Michael Rubin banned ‘Not Like Us’ at his annual White Party for Drake: “It was the appropriate thing”
Michael Rubin has revealed he banned Kendrick Lamar‘s Drake diss ‘Not Like Us’ at his annual White Party this year.
The billionaire Fanatics owner confirmed he’d had the song banned during an interview on The Breakfast Club, after admitting when asked about the rumour: “It was true.”
“Drake’s [been] my friend for a long time,” he explained. “I’m not gonna invite him – and, look, he’s obviously going through a little bit of a battle right now – I’m not gonna have him come there [and listen to the song]. I just didn’t think it was appropriate.”
Some have taken this as proof Lamar has won their ongoing feud, which had been bubbling since 2013, and exploded earlier this year when Kendrick featured on ‘Like That’ from Metro Boomin and Future’s joint album ‘We Don’t Trust You’ and resulted in the two trading scathing diss tracks.
Lamar dropped ‘Not Like Us’ – his fourth Drake diss track – in May, telling the Canadian rapper: “Say Drake, I hear you like ’em young/ You better not ever go to cell block one/ To any bitch that talk to him and layin’ love/ Just make sure you hide your little sister from ’em,.”
The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 and broke the Spotify record for the most streamed rap song in one day.
Owing to the extensive reach of the song, which has seen it changed into a Donald Trump diss by a brass band outside an NABJ convention, and be turned into an 8-bit video game, Rubin felt uncomfortable with it playing at his annual bash.
“I sent a note and said, ‘Hey, let’s not play anyone’s music that’s feuding with anyone that’s [attending the party],'” he explained.
When asked if it was Drake who requested him to do so, Rubin said: “That was a ‘me’ decision. I just thought it was the appropriate thing.”
He also revealed he had a close call at a barbeque the day before, when he realised ‘Not Like Us’ was playing on Spotify’s Rap Caviar playlist. When he realised Drake was “pulling up soon”, he skipped the song.
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Poppy Burton
NME
