A fun summer hit: Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”

“Psst, I see dead people,” are the first words Kendrick Lamar utters right before the beat drops and introduces a funky West Coast beat followed by the producer tag of LA native, DJ Mustard. These two LA natives collaborate to make the summer hit, “Not Like Us,” a love letter to the West Coast (and hate letter to Drake). 

The song has a fun and upbeat tempo that almost makes you forget about the savage yet hilarious lyrics found throughout the track.

It spans four and a half minutes as Lamar raps over a bouncy and quick DJ Mustard-produced beat that sounds like it came straight out of the Bay Area hyphy movement of the early 2000s. The influence of the Bay is also present in Lamar himself, as you can hear the influence of Bay Area rappers like E-40 and Too $hort in his vocals and flow.

The cover art shows a picture of the multi-million dollar mansion owned by the rapper Drake, covered in red markers. These markers resemble those found on websites that mark the homes of local sex offenders, insinuating that Drake and his camp committed such crimes.

Lamar shouts out several cities in California including Compton, Oakland, Malibu, and of course, Los Angeles. 

The song comes in the aftermath of Lamar’s very public feud with Drake. The two artists have been engaging in a back-and-forth since April releasing various ‘diss tracks’ toward each other starting with Drake releasing the songs “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” on April 19 and Lamar responding with “Euphoria” on April 30.

 The feud came to a head on the night of May 3, with Drake releasing “Family Matters” and Lamar, to everyone’s surprise, releasing his response “Meet The Grahams” less than 30 minutes later. The morning after, Lamar surprised everyone once again by releasing his final diss track, “Not Like Us.”

The song is filled with lyrics that paint Drake in a negative light. Lines like, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minor” and “Certified Lover Boy? Certified Pedophiles,” continue the theme of Lamar accusing Drake of being a predator that is present throughout the song.

He asks Drake in the line, “You think the Bay gon’ let you disrespect Pac?” Referring to the controversial track released by Drake where he used A.I. to impersonate the rappers 2Pac and Snoop Dogg. He then gives a warning in the line, “I think that Oakland show gon’ be your last stop.”

The song debuted at #1 on the Billboard 100 for the first week of its release and remains in the top ten to this day. It also became the fastest rap song with 100 million streams on Spotify in history. 

 Let this be a lesson to anyone who decides to challenge a Pulitzer Prize-winning artist in their line of work and has to be reminded, “They not like us.”

Rating: 5/5

A fun listen for anyone who doesn’t mind a little profanity, a fan of hip-hop or not.