Songfacts®:

• "TV Off" is Kendrick Lamar's call to action: reject mediocrity, ditch the toxic hangers-on, and stay laser-focused on what matters. He uses the metaphor of "turning the TV off" as a sharp critique of passive consumption and societal conformity. And K-Dot does all this while weaving themes like accountability, survival, legacy, and loyalty into the track.
• "TV Off" is the seventh track on Kendrick Lamar's sixth album, GNX, surprise-released on November 11, 2024. The track opens with a reference to the Buick Grand National GNX.
  
  All I ever wanted was a black Grand National
  
  For the uninitiated, the Buick GNX wasn't just a car - it was the car, a snarling beast that's very rare, with just 547 ever made. It's no accident Lamar chose this as the album's namesake and recurring motif. In a slice of autobiographical trivia that's pure Lamar, the Grand National GNX was the car his father drove him home in from the hospital after he was born. It's both a symbol of ambition and a nod to his roots.
• The song is a reunion with producer Mustard, who also teamed with Lamar for "Not Like Us," the knockout blow of Lamar's rap war with Drake. But where "Not Like Us" delivered a Cali bounce drenched in G-Funk swagger, "TV Off" splits in two: the first half dances through familiar West Coast grooves while the second half pivots dramatically into triumphant, brassy fanfare.
• Mustard came up with the two parts of the beat at different times. "That first half was definitely in the same realm of me making things like 'Not Like Us,'" he told Billboard, "and the second half was a beat that I was doing for this other theatrical album that I'm trying to make. And I was just like, 'Man, let me see if Kendrick would like this.' I sent it to him and he was like, 'This is crazy.'"
• The beat switch occurs around the two-minute mark when Lamar shouts ""MUSTAAAARRRRRRD!" Following the album's release, memes depicting the mid-song howl took social media by storm.
• The outro features a cameo from Lefty Gunplay, a Latino MC from LA's Baldwin Park neighborhood. He is one of several up-and-coming California rappers Lamar enlisted for GNX.
• In just four words - "Crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious" - Lefty captures the rap industry's blend of chaos, unpredictability, and humor.
  
  "Four words was all it took to have the best song," he laughed to LA Times. "All the other artists Kendrick features are real street dudes, and I'm so glad I got to be a part of that class. He sees something in us - he ran the play and gave me the alleyoop."
• The song contains two samples:
  
  "Mac Arthur Park" by Monk Higgins (1968): Mustard clearly admires Monk Higgins. He previously sampled Higgins's 1968 recording of "I Believe to My Soul" on "Not Like Us" and revisits the jazz-funk saxophonist's work on "TV Off," drawing from Higgins's soulful 1968 interpretation of the hit song "MacArthur Park."
  
  "The Black Hole - Overture" by John Barry (1979): Mustard pulls a snippet of horns from John Barry's score for The Black Hole.
• Lamar closed out his 2025 Super Bowl halftime show performance with "TV Off." DJ Mustard joined him on stage during the track.
  
  After the song, he teased a bit of "Not Like Us," which he played later in his set.