Kendrick Lamar’s Victory Lap Continues With ‘Not Like Us’ Video

Kendrick Lamar dropped the music video of the Drake diss track “Not Like Us on the 4th of July.

By Jodi Guglielmi

Jul 05, 2024 12:21 AM

Kendrick Lamar is celebrating the 4th of July with the release of his highly anticipated music video to the Drake Diss song, “Not Like Us.”

The video is chock with cameos, including one by Tommy the Clown and Tommy the Clown, who appeared during his most recent pop Out show at Inglewood. The Compton rapper also uses the visual to celebrate his hometown, dancing with producer DJ Mustard (who is not-so-coincidentally wearing a Toronto Blue Jays cap) and a gathering of fans at locations like City Hall and Tam’s Burgers. Even Lamar’s fiance, Whitney Alford, and their two kids appear in the video.

In a sly reference in a nod to Drake this music video features an abundance of owls and Lamar crushing a pinata using an owl. A warning appears on the screen, which says “no OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video.” In the next video, Lamar stands with a live owl hanging from his arm. The final picture is of an owl that is being held in cage.

The video was shot a few days following the rapper’s Juneteenth concert during which Lamar sang “Not Like Us” five times. “Y’all ain’t gonna let nobody disrespect the West Coast, huh?” Lamar demanded the audience prior to the track was played again and over and over and with each performance of the song increasing in the intensity.

The battle of rap between Lamar and Drake was on the move for some time however, the fight had slowed in recent weeks, at least until the video came out. In the past, Lamar has taken on Drake in his rap to Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” in March and April, both Compton and Canadian hip-hop artists have traded a number of songs. In May, Rolling Stone declared Lamar the supreme winner, noting it was because “overall Lamar’s shots struck more hard. “