Kendrick Lamar’s new album, “GNX,” dropped about four hours before the Ravens boarded a plane to Los Angeles, home of the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper. Eighty-three hours after that, the Ravens walked off the field of SoFi Stadium victorious over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Shortly after the game, a meme of quarterback Lamar Jackson’s face superimposed over the rapper’s, created by ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” hit the internet. It’s a take on the album’s cover photo, which shows Lamar wearing a backward hat as he leans back against the trunk of the namesake vintage Buick.

To West Coast native and backup Ravens quarterback Josh Johnson, the comparison was “fire,” and oh so fitting, too.

“Because, man, Kendrick’s stepping on people’s necks, and ‘L’ had a game where he was steppin’ on they neck in L.A. He put on,” said Johnson, who is from Oakland.

Lamar, who will perform the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, dropped his album while Johnson and the Ravens were still at practice. Johnson and the other West Coast players found out when they got off the field, but they all had to pack and prepare to leave for Los Angeles. They turned it on as soon as they could.

“GNX” was in Johnson’s ears as he underwent treatment, and it was the soundtrack of wide receiver Nelson Agholor’s flight over. And, once they arrived in the land of Kendrick Lamar, it was the soundtrack to their trip with different places in L.A. putting it on. The album turned out to be the soundtrack to Jackson’s performance, as well, with “Squabble Up” and “TV Off” playing in SoFi Stadium throughout the game.

Lamar’s latest album has been described as a love letter to the West Coast, and Johnson felt that deeply. He said there were lots of Los Angeles and California cultural references. He always listens to an album a first time to see what immediately sticks out. About the fourth time through, he said, you start figuring out what your skips are.

This album does not have many skips.

So far, his favorites are (almost every song): “TV Off,” “Squabble Up,” “Heart Pt. 6,” “Luther” and “Gloria.”

Agholor, who went to University of Southern California, took the analysis even deeper, and he brought in the context of the Drake-Kendrick beef from the summer. Even though Lamar did not mention Drake at all in this album (in fact, it was pointed how much he ignored him), it was clear to Agholor from the first song that Lamar is continuing to speak up for the underdogs.

“This album is about underdogs that have always done something and felt like people have always been slick dissing them and, like, hating on them, and now it come to light your true colors that you’ve been hating the whole time,” Agholor said.

Which could add even more context to the Jackson-Lamar meme, since Jackson, despite his two MVPs, has traveled the underdog journey. Agholor said that comparison works but it is too deep for him to describe and that, if you’re curious, you should do the research and figure it out.

The Drake-Kendrick beef was a conversation in the locker room during training camp when the Ravens posted a video of players debating who won.

Johnson has an appreciation for Drake, but he said when he took on Kendrick, “this battle he ain’t winning.” Safety Kyle Hamilton, meanwhile, is a noted Drake supporter and continues to be.

But even he grudgingly had to respect the meme.

“Kendrick’s got a hot album right now that just came out, and everybody’s listening to it,” Hamilton said. “So it makes sense, you know, ESPN trying to be young and cool, putting Lamar’s face on it.”

He got a good chuckle out of seeing what Jackson would look like at “that size,” too (Kendrick Lamar is on the shorter side, something Drake pointed out in the beef).

But Hamilton’s appreciation for the post wasn’t quite enough for him to join the multitude of Ravens teammates who shared the meme to their Instagram stories.