KENDRICK LAMAR SHARES SNIPPET OF UNRELEASED SONG IN "NOT LIKE US" MUSIC VIDEO
Kendrick Lamar’s victory lap continued last night (July 4) as he dropped the official music video for “Not Like Us.” The scathing Drake diss, which was performed six times at K. Dot’s The Pop Out: Ken And Friends concert last month, was paired with a visual that contained easter eggs, references, and a sea of Los Angeles locals that came out to support. To top it off, Kendrick included a preview of a new song in the beginning of the video.
The highly anticipated clip opens up with the “Money Trees” rapper in a dark hallway right before a high-energy beat kicks in and he delivers some new bars with vigor. “I am reincarnated, I was stargazing/ Life goes on, I need all my babies/ Woke up looking for the broccoli/ Hot key, keep a horn on me, that kamasi/ IP ownership, the blue print is by me/ Mister get-off, I get off at my feet,” he raps.
Fans are already debating about whether or not they’ll ever receive the song in full. “What’s funny about Kendrick is there’s a 95% chance we never hear that song he teased at the beginning,” one X user wrote, to which someone else responded with a screenshot of the 2015 “Alright” music video. In that offering, Kendrick previewed a song in the beginning as well, which was never officially released to this day.
After the snippet, the “Not Like Us” video abruptly cuts to LA legend Tommy The Clown peering through a peephole. He asks, “What’s the password?” which prompts the now-infamous “I see dead people” whisper that is heard at the beginning of “Not Like Us.” Tommy then walks over to a set of speakers and the diss song starts blaring. Check out the full music video below.
The Dave Free-directed visual, which currently sits at over 13 million views in less than 14 hours, housed several references towards the 6 God. Even the release date was intentional, as the Independence Day drop alluded to Kendrick calling the Toronto star a “colonizer” who attempts to capitalize off of Black American culture.
Following the opening scene with Tommy, Kendrick can be seen standing in a dimly lit setting as someone - who is dressed Drake on the cover of Dark Lane Demo Tapes - comes up behind him, only to be unsuccessful in his attempt to jump Kendrick.
In another scene, the Compton native does a set of push ups while leaning on concrete blocks, which is a reference to Drake’s “Push Ups” diss where he told Kendrick, “Drop and give me 50.” K. Dot also used the owl symbol to mock Drake several times throughout the video. He is seen hitting an owl-shaped piñata and then locking an owl in a cage.