Current:Home > StocksKendrick Lamar owns the summer with 'Not Like Us' music video, continues Drake diss -AssetTrainer
Kendrick Lamar owns the summer with 'Not Like Us' music video, continues Drake diss
View
Date:2025-04-14 02:21:46
Kendrick Lamar isn't done with his Drake shakedown. In fact, he's come for the Toronto rapper's song of the summer trophy.
On July 4, Lamar released the music video to his Drake diss track "Not Like Us" — a pointed release date after calling his adversary a "colonizer."
The music video, directed by Lamar and Dave Free, celebrates California culture from dance to landmark locations and has visual responses to some of the disses in Drake's tracks "Push Ups" and "Family Matters."
As Lamar warned in "Euphoria," he's the "biggest hater."
The "Not Like Us" music video opens with him doing push ups on cinderblocks in response to Drake's "Push Ups."
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
He later uses owl symbolism in reference to the mascot for Drake's record label OVO Sound and makes it clear they're enemies. In one shot, Lamar smashes an owl piñata, while a disclaimer on the bottom of the screen reads: "No OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video."
A breakdown:All 9 Drake and Kendrick Lamar 2024 diss songs, including 'Not Like Us' and 'Part 6'
As the final victory lap, Lamar ends the video dancing with his partner Whitney Alford and their two children to the catchy tune. Drake alleged in "Family Matters" that the Compton rapper abused Alford and that Free is the father of one of their kids.
Everyone wanted a Drake 2016 summer. Now he's 'Not Like Us.'
"Not Like Us" released on May 4 as a catchy clapback to Drake, who has insulted Lamar's ability to make a radio hit.
The DJ Mustard-produced song calls Drake a "certified pedophile" and has everyone from children to adults drawing out the incendiary lyric: "Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A-Minor." Lamar also comes for Drake's industry friendships, his appropriation of certain aspects of Black American culture and shoots his lyrics back at him saying it was "God's plan to show y'all the liar."
Ironically, Drake once owned the song of the summer. "One Dance," "Controlla" and "Too Good" from his 2016 album "Views" created a holy trinity of sorts for summer anthems. There wasn't a party without them.
For a while it was Drake vs. Drake. In 2017, he came back with songs "Fake Love" and "Passionfruit." In 2018, he managed another song trifecta with "God's Plan," "In My Feelings" and "Nice For What." In 2020, he had a brief comeback with "Laugh Now Cry Later" and "Life Is Good" by Future. However, Drake's summertime success waned with his follow-up albums "Certified Lover Boy," "Honestly, Nevermind" and "For All the Dogs" leaving the gap open for a new successor.
Drake effectively became the victim of the music expectations he set with Lamar's "Not Like Us" becoming the millennials' "Hit 'Em Up" by 2Pac (a vicious diss to Biggie Smalls).
Kendrick Lamar performs Drake diss'Not Like Us' 5 times at Juneteenth 'Pop Out' concert
"Not Like Us" (in addition to Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso") has replaced the yearning for summer 2016. We are finally living in the present, with a diss track calling the Toronto rapper a pedophile that has united different gang affiliations.
The culture driven by Lamar's diss track rollout from "Euphoria" to "6:16 in LA" to "Meet the Grahams" to "Not Like Us" has proved that hateration in this dancerie is winning in summer 2024.
Will Drake win back his song of the summer title? He's got two months to try.
veryGood! (49)
Related
- Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
- Family of woman who died in freezer at Chicago-area hotel agrees to $6 million settlement
- Step Inside Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel's Star-Studded Las Vegas Date Night
- Elon Musk plans to launch a university in Austin, Texas
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- Virginia court revives lawsuit by teacher fired for refusing to use transgender student’s pronouns
- Ohio clinics want abortion ban permanently struck down in wake of constitutional amendment passage
- Pennsylvania House back to a 101-101 partisan divide with the resignation of a Democratic lawmaker
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- More nature emojis could be better for biodiversity
Ranking
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Woman missing for 4 days found alive in Idaho canyon thanks to tip from civilians: Truly a miracle
- Liberian-flagged cargo ship hit by projectile from rebel-controlled Yemen, set ablaze, official says
- Shawn Johnson and Andrew East Want You to Know Their Marriage Isn't a Perfect 10
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- New Mexico extends ban on oil and gas leasing around Chaco park, an area sacred to Native Americans
- Step Inside Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel's Star-Studded Las Vegas Date Night
- Fontana police shoot and kill man during chase and recover gun
Recommendation
Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
Gospel Singer Pedro Henrique Dead at 30 After Collapsing Onstage
1 in 5 seniors still work — and they're happier than younger workers
Shawn Johnson and Andrew East Want You to Know Their Marriage Isn't a Perfect 10
'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
Shooting of Palestinian college students came amid spike in gun violence in Vermont
Two men charged after 'killing spree' of 3,600 birds, including bald eagles, prosecutors say
Conservationists, tribes say deal with Biden administration is a road map to breach Snake River dams