Tag: Kendrick Lamar

Dennis Allen explains why he quoted Kendrick Lamar in his postgame speech

Dennis Allen used a perfectly-timed Kendrick Lamar quote after the Saints’ victory over the Cowboys. We can thank his son for that:

https://twitter.com/jeff_nowak/status/1836493511979602315?s=46&t=_U0UBmCWxF2s5xLnGQ2rFQ

Dennis Allen was feeling good after the New Orleans Saints dominant performance over Dallas Cowboys. So good that he quoted Kendrick Lamar’s hit single “Not Like Us.” When addressing the team after the game, Allen told his players “sometimes you gotta just pop out and show ’em.”

Allen added his own flair to the quote, and the team exploded. Willie Gay can be seen jumping into the frame as Allen walks off.

The song is the biggest hit of the year, so it’s no surprise Allen has heard it. The surprise was that he quoted it after the game.

We have Allen’s son to thank for this clip. Allen explained the moment by crediting his son for exposing him to the rapper’s work: “I wouldn’t say (Kendrick Lamar is) on my playlist, but my son was with me out at training camp and so we heard that song plenty of times.”

Allen heard the song so many times that he found the perfect moment to use the quote. The Saints game versus the Cowboys was a moment for the Saints to pop out and show ’em. That’s exactly what they did with another 40 point performance. Allen gets an A-plus for the reference and timing. Maybe he’ll be able to grab a photo with Lamar when the 17-time Grammy winner visits New Orleans to perform at Super Bowl LIX.

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Kendrick Lamar released his first new song since his series of Drake diss tracks

Kendrick Lamar is back with his first new song after his series of Drake diss tracks.

After his scorching series of Drake diss tracks from this past May, rapper Kendrick Lamar is back with a brand-new song.

While the new song doesn’t seem to be a direct Drake beef track like his last few, we’re sure that some of the track hints at the simmering beef between the two rap superstars.

Perhaps the new song is just a one-off track from an artist whose banner year has come off of them, or perhaps this is the start of an album rollout for Lamar.

His last album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, came out in 2022, which means he may hypothetically be ready to release a new record this year.

The new song comes in the same week that Lamar revealed he’ll play the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans.

You can hear the song below from Lamar’s Instagram page.

Some NSFW language to follow. 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_y8-rrS5La/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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Kendrick Lamar announces he’ll perform the Super Bowl LIX halftime show

Kendrick Lamar announced he’ll perform at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show. The 17-time Grammy winner is this year’s headliner in New Orleans:

Kendrick Lamar announced he’ll perform at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, meaning the 17-time Grammy winner is this year’s headliner at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The West Coast rapper has risen to greater prominence this year amid a high-profile feud with Drake, the former teen drama actor and Canadian musician, leading to unprecedented dominance in the streaming era.

Talk about reading the room. Lamar has repeatedly shattered records on Spotify and his Amazon Music live-streamed “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends” concert at the Kia Forum in June became ubiquitous on social media. His hit single “Not Like Us” earned its place as the song of the summer. Now he’s taking an even bigger stage.

This year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans will be broadcast on FOX, with Apple Music sponsoring the halftime show. The performance is often filled with special guests and cameos by other famous musicians so keep an eye out for news on who may be joining Lamar under the bright lights.

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Kendrick Lamar will perform the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show

Kendrick Lamar is about to pop out at the Super Bowl

Kendrick Lamar is having quite the year after a high-profile rap feud, and it just got even bigger after he announced Sunday he’ll be doing the halftime show for Super Bowl 59 in February.

Set to take place on Feb. 9, 2025, this season’s Super Bowl will happen at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. K. Dot will follow Usher as the halftime performer, though it won’t be his first halftime appearance.

Lamar was also a part of Dr. Dre’s halftime set in 2022.

Here was how Lamar announced his second halftime appearance:

If Lamar’s recent Ken and Friends show was a preview of what to expect, it’s going to be a great show. And if this line from Lamar’s announcement video — “there’s only one opportunity to win a championship. There’s no round twos” — sounded like a another petty jab at Drake, it probably was.

The victory lap continues.

Team USA basketball piled on Drake’s misery by playing Not Like Us after defeating Canada

Drake is probably in his feelings after this one.

The rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar means many things, but it just became even more impactful after an exhibition basketball game.

Sports fans are no stranger to rivalries on and off the court, even if we have not seen many athletes go the lengths that these rappers have done to show how much they dislike each other.

But the ongoing beef between the popular musicians briefly spilled onto the basketball court after a Wednesday showcase between Team USA and Team Canada in Las Vegas to prepare the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Despite a poor showing from Joel Embiid in this game, Team USA ended up with the victory. After the win, USA Basketball celebrated by playing “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar on the Jumbotron.

We have seen athletes (including LeBron James, DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook, and plenty more) seemingly take Lamar’s side by dancing to the song in public.

But the players on Team Canada, where Drake is from, may not have the same opinion about the music. Canada’s Dillon Brooks, who has his own longstanding beef with LeBron, certainly seemed frustrated after the game.

Drake is a massive sports fan and a proud Canadian. If I were him, I would probably be in my feelings after this one.

Meanwhile, these two teams could potentially play each at some point in Paris. If that happens, it is certainly worth watching for potential fireworks both on and off the court.

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Drake was at Michael Rubin’s all-white 4th of July party when Kendrick Lamar ruined his day with the ‘Not Like Us’ video

Kendrick Lamar is diabolical

There isn’t a person left on the planet still debating who won the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. It’s been Kendrick in a landslide for a while.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the beef

“Not Like Us” is easily the song of the summer. Heck, that might be selling it short at this point. It might just be the song of the year. It might even win a Grammy, which is insane considering it’s a beef song.

You’d think Kendrick might just take his win and go home. But nope. He’s not letting Drake off that easily. He’s petty like that.

The Pop Out show on Juneteenth wasn’t enough of a victory lap for K Dot. He had to come with an entire “Not Like Us” video to rub things in even more. And, to make matters worse, he dropped it on July 4th.

It doesn’t sound like Drake is getting any holidays to celebrate this summer.

If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering what he was doing on the 4th when this happened. Luckily, we don’t have to wait around to find out. We know exactly where Drake was when the video dropped.

He was schmoozing at Michael Rubin’s second annual 4th of July all-white party. He was spotted chatting with Glorilla during the party.

He also performed at the party, which, honestly, deserves a shoutout. If I were him, I probably wouldn’t be spotted in public for another five years. But hey! Live your life, dude.

We also got a picture of him and Michael Rubin together.

Is it just me or does Drake look like he’s aged about 20 years in the last three months? Sheesh.

I want to know if anyone played the video for him here at this party. Did that happen?

The best-case scenario, he didn’t see it. This seems like one of those ultra-rich “leave your phone at home” parties, so maybe they didn’t even know it dropped? Which, if that’s the case, Drake may have had a nice day. This is probably what actually happened.

The worst case? In the middle of everybody having a blast, all the phones in the building simultaneously go “ding.” It’s a mass text from Kendrick. Why does he have everyone’s number? How did he get it? I have no idea. He’s just diabolical like that. It says, “Play this for your boy,” and it’s just a link to the “Not Like Us” video. This is surely not what happened, but I’ll pretend it did just because it’s hilarious.

Regardless, Kendrick Lamar is living up to his Boogeyman nickname.

Kendrick Lamar dropped the music video for ‘Not Like Us’ and it features DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan, Compton native and former Toronto Raptor, seems to have chosen a side in the rap beef.

One could easily make the argument that Kendrick Lamar’s incredibly catchy diss-record aimed at Drake is the song of the summer of 2024.

Consider that “They Not Like Us” has been on the Billboard Top 100 chart for eight weeks, it’s been streamed more than 440 million times on Spotify, it will probably be nominated for a Grammy according to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, it has spawned several memes, and athletes from LeBron James to Russell Westbrook have publicly rocked with it. Even a LA Dodgers player used it as a walk-up song.

Simply put, Kendrick created a memorable banger and handed Drake a giant L.

And now, there’s a new level to the song.

Thursday night, the music video dropped. Within an hour, it had more than 1.7 million views on YouTube.

Warning: NSFW lyrics.

It contains several more not-so-subtle shots at Drake, and also features a cameo from NBA star DeMar DeRozan around the 2:43 mark.

DeRozan, you might remember, spent the first nine seasons of his career playing for Drake’s hometown team, the Toronto Raptors. DeRozan was a fan favorite of sorts, making four All-Star teams and helping the Raptors make the playoffs five times. He was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018 and has played for the Chicago Bulls since 2021.

In “They Not Like Us,” Kendrick raps:

“I’m glad DeRoz’ came home, y’all didn’t deserve him neither.”

DeRozan hails from Kendrick’s hometown of Compton, California, and went to USC. And he’s chosen a side in this beef, it seems, by appearing in this video.

Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ might actually win a Grammy, which would cement Drake’s L as the biggest in hip-hop’s history

“They not like us! They not like us!” – The Recording Academy

“Kendrick just opened his mouth. Somebody hand him a Grammy right now.”

That’s the opening line from the third verse of Drake’s “Family Matters” diss song aimed at Kendrick Lamar. To keep it all the way real with y’all, it’s a pretty good song! It might have won the battle had Kendrick not completely stomped on it within the hour of its release.

READ MORE: The songs from the Kendrick-Drake beef, ranked

Now, it seems like Drake’s worst nightmare might come true. The Recording Academy might hand Kendrick Lamar another Grammy. Except, this time, it’ll be explicitly at Drake’s expense.

Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” has become one of the biggest — if not the biggest — songs of 2024. Not only does it slap, but it’s also inspired countless memes and parodies of it.

With that in mind, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason told TMZ that he “doesn’t see any reason why” it wouldn’t be nominated for a Grammy.

“Obviously it’s a hot record. It’s amazing artistry, great writing. The talent on that record is incredible. Kendrick obviously has been successful with the organization so I don’t see any reason why it couldn’t be. It’s all about the quality of the record. It’s about the members. If the members like it, it’ll be nominated.”

Folks. This song took over the stage at the Pop Out concert in The Forum. Now, it might just do the same at the Recording Academy. There’s a chance.

Mason said it comes down to whether the academy’s members “appreciate greatness.” He called the record relevant on “so many levels.” He seems to see a path to this actually happening.

I’m skeptical.

Yes, the numbers are there. This song has already shattered streaming records and has only existed for a month and some change. It also nearly has 100 million views on YouTube.

But there’s a reason diss tracks don’t get nominated for things like this. It’s hard for me to believe that, as buttoned-up as the Recording Academy has traditionally been, the body would ever bring itself to propping up a song with such, uh, let’s call it vitriol aimed at another person. Not even Drake’s hit diss “Back to Back” got this sort of critical acclaim.

If Kendrick Lamar were to actually pull this off? Man. Come on. This would have to be one of the biggest Ls in the history of rap. It’d be undeniable at this point. Even the Recording Academy is feeling it!

Again, I have my doubts. But, hey. It sounds like there’s hope! As a fan of hip-hop, I’ll hold on to that.

Russell Westbrook had the time of his life dancing to Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us at The Pop Out: Ken and Friends

Be more like Russell Westbrook.

Wednesday night’s The Pop Out: Ken and Friends concert may well go down as one of the most consequential nights in rap history.

Serving as both Kendrick Lamar’s first major appearance since his blistering rap battle with Drake and an overwhelming celebration of Los Angeles’ storied hip-hop scene, the night provided catharsis and exhilaration for the thousands of fan in attendance at Kia Forum and watching at home.

Toward the end of the show, Lamar invited a host of people to the stage as he performed the instantly iconic diss track “Not Like Us” five times.

One of them was Los Angeles Clippers star Russell Westbrook, who looked like he had the time of his life dancing and singing along to Lamar’s smash record among the big crowd of people on stage.

Westbrooks looks like he’s on cloud nine as he vibed out to Lamar’s outstanding track, as the whole event looked, well, positively euphoric.

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Kendrick Lamar’s The Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert was an epic victory lap full of nostalgia and the best kind of pettiness

The best moments from Kendrick Lamar’s The Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert.

There shouldn’t have been any doubt about who won this generation’s greatest rap beef after Kendrick Lamar dropped Not Like Us to unofficially bring his war of words with Drake to an emphatic end with a chart-topping song that continues to dominate the summer airwaves.

However, if there was any remaining sliver of belief Drake made out OK, Lamar extinguished it with one incredible night of performances Wednesday at the Kia Forum for The Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert. It was a show so good I wouldn’t have believed the hype this morning had I not stayed up to watch it myself on the surprisingly crispy Amazon Prime Video stream.

The four-hour concert was more than a victory lap, though. Sure, Lamar used his set to hammer home the point he won, performing Not Like Us five (FIVE!) straight times to close the show, in addition to doing Euphoria and Like That. But it was also a night of nostalgia, unity and just all around good vibes.

It opened with performances from other West Coast artists before transitioning into a set by DJ Mustard, with performances from Tyler the Creator, YG and Dom Kennedy, among so many more. Then K. Dot finally did his thing and a good night got even better.

These were the best moments from Kendrick Lamar’s finale.

Opened with Euphoria (with new lyrics)

It didn’t take long for us to learn what type of time Lamar was on, because he opened his set with what is still in my opinion the best song to come from his beef with Drake. To my knowledge this was the first time Lamar ever performed Euphoria, or any of the disses for that matter.

The energy in the arena was palpable through the screen. And not only did Lamar do the whole six-plus minute hookless song in its entirety, he added new lyrics: “Give me Tupac’s ring back and I might give you a little respect.”

Black Hippy reunion and a Money Trees performance

After taking us on a journey backwards through his catalog, from DAMN. to To Pimp a Butterfly to good kid, m.A.A.d city, Lamar landed on his 2012 hit Money Trees, which set the stage for Jay Rock to perform his popular verse before diving into some of his other hits.

But that was just the start of what turned into a nostalgic reunion of TDE’s Black Hippy, with Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q eventually joining Lamar and Rock. And of course Q had to do some of his hits too.

This meant something to some of us!

The Like That verse

This was the song that kicked off the “big three” beef, so it was a big moment to see Lamar perform his verse. And it hit just as hard in concert as it did the first time we all pressed play on the Future and Metro Boomin smash.

Unfortunately, Future was one of the few artists not in attendance to do his part of a collab. That’s the only thing that could have made this better.

A Dr. Dre set with a twist at the end

It wouldn’t have been a legendary show without having one of the West’s living legends come out, and Lamar checked that box by having Dr. Dre do a couple songs in the middle of his own set: Still D.R.E. and California Love.

But Dre wasn’t done after that. Before he left the stage, Lamar asked him if he had anything else to say. That’s when Dre broke into a whisper that’s become synonymous with the metaphorical death of Drake’s career:

“Psst. I see dead people.”

And right on cue, Lamar jumped into Not Like Us.

He did Not Like Us (x5!)

This is when the grave dancing really begun, because Lamar didn’t do Not Like Us once, twice or even three times to bring his show to a close. He did it FIVE times.

And the first two times, he dropped the beat right as packed arena was singing “A minorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.” And if you know the reference, you know the message he was trying to send to you know who. This was a victory lap unlike any seen before it.

He had the entire crowd singing it and everybody at home. There ain’t no coming back from this for Drake.

A moment of unity, including some NBA stars

There were some celebrities in attendance besides the artists performing, including Lakers star LeBron James. But when Lamar invited his L.A. family on stage at the end, Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan were among the locals to come up and vibe out to Not Like Us with Lamar.

And yes, that’s DeRozan who spent nine years as a Toronto Raptor, which had to be another shot to Drake’s ego. Look at how much fun Westbrook is having.

In the end, though, it turned into a beautiful moment, as Lamar had all these people from different backgrounds, hoods and cliques come together for a good time and a beautiful photo to cap it all off.

This was really a special moment in hip hop.