Current:Home > reviewsKendrick Lamar owns the summer with 'Not Like Us' music video, continues Drake diss -Wealth Navigators Hub
Kendrick Lamar owns the summer with 'Not Like Us' music video, continues Drake diss
View
Date:2025-04-18 07:11:28
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! (479)
Related
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Disney's Magic Kingdom Temporarily Shut Down After Wild Bear Got Loose on Theme Park Property
- As Marines search for missing F-35, officials order stand-down for all jets
- Return of 'American Horror Story: Delicate' is almost here. How to watch
- The city of Chicago is ordered to pay nearly $80M for a police chase that killed a 10
- 3 former Columbus Zoo executives indicted in $2.2M corruption scheme
- U.S. News' 2024 college ranking boosts public universities
- Blinken meets Chinese VP as US-China contacts increase ahead of possible summit
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- Researchers find new way to store carbon dioxide absorbed by plants
Ranking
- Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
- What happened to 'The Gold'? This crime saga is focused on the aftermath of a heist
- Why the Full House Cast Is in Disbelief Over Ashley Olsen Having a Baby
- Bears raid a Krispy Kreme doughnut van making deliveries on an Alaska military base
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appears at a Moscow court to appeal his arrest
- Pregnant Kourtney Kardashian Supports Stepson Landon Barker in Must-See Lip-Sync Video
- A bus plunges into a ravine in Montenegro, killing at least 2 and injuring several
Recommendation
'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
Judge rejects defense effort to throw out an Oath Keeper associate’s Jan. 6 guilty verdict
Girl killed during family's Idaho camping trip when rotted tree falls on tent
Nissan, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford among 195,000 vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here.
Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
What is 'modern monogamy'? Why it's a fit for some couples.
Lawsuit by Islamic rights group says US terror watchlist woes continue even after names are removed
Vatican considers child sexual abuse allegations against a former Australian bishop