Kendrick Lamar has dropped the long-awaited music video for his viral Drake diss track, ‘Not Like Us’.
Released on July 4 and co-directed by the rapper alongside Dave Free (who Drake had also dissed in ‘Family Matters’), the video features a slew of West Coast icons, including cameos from Tommy the Clown, producer Mustard – wearing a Toronto Blue Jays cap – and former Toronto Raptor DeMar DeRozan.
The Compton MC opens with a new set of bars, which also name-drops Los Angeles native and ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ collaborator Kamasi Washington: “Reincarnated, I was stargazing’ / Life goes on honey all of my babies / Woke up, lookin’ for the broccoli / Hot key, keep a horn on me, that Kamasi / IP ownership, the ownership is by me / Mister get off, I get off at my feet.”
Along the way, Lamar works out in a sparse room populated by just speakers and canvases, performs alongside Crip-Walking dancers, visits Tam’s Burgers and brings out a massive crowd onto Compton’s streets to jam along to the track.
Near the end of the video, Lamar also dances with his partner Whitney Alford and their two children – seemingly pushing back against Drake’s accusations against Lamar of infidelity and family mistreatment.
Notably, Lamar also takes aim at Drake’s label OVO. Declaring “no Ov-Hoes were harmed in this video”, he destroys an owl piñata – referencing the logo of Drake’s label. The MC then ends the video staring down an owl in a cage, before walking away in darkness.
Anticipation for the video grew after photos and clips of Lamar filming the video spread on social media earlier last month. The video shoot, according to LA Times, filmed across iconic Compton locations including Compton City Hall, Enterprise Park and Nickerson Gardens and featured more than 1,000 bouncing fans, while also counting artists like Steve Lacy, Roddy Ricch, YG and Thundercat in attendance. Stills from the music video emerged online the night before its release, furthering anticipation for the clip.
Since its release earlier in May, ‘Not Like Us’ has become a record-breaking success for Lamar. It became his fourth Billboard Hot 100 Number One single, following his feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s ‘Like That’, the song that ignited his feud with Drake this year.
The Drake diss also became the most streamed hip-hop song per day on Spotify, racking up 6.8million plays on a day and more than 440million total streams on the service.
At his recent ‘The Pop Out: Ken & Friends’ Juneteenth concert special held in Los Angeles, Lamar performed the diss track five consecutive times, bringing out Dr. Dre as a special guest to deliver the track’s opening line: “Pssst, I see dead people”. During the show, the rapper also included a new verse that called for Drake to return the ring Tupac wore at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, which the Canadian artist seemingly purchased at an auction.
Two weeks ago, the CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., said ‘Not Like Us’ would be eligible for the Grammy Awards, explaining that while diss tracks were not commonly nominated, Kendrick Lamar’s huge success with the awards in the past makes the inclusion likely. The rapper has won 17 Grammys so far.