find themselves 1.5 games back of Golden State.