October 5, 2024

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Highlights from Kendrick Lamar's “Not Like Us” video, where Drake mocked the music video

Kendrick Lamar released the music video for “Not Like Us” to a voracious audience on the Fourth of July, and like everything else the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper has put out since March, it’s a heavily coded collection of spoofs and jokes at the expense of his Canadian rival, Drake.

The nearly six-minute video, which comes amid a months-long feud between the rappers, has topped YouTube’s trending music chart with more than 17 million views as of Friday afternoon. The track — in which Lamar calls Drake a “colonizer” and claims he uses “fake street cred” to try to fit in with other rappers in the industry — had already topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May, when many declared Lamar the winner of the beef. He has since celebrated his win with a show in Inglewood, California, on Juneteenth, while Drake has deleted his Instagram posts about the beef after releasing his latest parody track in early May.

But as rap fans begin to decipher Lamar's new video, it's clear he's not done criticizing Drake yet. Here's a guide to the references and insults in the video.

The owl is mascot Of sorts for Drake, who founded the OVO Sound record label and the OVO lifestyle brand. (Notice how the letters look like an owl emoji.)

Unfortunately for Drake, Lamar also has access to the album, and he's already exposed them for his music video.

He hits an owl piñata with a stick until it explodes in one scene, while an on-screen disclaimer mocks “OVO” with an insult we can't print here.

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Then, at the end of the video, Lamar stares at a caged owl. The background music stops as he walks away from the screen and the bird turns toward the camera, all alone.

Lamar and fiancée Whitney Alford's kids make cameo appearance

During a particularly tense period of the feud, in early May, Drake released a seven-minute satirical song called “Family Matters” that included unsubstantiated allegations that Lamar had abused his fiancée, Whitney Alford. The song also suggested that Dave Free, Lamar's longtime creative collaborator, was the biological father of one of Lamar and Alford's children.

Lamar responded to these accusations by commissioning Free to direct a new music video for him, which featured a scene in which Alford, Lamar, and their two young children dance in the living room to lyrics clearly directed at Drake: “Family thing and the truth of the matter / God's plan was to show you all who's lying.”

Drake wasn’t alone in making serious accusations during the rap battle. “Not Like Us” included several lines that suggested, without citing evidence, that Drake is a child molester. Lamar furthered the accusations in the video, playing a jumping jack in one scene while rapping: “Aren’t you tired? Trying to strike a chord, maybe it’s a top notch.”

Push-ups, a perfect burger, and other hidden messages.

Lamar was also filmed doing push-ups on concrete blocks, in an apparent response to Drake's satirical song “Push Ups,” which attacked Lamar's artistic integrity.

To add to the glam, Lamar added references to his Compton, California, roots to the video. NBA star DeMar DeRozan, who was born in Compton, appears in the video, as does dancer Tommy the Clown, who grew up in Los Angeles. In the video, crowds of people and dancers visit local landmarks like the Compton Courthouse and Tam's Burger.

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Lamar also sourced some of the costumes locally, including a hat designed by ghetto rodeo And Kalu soil in addition to Sport shirt Written by Kalu Sowell.