By Scottie Andrew, CNN
(CNN) — Kendrick Lamar and Drake spent last spring trading disses. The rappers unleashed a slew of increasingly brutal attack tracks, taking aim at each other’s talent, parenting and race, among other sensitive subjects.
It wasn’t until Lamar released “Not Like Us” that a verdict was rendered — Lamar had unequivocally won.
“Not Like Us” is still taking a victory lap that began last May. Lamar’s final Drake diss topped the Billboard charts and became his first solo number-one single since 2017’s “Humble.” At a surprise Juneteenth concert, Lamar performed the song five times to an arena full of fans who knew every word. Then, last week, he took home five Grammys for the track, including song of the year.
And on Sunday night, he performed it at the Super Bowl, the most-watched event in American TV (even though the song is currently at the center of a lawsuit brought by Drake against the company that runs both rappers’ record labels). He included some of its most controversial lines in his performance.
“Not Like Us” was introduced to the world unceremoniously in a YouTube link on a Saturday evening. That it’s since become one of Lamar’s biggest songs is a testament to its staying power, not just as a diss but as a certified banger.
“As much as it’s a diss song, it’s also a unifying song,” said Frederick Paige, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech and co-founder of Virginia Tech Diggin’ in the Crates: Hip Hop Studies at the university.
Here’s how a hard-hitting diss became a blockbuster of super proportions.
How the Kendrick-Drake beef began — and ‘Not Like Us’ won the war
The beef between two of the country’s best-loved rappers had been brewing for years before “Not Like Us” erupted.
Though they featured on each other’s songs early in their careers, the two have exchanged sneak disses over several years — lines so cryptic even their fans couldn’t agree who they were about.
Their beef started boiling again in October 2023, when J.Cole referred to himself, Drake and Lamar as the “big three” of rap. Lamar disagreed — there’s only the “big me,” he said in the Future/Metro Boomin song “Like That,” released last March.
Drake started to catch stray insults from artists like Future and The Weeknd, a fellow Toronto native, but the Lamar hit stung. So in April Drake dropped “Push Ups,” mocking Lamar’s features on songs from Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift.
Lamar responded with “Euphoria,” a vicious track that prodded the perceived insecurities of the Canadian rapper, including numerous references to his race.
Each new song escalated the tension, which eventually grew so thick that the rappers took mere hours to respond with a new attack. The verbal brawl effectively ended, though, when Lamar dropped “Not Like Us.” In it, Lamar accuses Drake of being attracted to underage girls.
“You know the Michelle Obama quote, ‘When they go low, we go high’?” Paige said. “They went in the basement. The degree of dirt and allegations made … it’s tough.”
Though Drake released another song after “Not Like Us,” the war was already won. It didn’t take long for the charts and streamers to catch up.
How ‘Not Like Us’ went stratospheric
“Not Like Us” became inescapable in what felt like a matter of hours. It’s been viewed nearly 200 million times on YouTube and took off on TikTok and traditional radio. Less than two weeks after its release, “Not Like Us” clinched the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
Lamar had everyone from middle schoolers on the dancefloor at a bar mitzvah to former Vice President Kamala Harris at the BET Awards quoting his single.
“I see dead people,” Lamar whispers at the track’s opening. Aside from the devilish glee with which he delivers his blows, it’s not your typical missive from a hater, Paige said. It sounds like a party from the first beat drop.
“It’s a super catchy tune that you wouldn’t expect to be a diss track,” he said. “It doesn’t sound that aggressive.”
It’s also intensely catchy and quotable (though most of its blows can’t be repeated here), said Craig Arthur, an associate professor of practice at Virginia Tech and DJ who also co-founded the university’s hip-hop studies program.
Even its slight chorus, in which Lamar chants the words “they not like us” repeatedly over a slick Mustard beat that took the producer only 30 minutes to cook up, is an earworm. (See: the star-studded crowd at the Grammys sing in unison when the song played as Lamar collected one of his awards.)
Typically, the subject matter of a song like “Not Like Us” is controversial enough that an industry body like the Recording Academy would avoid rewarding it. But the song’s impact was so immediate and undeniable, based on its more than one billion streams and consistent chart placement, that even the Grammys, music outlets and celebrities who have previously been friendly with Drake celebrated it.
Lamar has also earned enormous respect from both rap fans and the artistic establishment, which might explain why the song has been so widely embraced, both professors said. Routinely referred to as the best rapper alive (a title to which many of his peers have laid claim), he’s won 22 Grammys — making him one of the most-awarded rappers in the award show’s history. And in 2018, he became the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for music for his album “DAMN.”
“(‘Not Like Us’) came from a highly decorated emcee that even folks far outside of hip-hop look up to,” Arthur said. “Kendrick can do things artistically that a lot of commercial mainstream rappers and emcees can never do.”
When it’s not taking shots at Drake, “Not Like Us” is an homage to West Coast hip-hop. It’s a rejection, too, of “culture vultures” who appropriate the culture of a hip-hop community without belonging to it, Paige said. Its music video honored Lamar’s Compton roots –– behind-the-scenes footage shows he was received like a hometown hero.
Lamar’s disses against Drake worked because he took aim at Drake’s perceived inauthenticity, both professors said, and a lack of connection to a homegrown rap scene like Lamar’s community in Compton or in Atlanta, where many of Drake’s previous collaborators are from.
Though Drake’s poppier hip-hop strategy has perhaps alienated him from some of his peers, it’s also cemented him as one of the most famous rappers on Earth. Lamar’s targeting Drake so publicly was intentional, too, Paige said.
“I think (Lamar) took on Drake for a very particular reason, in terms of that fan base and that outreach to grow (Lamar’s) fan base and show that real artistry, in his opinion, and authenticity win over all the circus tricks,” Paige said.
Why it’s signifcant to hear ‘Not Like Us’ at the Super Bowl
Lamar is an inspired choice for the Super Bowl halftime show, both professors said. Lamar’s subject matter spans his experiences growing up in public housing to institutionalized anti-Black racism and police brutality.
“It’s really interesting to think about a song like ‘Alright,’ which is seen as a protest song, and then go to the Super Bowl,” Paige said. What is the chess move there?”
Lamar teased the opening beats of “Not Like Us” a few times before finally starting the song late into his halftime set. Before he finally performed it, he referred to it as the crowd’s “favorite song.”
“Are you really gonna do it?” his backup dancers asked at one point.
Lamar included one of the most widely quoted lyrics from the song in his performance: “Tryna strike a chord, but it’s probably A minor,” he rapped.
There had been questions about whether Lamar would include the song in his performance. Lamar and Drake both belong to labels under Universal Music Group, Inc. Drake has filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing the label of defamation in the publishing and promotion of “Not Like Us.” Lamar isn’t named as a defendant in the suit.
The inclusion of “Not Like Us” isn’t the only reason Lamar’s performance mattered for his fans. “Being human and surviving tough times” are central themes in Lamar’s work, Paige said, in between his rapper braggadocio.
“There are a lot of people right now that are struggling with our political shifts — trying to figure out where we’re going to go, how we’re going to take care of ourselves and each other,” he said. “I’m interested in seeing how Kendrick takes on that challenge to motivate and excite people for not only the second half of football, but for many years to come.”
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Source: Seattle Medium
