‘Not Like Us’ started as a diss. Now, it could be a Super Bowl anthem

Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” is still taking a victory lap that began last May. Here’s how a hard-hitting diss became a blockbuster of super proportions.

Kendrick Lamar and Drake spent last spring trading disses. The rappers unleashed a slew of increasingly brutal attack tracks, taking aim at each other’s talent, parenting and race, among other sensitive subjects. It wasn’t until Lamar released “Not Like Us” that a verdict was rendered — Lamar had unequivocally won. “Not Like Us” is still taking a victory lap that began last May. Lamar’s final Drake diss topped the Billboard charts and became his first solo number-one single since 2017’s “Humble.” At a surprise Juneteenth concert, Lamar performed the song five times to an arena full of fans who knew every word. Then, last week, he took home five Grammys for the track, including song of the year. And on Sunday night, he’s expected to perform it at the Super Bowl, the most-watched event in American TV (even though the song is currently at the center of a lawsuit brought by Drake against the company that runs both rappers’ record labels). “Not Like Us” was introduced to the world unceremoniously in a YouTube link on a Saturday evening. That it’s since become one of Lamar’s biggest songs is a testament to its staying power, not just as a diss but as a certified banger. “As much as it’s a diss song, it’s also a unifying song,” said Frederick Paige, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech and co-founder of Virginia Tech Diggin’ in the Crates: Hip Hop Studies at the university.