SAMPLEDEvery sample and interpolation on Kendrick Lamar's GNX
From Debbie Deb to Jon Hopkins to a 1979 Disney score — the full sample map of Kendrick's surprise sixth album, cross-checked against the credits.
Kendrick Lamar doesn't really make sample-light albums, but GNX — the surprise sixth LP he dropped on November 22, 2024 through PGLang and Interscope — leans into it harder than people gave it credit for. Co-produced largely with Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, the record borrows from Miami freestyle, quiet-storm soul, '70s funk, ambient electronica, West Coast G-funk, and Latin balada — sometimes inside the same song.
Below is every sample and interpolation documented on GNX so far, pulled from the album credits (Tidal liner notes) and cross-referenced with WhoSampled for the connections only their community has logged.
The full GNX sample map
"wacced out murals"
The opener stays on original production — no documented sample. It's Kendrick voicing the album's thesis statement clean, with no flip to lean on.
"squabble up"
Flips Debbie Deb's 1983 Miami freestyle staple "When I Hear Music" — the same dance-floor synth-bass riff that's been chopped by everyone from DJ Magic Mike to UK garage producers. Kendrick slows the tempo just enough to let it sit under West Coast drums.
"luther" feat. SZA
A direct interpolation of "If This World Were Mine" by Cheryl Lynn and Luther Vandross — their 1982 duet, itself a cover of the 1967 Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell original. SZA sings Lynn's part almost beat-for-beat. The title is the giveaway.
"man at the garden"
An interpolation of Nas' "One Mic" — the slow-build cadence, the "all I need is one…" pacing. It's Kendrick nodding to the East Coast lyrical canon while keeping the G-funk frame.
"hey now" feat. Dody6
Built around D4L's "Scotty" (2005) — an Atlanta snap-rap reference that places the song firmly in regional dialogue. WhoSampled also lists the traditional folk rhyme "Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Moe" and Metro Boomin's "No More" (feat. Travis Scott, Kodak Black and 21 Savage) among its threads.
"reincarnated"
The bones come from 2Pac and the Outlawz' "Made Niggas" (1996) — same loop, same Death Row-era drum thump. Kendrick uses it to literally re-author Pac's voice for one of GNX's most-discussed verses.
"tv off" feat. Lefty Gunplay
A multi-source build. The horn loop comes from Monk Higgins' 1968 rendition of "MacArthur Park". The cinematic swell is John Barry's "The Black Hole – Overture" from the 1979 Disney sci-fi score. WhoSampled also logs YG's 2011 "I'm Good" in the chain, and Kendrick interpolates The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Kick in the Door" in one of the back-half flows.
"dodger blue" feat. Wallie the Sensei, Siete7x & Roddy Ricch
No documented sample. The dodger-blue palette here is West Coast collaboration, not chop-and-flip.
"peekaboo" feat. AzChike
Two soul records carry the weight: Little Beaver's "Give a Helping Hand" (1972 Miami soul on Cat Records) and the more obscure Grille-Chemand cut "Blue Revery" (1984). The result is the most percussive track on the album.
"heart pt. 6"
A vocal-led flip of SWV's "Use Your Heart" — the 1996 Pharrell / Chad Hugo production. The choice is pointed: "Heart Pt. 6" was, until GNX, the Drake response track from the beef. Kendrick reclaims the title and the lineage in one move.
"gnx" feat. Hitta J3, YoungThreat & Peysoh
The title track samples Jon Hopkins' "The Wider Sun" from his 2009 album Insides — easily the most left-field source on the record, a UK ambient producer chopped under three LA street rappers.
"gloria" feat. SZA
The closer pulls from Combo Impacto's "Amarga Tristeza" (1974), a Latin balada loop that gives the SZA duet its bittersweet outro shape.
What the sample list tells you about GNX
The selections trace a coherent argument: Miami freestyle, quiet storm R&B, Atlanta snap, '70s soul, Death Row-era West Coast, a Disney orchestral score, and a UK ambient producer all sit on one album without ever sounding like a mood-board exercise. That's the Sounwave-and-Antonoff signature — using sample sources as language rather than texture — and it's why even the most explicit interpolations (Vandross, Nas, Biggie) feel like Kendrick speaking through the canon instead of leaning on it.
If you're digging, WhoSampled's GNX page is the live document — community submissions keep pulling new connections out of the album months after release.