After filming in his native Compton and performing the song six back-to-back times at his “The Pop Out” concert last month, Kendrick Lamar has released the long-awaited video for “Not Like Us,” the biggest hit from the beef between him and Drake.
The clip, directed by Dave Free and Lamar, celebrates the West Coast with a few digs at Drake and his OVO crew. The video begins with Tommy the Clown letting Lamar into a metallic room before the rapper does push-ups on cinder blocks — a nod to Drake’s track “Push Ups,” after Drake referenced a photo of Lamar doing the exercise as part of its rollout.
Soon, Lamar is hitting an owl piñata, a reference to Drake’s OVO owl, with a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen reading, “No OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video.” Lamar then hits the streets driving a car with the song’s producer Mustard riding shotgun.
Fans have already taken note that Lamar’s fiancée Whitney Alford and their two children appear dancing in a living room in the video. Alford was a talking point in one of Drake’s diss songs, “Family Matters,” where the Toronto rapper claimed that the video’s co-director and Lamar’s longtime associate Dave Free fathered one of Lamar’s children with Alford.
Needless to say, the video for “Not Like Us” is something of a victory lap for Lamar, who arguably emerged the victor in the beef that ignited earlier this year with Drake. Of all the songs in the back-and-forth between the two, “Not Like Us” became the biggest hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming a Song of Summer contender.
Lamar recently performed the song six times at his “The Pop Out” concert in his native Los Angeles, which took place on June 19. For the event, he repped for his hometown, bringing out a team of musicians including Dr. Dre, YG, Tyler the Creator, Schoolboy Q and more.
