US rapper Kendrick Lamar has released a surprise new album called GNX. The 12-track album, which is the performer's sixth studio release, dropped on his social media pages at around 17:00 GMT on Friday.

Everyone suspected a new Kendrick Lamar album was coming soon — between a Super Bowl halftime show slot next year and a haul of Grammy nominations for “Not Like Us,” the time was as ripe as could be. Yet fans woke up Friday to the startling release of “GNX,” Lamar’s followup to 2022’s ruminative “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.”

With his surprise-dropped “GNX,” Kendrick Lamar roars from zero to 60 faster than a turbocharged ’87 Buick, faster than you can shout “Mustaaaaard.” And waaaaay faster than you can decode the dense biblical centerpiece “Reincarnated.”