Current:Home > InvestKendrick Lamar owns the summer with 'Not Like Us' music video, continues Drake diss -Dynamic Wealth Solutions
Kendrick Lamar owns the summer with 'Not Like Us' music video, continues Drake diss
View
Date:2025-04-16 09:17:17
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! (6)
Related
- Jorge Ramos reveals his final day with 'Noticiero Univision': 'It's been quite a ride'
- What is Dixville Notch? Why a small New Hampshire town holds its primary voting at midnight
- Noah Cyrus' New Look Is Far Departure From Her Free the Nipple Moment
- The US military has carried out airstrikes in Somalia that killed 3 al-Qaida-linked militants
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- J.Crew’s Extra 60% off Sale Features Elevated Staples & Statement Pieces, Starting at $9
- Columbia students at pro-Palestine protest allegedly attacked with 'skunk' chemical
- The Best Comfy & Chic Work Clothes To Upgrade Your Office Looks
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- At his old school, term-limited North Carolina governor takes new tack on public education funding
Ranking
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- The 2024 Oscar nominations were announced: Here's a look at who made the list
- Bill would revise Tennessee’s decades-old law targeting HIV-positive people convicted of sex work
- Why Joe Biden isn't on the 2024 New Hampshire primary ballot — and what it means for the election
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- How do I ask an employer to pay for relocation costs? Ask HR
- Incarcerated fathers and daughters reunite at a daddy-daughter dance in Sundance documentary
- TurboTax maker Intuit barred from advertising ‘free’ tax services without disclosing who’s eligible
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Brazil’s official term for poor communities has conveyed stigma. A change has finally been made
Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns set franchise records, make NBA history with 60-plus points
Memphis, Tennessee, police chief to serve in interim role under new mayor
'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
Sorry San Francisco 49ers. The Detroit Lions are the people's (NFC) champion
Massachusetts governor praises Navy SEAL who died trying to save fellow SEAL during a mission
Chanel’s spring couture show is a button-inspired ballet on the Paris runway