Was K-Dot inspired by Knight Rider and...Transformers for GNX & GNX Album Cover?
- Welch Concannon
- Aug 18
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 26
Hello, thinkers!
For me, the GNX era and album cover is an ode to Knight Rider. I haven't seen anybody talk about it. I think Yahoo News did a little news snippet that kind of mentioned Knight Rider, but they didn't go into much detail and didn't connect any dots.
Now I could be wrong, but when I saw how Kendrick was dressed on the GNX album cover, I kept thinking there was more to this album and the vehicle other than what's been explained by Kendrick and, you know, what's been on Wikipedia and what's circulating online.
So, as we know, the Grand National is a vehicle that's very important to Kendrick. In 1987, his pops drove him home from the hospital in a GNX after he was born. For an album that mostly sounds like the West Coast, it's to me, fitting that Kendrick informed the world of this sweet story and origin of why the GNX holds importance for him. However, I do believe Kendrick was inspired by Knight Rider.
As you know, Knight Rider was an action crime drama played by David Hasselhoff. Some people may not know about that, may not have been born in the 1980s. Some may have grown up in the 1990s and may not have known what Knight Rider was. The character on that show was named Michael Knight, and he has this dope ass car that's named K.I.T.T. and it's basically a friggin’ AI vehicle.
First, what's obvious, of course, is the cover, right? And you have, if you were to look up some pictures you have David Hasselhoff. He is very similarly dressed to Kendrick or Kendrick similarly dressed to him sitting on a vehicle. Their demeanors as well are similar. I don’t know why but my brain just said, “A vehicle is a man’s best friend…” I’m chuckling. Don’t ask.
The character of Michael Knight is that his real name is Michael Long and what happened with him is that he was shot in his face that was nearly fatal, and he was given a new face through plastic surgery and a new name. He was reborn as Michael Knight. He was rescued by a billionaire named Wilton Knight and at the time, Michael Knight, original name Michael Long, was a police detective lieutenant at the time.
Now, if I go more into this character of Michael Long, or, you know, AKA Michael Knight, first off, he was born, the character was born outside of Los Angeles. He was raised with a blue-collar family. He joined the army. He ended up working in counterintelligence in Vietnam. He was captured during a mission. He escaped, but then he had an injury, a brain injury that required surgery and then he had a metal plate in his head. He gets discharged from the service, returns to Los Angeles and joins the LAPD. Now what happens to him is he gets betrayed by an informant and was shot in the head and the metal plate deflected the shot. However, it screwed up his face. He becomes declared dead to the public and he gets taken care of by an organization called FLAG, which is Foundation for Law and Government.
F.L.A.G. is a private crime fighting arm of Knight Industries, which again is this billionaire, Wilton Knight, who's behind all of this. Long story short, the whole thing - the whole point of Michael Knight is he believes in justice. He believes in protecting the innocent. That is the easiest way to explain who he is. He's about protecting the innocent. And I think that's interesting, just on the character level of it, because what has Kendrick been basically doing all this time? Really think about that. What is his whole thing right now? Drake, right? Taking back hip hop, making it hip hop again… and vindicating those who need to be vindicated.
But it's more than that, right? He accused Drake of very fucked up shit. But one must question, as much as the courts want to say it's hyperbole and all this stuff, the character is a little bit adopted, right? That's how I feel. Many people may feel differently. I won't say adopted. I'll say it's sort of a “slight embodiment”. Let's put it that way. Excuse me. That being said, he’s this crime fighter, “I want to protect the innocent,” all of that, right? But what's interesting about his character, we know he's not an original “Knight”. His last name is Long. Michael Long. Apparently, how can I put this without laughing? Garthe Knight is the son of Wilton Knight. He has his own backstory.
Are we for real here? Sorry, but Garthe always made me laugh (makeup, etc – too funny) Garthe Knight resembles Michael Knight almost identically, right? (insert obvious eyeroll) But his mustache and his soul patch is what sets him apart from Michael. He hates Michael because he feels like he has usurped his life and pretty much took his father away from him. Replaced him.
Garthe’s background, which is also quite interesting, he spent several years in an African prison and was sentenced to three life sentences. He met with an African revolutionary named Tsombe, who's a member of the Pan-African Liberation Movement. He's able to avoid a life sentence because of a top official who was taking bribes on leases on diamond mines. So, there's that. Now on the show, what he does is he comes back to the United States, works with Tsombe and his mother, Elizabeth Knight, to steal missiles from the government called Red Bluff in Nevada (Lightly letting you know who this guy is) Basically, he's supposed to be a bad guy, okay? That is who he's supposed to be in this. He's the “bad” of the “Knight” Brothers.
So why do I bring this up? Well, for one, it could also be loosely tied to this show and how angry Garthe is, how he feels, emotions, whatever, right? I also think that in the song “Wacced Out Murals”, K-Dot basically warns, he's saying, “look, who I was before, I'm not that anymore now. I'm on some crazy shit”. What I find is interesting is that on a tour, I don't know if anybody has seen any of the concerts on the GNX tour yet, but he has made a point on “Family Ties” that certain people don't compare to him. He led in peace, giving out warning after warning after warning every show and if you guys haven't read my “Family Ties” blog post, it's very interesting that he says this during the “Family Ties” performance, which for me ties back to Drake and what I think - that he was the real problem. And the reason why Baby Keem and Kendrick created Family Ties. There is no way this man only just put money on the street to get information. Just no. I'm pretty sure many people have tried to when it came to Kendrick. However, I think this time it may have went further than that. I think it was might have been more diabolical. Hence why Dot’s is constantly alluding to the XXXTentacion's “conspiracy”. Like this man is more than what you guys think. All alleged.
It seems he might have had a hand in a lot of people passing away and I feel like he may have tried to do the same thing with Kendrick. Allegedly. But I digress. So, with the Garthe Knight character, I feel like that's who he's supposed to be. Is the “I don't give a fuck” individual.
I thought it was interesting when looked up K.I.T.T. I decided to check out the person who voiced the vehicle and it is a man named Peter Cullen. Peter Cullen also did voice work for The Transformers: The Movie, the 1986 movie and voiced Optimus Prime (Btw the best Transformer movie of all time I mean that's objective but for me, the best) It was emotional, action-packed - everything about that movie was amazing. I think everybody should see the very first Transformers in the 1980s at least once.
Optimus Prime was basically the hero of the story, whereas Megatron, who was a Decepticon, he was, of course, the bad guy. In the story, Optimus Prime is also known as Orion Pax (You have to see the movies/series and/or just read somewhere how Orion became Optimus Prime vice versa in the first place. I won't spoil anything). He embodies strong moral values, right? Leadership, strategic, has the most advanced weapons, knows martial arts… (Hmm…Kung Fu Kenny). I think that's kind of funny, but okay. And you know what? We don't even know if Kendrick even knows that. I wouldn't be surprised, though. I don't think he's the type of person who's going to sit there and tell everybody every fucking action he makes and thinks.
Anyways, he wants justice and peaceful coexistence with humans. He has this cry, rallying cry that's called, "till all are won”. Which is really an interesting quote. However, he was reborn as Orion Pax and reclaimed his role as Optimus Prime et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I think with the original story, this is what I feel Kendrick was going for. Duality. That's the theme. To add to the whole point, what was Michael Knight? He was about justice and peace. Right? Optimus Prime, the same thing about justice and peace. However, they had to deal with that “other side”.
What I also found was interesting when I went back to check Peter Cullen’s background and I laughed. This man who, again, one of the best voice actors of our time, was from Canada.
Layers.
The GNX album cover is super dope and extremely clever. My 1980’s eye couldn’t help but see things, even down to how they made the photo slightly aged. It seems so minimalistic when it’s not even, even down to the belt. The belt.
Last but not least....
About that red GNX popping up at the concerts...
Coincidence?
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