There are few things more American than a diss track. Add in the fact that it comes courtesy of perhaps the country’s greatest living artist and is aimed at a Canadian, and, well, happy 4th of July, everyone!
Now, to add a visual component to his Earth-shattering Drake diss track, Kendrick Lamar has dropped the official music video for “Not Like Us.” Notably, the video includes a new intro, and features a scene in which Lamar, his partner, Whitney Alford, and the couple’s children dance in their living room (seemingly in response to Drake’s own accusations that the Alford cheated on Lamar and the children on not his). There are also scenes in which Lamar plays hopscotch on a playground, hits an owl piñata, and takes to the streets of Compton where he recites the song’s lyrics with the backing of a massive crowd. The video concludes with another one last swipe at Drake, as he locks the Toronto rapper’s signature owl inside of a cage.
“Not Like Us,” which essentially was Kendrick’s knockout blow in his beef with Drake, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this summer. Consequence also ranked it as the second best song of the year so far.
During Lamar’s “The Pop Out Ken & Friends” concert in Inglewood last month, he closed the show by performing “Not Like Us” five consecutive times. He subsequently donated $200,000 to Los Angeles-based charities.