Who else?! HSL has admittedly been a fair weather Kenny fan, we’ll admit. “DAMN.” is probably the album we’re most well-versed in, which is shamefully on-brand considering the last sentence. Due to all that, becoming obsessed with an album from him is a surprise (the blasphemy is duly noted). GNX is one of those albums

HSL has always had a soft spot for underground west coast rap, so maybe that’s why this album stuck with us, but over anything else, it’s lovely when huge artists throw out label politics and bring those under them up to their level. This album is littered with LA artists of varying star-power, and it’s safe to say this is an ode to LA. Continued from his enormous “pop out” event last summer — held in LA and also streamed on Amazon — this album feels like a celebration of sorts to claim victory in arguably the biggest rap beef of the last decade, versus Drake. Such a huge presence of regional sound is unique to hear on a stage this big. It’s nice to see LA getting its flowers again.

BRING BACK REGIONAL SOUNDS! Rap is so unique as a genre in that it has an extremely broad spectrum of sounds across the genre depending on where the artists are from. We are lucky to have that and should celebrate it more often. We even hear Kenny drop his more polished sound (refined over the years for mass appeal) in favor of that of his roots throughout the project. His flow and cadence over many of the songs, especially those with other LA rappers featured is a treat. This was the cherry on top of an already enormous year, coming at a time where we thought he had already achieved his greatest levels of success. Kenny just keeps climbling.