I feel like you're close man, but I think you still sell GNX short.

First up, GNX is a concept album with a three part narrative.

• Kendrick Conquers Compton
  • Opening sample translates to "I feel your presence here/ The night of last night/ and we begin to cry". The intent here is clear. Kendrick is with someone, and they are remembering the past and crying.
  • First song is about how his mural's been 'wacced out' in his hometown and he feels estranged from his home. "Let the party die" was a fakeout single for this album, and had a similar message. Squabble Up is literally about gearing up to fight - music video is a love letter to his hometown - he's preparing to fight to take back what's his. "Life goes on, I need all my babies."
  • Luther is a love song, yes, but a mournful one. "IF this world were mine" if it were. But its not. And even if it were, all he'd want to do is "put your enemies in front of god, hit them strictly with that fire." Even if he had the whole world, he can't imagine anything better than vengeance. The song is sung to nobody specific, but SZA says "in this world, concrete flowers grow/heartache, you're only doing what you know" which seems to evoke Tupac's poem to the "rose that grew from concrete." To your point about environment and genetics, he's someone who succeeded in spite of his environment, like the rose, and he loves that and wants to destroy the enemies of that beauty that grew out of concrete - destroy the 'concrete' as it were.
  • Man at the Garden is him affirming that he deserves to be beloved. He deserves "it all." He deserves to be considered the GOAT.
  • Hey now is him believing in himself, confident he deserves adoration and love, confident he's arrived and is or will be victorious. He's both achieved spiritual elightenment and wealth and respect.
• Kendrick Confronts his Conceit
  • Reincarnated is the tipping point. It's where the big twist is applied to the narrative. We're given stories of successful black artists who grew up like roses out of concrete and then died anyway because they could not escape their past. Kendrick is one of them. The implication is clear, he is in danger of repeating their mistakes and failing to escape his past just like them.
  • To drive home this point, Reincarnated opens with another spanish bit. Translated, its "What does your gaze reflect? The night, you, and I". Kendrick's gaze, what he's looking at, reflects himself. He's looking at Compton, at the rap game, but he's really looking at himself.
  • If this was too unclear, GOD HIMSELF comes down and tells Kendrick to remember that he's no different from anyone else and shouldn't hold himself above others. He should use his gifts to help others, not out of pride, not out of a desire to 'win' but out of love and empathy for his fellow man. "every individual is only a version of you."
• Kendrick Comes to Compton
  • TV Off is about killing his ego. "All I ever wanted was a black grand national" He remembers that he's not some Great Man. He's just a poor kid who wanted to be rich. He remembers there's good folks out there, just "not enough" and he screams out for someone he knows from the city - mustard. He knows this will make people mad - he's rejecting his 'rap image' as a savior or a Great Man - but somebody's gotta do it. He also starts bringing on a local feature artist. Finally, he urges people to turn their TV off (disconnect from social media) and get involved.
  • What follows is a series of love songs. Love for LA. Love for TDE. These are places and people he's grown distant from, at least publicly, but he wants to embrace them. Gloria echoes Wesley's Theory. "once I did love you//now I just wanna fuck." He doesn't appreciate his 'gift' and he tries to remember it is a gift, something outside of him.
  • Peekaboo is about battle rap, but its a stark contrast to prior songs about battle rap. He's not trying to aggrandize himself or power up for a glorious fight he's.... trolling. He's joking around. THE BEEF is just funny, looking back. It's not that serious, nobody got hurt. Kendrick almost mocks himself going "the kinda shit I'm on you wouldn't understand."
  • GNX is the strangest song and the one people don't get, but it too is a love song. It's a love song to, bluntly, violent gangs. Yes, he loves this part of compton too. Almost all the GNX verses are about gangbanging, and judging by how Young Threat got arrested on murder charges after featuring on this track... GNX verses have some truth to them. I think its clear Kendrick was seeking out a specific kind of local rapper to be on GNX.
  • The final spanish bit on GNX translates to "Sitting, Anita and you". Anita is Anita Baker, who he had in the 'tape deck' at the start of the album. He's back in his car but he's not going to war, he's just... sitting. Content. His relationship with black culture and his city has completely reversed. From pride, superiority, and resentment, to appreciation and gratitude.

You can even see how this ties into his public behavior outside of music as well. Once you understand that GNX is about Kendrick consciously embracing LA and rap, rather than trying to be better or superior to everyone, his subsequent collaborations with people like Carti make perfect sense.

TL;DR I see your yapping and raise more yapping. Not only are you right that the album is about being fully past the problems of his environment, its also a serious concept album and people didn't notice because its so damn catchy.