For Kendrick Lamar, there’s extra to his catchy hate anthem “Not Like Us” than his disdain for Drake.
Five months after dropping the diss monitor, which lastly ended the rappers’ legendary rap feud earlier this 12 months, Lamar defined in a current interview that the tune represents “the power of who I’m, the man of the person I signify.”
Compton native Lamar contemplated the non-public that means of his Drake diss monitor in a wide-ranging dialog with “All the Stars” collaborator SZA for Harper’s Bazaar. “Not Like Us,” launched in May, was Lamar’s newest entry in his fiery back-and-forth with Drake.
The two Grammy winners started buying and selling musical jabs in March after Lamar appeared on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” to dismiss the concept that he, Drake and J. Cole had been on the identical stage. Cole hinted as much in a verse from Drake’s 2023 song “First Person Shooter.” By early May, the carnage was well underway as both Lamar and Drake released several diss tracks and exchanged scathing verses alleging domestic violence and child sexual abuse.
Then “Not Like Us,” produced by DJ Mustard, entered the mix and rap fans declared Lamar the winner. The song became an almost instant hit as it quickly progressed viral on social media. At Lamar’s June 10 “Pop Out” celebration on the Kia Forum, “Not Like Us” made for an unforgettable grand finale.
“Not Like Us” represents a person who has morals, Lamar informed SZA.
“He has values, he believes in one thing, he’s based mostly on one thing. He’s not pandering,” he mentioned. “He is a person who is aware of tips on how to acknowledge his errors and isn’t afraid to share them and might dig deep into ideologies or fear-based experiences to have the ability to specific them with out feeling like much less of a person.”
He added: “When I consider ‘Not Like Us,’ I consider myself and anybody who identifies with it.”
During the interview, which didn’t embody any point out of Drake, Lamar informed SZA that he does not imagine she’s “an offended particular person,” noting that he believes in love and battle and channels that perception into his music.
“Simply permitting them to exist and permitting them to circulation by way of me,” the Pulitzer Prize winner he mentioned. “That’s what I imagine.”
Lamar, who filmed the “Not Like Us” music video in Compton, will return to the Super Bowl stage subsequent 12 months after performing within the 2022 halftime present with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent. Roc Nation, Apple Music and the NFL introduced in September that he’ll headline subsequent 12 months’s halftime present on Feb. 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Despite his summer time success and upcoming Super Bowl stint, Lamar mentioned within the interview that music will not be his “final aim.”
“I really feel fulfilled by sharing my experiences with younger folks and permitting them to listen to these tales, to pay attention to those experiences and to carry them up,” he mentioned, including that he appreciates extra communication “with folks usually.”
“Music is only a means to get me there.”
