Kendrick Drops ‘Not Like Us’ Music Video: More Drake References
Kendrick Lamar isn’t done with Drake. In his new music video for “Not Like Us” he shows that he’s got some more shots to fire. Of course, nothing is done without Kendrick’s subtleties, and his Fourth of July music video release date of the Drake diss track didn’t go over his fans’ heads.
Kendrick initially released the diss track back in May. Fans have loved the song since its release, and it has been even more loved since Kendrick’s Ken & Friends Pop Out on Juneteenth, where the Compton native performed it a whopping five times in a row.
Lamar and his longtime friend and collaborator Dave Free directed the video, which features several cameos. DJ Mustard, who produced the track, is seen in the video wearing a Toronto Blue Jays cap in one of the more obvious jabs at Drake. Also featured are Tommy the Clown, Compton-born NBA star and former Toronto Raptors player DeMar DeRozan, and Top Dog Entertainment (TDE) CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith.
Watch the music video below:
All The Drake References In “Not Like Us”
Once the song starts, the rapper is doing push-ups on cinder blocks in a room. The scene is a reference to Drake’s diss “Push Ups.” In another shot back at one of Drizzy’s disses, “Family Matters” alleged that Free fathered one of Lamar’s children with his fiancée Whitney Alford. In a very clear shot back at Drake, Kendrick, Alford, and their two children are seen dancing together in the video.
The video features several visual references to owls, the bird associated with Drake’s OVO label. The first shot is an owl piñata, which Kendrick wacks at while wearing disco ball pants. He hilariously wrote in a disclaimer that read: “No OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video.”
Fans had fun picking out all the Drake references in the nearly 6-minute-long video. One person on X (formerly Twitter) pointed out in the music video’s final scene: “Kendrick stands face to face with an owl. Soon, as the music fades out, Kendrick walks away calmly while the owl stands alone inside of a cage.”
Of the scene where Kendrick dances with his family, one fan declared, “This is intentionally the hardest part of the ‘Not Like Us’ video. Didn’t even acknowledge any of Drakes claims just showed you he was a liar.”
Not Like Us
Making fun of Kendrick’s calculated music video drop and all the additional Drake references, fans trolled Drake. One person added a clip of Homelander from The Boys and wrote, “Drake watching Kendrick do the Pop Out on Juneteenth and drop the Not Like Us video on Independence Day.” Another added, “Kendrick dropping the “Not Like Us” video on 4th of july is poetic as heII LMAOOO.” A third fan had a wild theory and wrote: “Someone in my chat pointed out the possibility of these shipping containers alluding to “human s*x trafficking” by the 69Gawd. INSANE details..”
Kendrick Lamar's 7 Best Songs Ranked
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born on June 17, 1987, in Compton, California. The rapper was named after singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations. As the eldest of four children, Kendrick and his family lived in Section 8 housing, were reliant on welfare and food stamps, and experienced homelessness.
Kendrick’s Early Life
Despite suffering hardships, K-Dot remembered having “good memories” of his childhood that sparked his interest in hip-hop music. After hearing a recording of his voice for the first time, he became interested in rapping. While in elementary school, Kendrick had a noticeable stutter. Despite that, his first-grade teacher encouraged him to be a writer after hearing him correctly use the word “audacity.”
By middle school, Lamar was introduced to poetry, and through its connection to hip-hop, he studied rhymes, metaphors, and double entendres, which made him fall in love with songwriting. His initial writing helped him manage his psychological trauma and depression, which he struggled with during his adolescence. In high school, he adopted the stage name K-Dot and began freestyling and battle rapping at school. He befriended who would become his long-time friend and collaborator Dave Free, and they recorded music together at Free’s makeshift studio.
Career Beginnings
When Free was working as a computer technician, he introduced Kendrick’s Youngest Head N—- in Charge (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year) mixtape to record producer Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith. Impressed with Lamar’s potential, he invited him to audition for his newly established independent record label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE).
In 2005, Kendrick was signed by TDE, joining Jay Rock as the label’s first signings. He then met Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q, forming the hip-hop supergroup Black Hippy. The following year, Lamar signed an artist development deal with Def Jam Recordings and was featured on two singles by the Game. Lamar’s stint in Def Jam was short-lived after an encounter with its president and chief executive officer, Jay-Z. K-Dot later described it as “one of those situations where I wasn’t ready.”
Kendrick’s self-titled debut EP was released in 2009 through TDE. By 2011, he released his first studio album with Section.80, featuring hits like “A.D.H.D.,” “HiiiPoWeR,” and “Hol’ Up.” Just a year later, he followed that up with Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, with even more heat on tracks like “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe,” “Swimming Pools (Drank),” “Money Trees,” “Poetic Justice,” “Compton,” “Backseat Freestyle,” and “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.”
In the following decade, Kendrick released three more studio albums, a compilation album, a soundtrack album for Black Panther, as well as features and singles.
Take a Look Below at Kendrick Lamar’s 7 Best Songs Ranked:
