ATLANTA — To the shock of fans, Kendrick Lamar suddenly dropped a new album "GNX," on Friday. A Georgia native and Atlanta-based artist/producer had a major hand in making it happen.
In album credits published by Pitchfork, INK -- who also was a major contributor to Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" earlier this year -- is listed as a composer, lyricist, associated performer on nearly half the album's songs.
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INK, whose legal name is Aita Boggs, is credited on "Squabble Up," "Luther," "Dodger Blue," "Heart Pt. 6," and "Gloria." She has been on a rocketing trajectory this year, as she also worked on Jennifer Lopez's album "This Is Me... Now" and the Latto single "Look What You Did."
The 37-year-old Shaw High graduate from Columbus, Georgia, was profiled by Billboard last month in an article that described how at her early start with music in Atlanta, she taught herself guitar and was street performing "for pennies" while walking from Downtown Atlanta to Buckhead.
She also told Billboard of how she was first tapped by Chris Brown as a co-performer on the single "Don't Check On Me."
"It gave me so much exposure and another boost of confidence to have a superstar say, ‘Hey, we’re going to introduce you to the world,'" she said.
INK said that moment in 2019 led to the "unstoppable train I’m on now.”
More on "GNX"
On the opening track “Wacced Out Murals,” Lamar raps about cruising in his Buick GNX (Grand National Experimental) car with listening to Anita Baker. He brings up Snoop Dogg posting Drake's AI-assisted “Taylor Made Freestyle” diss track on social media and Nas congratulating Lamar for being selected to headline February's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans.
Lamar also shows admiration for Lil Wayne, who expressed his hurt feelings after being passed over as the headliner in his hometown.
The surprise release caps a big year for the Lamar, who featured on the song “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin — a track that spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this year.
Lamar is up for seven Grammys, fueled by “Not Like Us,” which earned nods for record and song of the year, rap song, music video as well as best rap performance. He has two simultaneous entries in the latter category, a career first: “Like That” is up for best rap performance and best rap song, too.
