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

Kendrick Lamar has released the music video for his 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 Fourth of July by dropping the anticipated music video for his Drake diss track, “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 nod in a nod to Drake the music video has a heavy use of owls as well as Lamar smashing a pinata with an owl as an unintended disclaimer appears on the screen that reads “no OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video.” In the next scene, Lamar stands with a live owl on his arm. The final image is of an owl being held in cage.

The video was recorded just a few days after the rapper’s Juneteenth performance in which he performed “Not Like Us” five times. “Y’all ain’t gonna let nobody disrespect the West Coast, huh?” Lamar requested the audience before he ran through the song again and repeatedly, with each performance of the track increasing in intensity.

The rap battle between Lamar with Drake was in full swing for a few months, but the battle was slowing down in recent weeksat least until the video was released. Since Lamar has taken aim at Drake in his verse to Future along with the Metro Boomin’s “Like That” in March and April, both the Compton as well as Canadian hip-hop stars have exchanged several songs. Then, in May Rolling Stone declared Lamar the ultimate winner and noted the fact that “overall, Lamar’s shots hit harder.”