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Kendrick Lamar ushered in the Fourth of July by dropping the music video for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us”.
The video came after the Compton rapper performed the song six times back-to-back at The Pop Out concert on Juneteenth at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, with fans describing it as a decisive victory in the ongoing beef between the two singers that has taken over pop culture and music charts this year.
The video, directed by Dave Free and Lamar, takes several digs at Drake and his OVO label, and features cameos from hip-hop stars.
“Not Like Us” begins with Lamar doing pushups on cinder blocks in a room that Tommy the Clown lets him into, a reference to Drake’s “Push Ups” and a callback to when Drake used a photo of Lamar working out as part of the song’s rollout.
It also features Lamar dancing with his partner Whitney Alford and their two children, a nod to Drake’s song “Family Matters” which alleged that Free was the father of one of Alford’s children.
There are several references to owls in the video, the bird associated with Drake’s OVO label. A notable scene features Lamar hitting an owl piñata, with a disclaimer at the bottom reading, “No OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video”.
The video also closes on Lamar gazing at an owl in a cage before walking away.
The beef between Lamar and Drake goes back to 2014 but has escalated over the last few months, with the musicians releasing multiple diss tracks and calling each other out over physical appearance, talent, use of AI, and allegations of paedophilia.
Many see the commercial success of “Not Like Us” – the song shot straight to No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – as a sign that Lamar is the undisputed winner of the feud.
One user on X wrote, “Kendrick Lamar had the Pop Out concert on Juneteenth where they danced on his grave. He drops the ’Not Like Us’ video on Independence Day. Drake will never know freedom.”
Another fan wrote: “Kendrick Lamar’s whole music video was just him fucking with Drake. He was doing pushups, destroying an owl piñata, crip walking with Whitney, and ends it off with a shot of an owl in a cage, I know Drake mad as hell.”
