Kendrick Lamar on the deeper meaning of ‘Not Like Us’: “It is the type of man I represent”
Kendrick Lamar has opened up on the deeper meaning of his hit Drake diss, ‘Not Like Us’.
In a new chat with SZA for Harper’s Bazaar, the ‘DNA.’ rapper was asked about ‘Not Like Us’ meant to him. Though the song went viral for its harsh criticism of Drake and allegations of the Canadian rapper being a “paedophile”, Lamar told SZA that it embodies “the type of man I represent”.
Lamar explained: “‘Not Like Us’ is the energy of who I am, the type of man I represent. Now, if you identify with the man that I represent … this man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He’s not pandering.”
“He’s a man who can recognize his mistakes and not be afraid to share the mistakes and can dig deep down into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling like he’s less of a man,” he continued.
SZA then asked if anger was the main emotion that drove ‘Not Like Us’, to which Lamar replied: “I don’t believe I’m an angry person. But I do believe in love and war, and I believe they both need to exist. And my awareness of that allows me to react to things but not identify with them as who I am. Just allowing them to exist and allowing them to flow through me. That’s what I believe.”
Elsewhere in their chat, Lamar revealed that he doesn’t consider music to be his “end goal”, and that though he isn’t sure what his true calling is, he’s on a pursuit of information: “Music is just a vessel to get me there… I wanna meet people smarter than me. I wanna talk to them. I want them to show me things. I just wanna be fulfilled with whatever this world has to offer. That shit hypes me up. Information. I’m a motherfucking nerd for it.”
Earlier this year, Lamar and Drake traded blows over a constant back-and-forth of diss tracks. The beef came to a close when Drake dropped his new diss track ‘The Heart Part 6’, on which the Canadian rapper suggested that Lamar’s disses are based on false information fed to him by Drake’s team. He also denied allegations of paedophilia lobbied against him by Kendrick Lamar on ‘Meet The Grahams’.
The feud stemmed from Lamar’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s ‘Like That‘ back in March. In the verse, he responded to J. Cole, who claimed “Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league” on his guest spot on Drake’s track ‘First Person Shooter’.
Drake fired back with two tracks ‘Push Ups’ and ‘Taylor Made Freestyle‘. Drake’s use of AI to emulate Tupac‘s vocals in the latter track led to the late rapper’s estate threatening legal action. He subsequently removed the diss from streaming. Lamar then responded with ‘Euphoria‘ on May 1, following it up quickly the following day with ‘6:16 in LA’.
Drake’s ‘The Heart Part 6’ is the latest salvo in the back-and-forth feud between the two rappers. Prior to this, Kendrick Lamar dropped ‘Not Like Us’. The day before, both rappers released disses an hour apart from each other. Drake released ‘Family Matters’, and Lamar swiftly responded with ‘Meet The Grahams’.
In other news, Lamar was recently named the headline performer for the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime show: “I don’t want you to miss it. Meet me in New Orleans, February 9, 2025. Wear your best dress too, even if you’re watching from home. Let’s go.”
He also recently released a new single on social media. It has yet to hit any streaming platforms and is reportedly titled ‘Watch The Party Die’ according to Variety. Earlier this week, it was reported that Kendrick has supposedly turned down an offer to headline Coachella next year.
As for Drake, he has shared 100 gigabytes worth of data online, which included three new songs. Of the three, ‘It’s Up’ is the most rap-oriented and features Young Thug on the trap track. ‘Housekeeping Knows’ takes on a dancier vibe and features Latto, while ‘Blue Green Red’ is a slower club tune and does not include a feature.
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Surej Singh
NME
