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POP SONG REVIEW: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar

Don't know how this video will go over but we'll see. Lemme know if you see any mistakes!

And as always vote in the Song vs. Song poll where we are doing "Everybody Hurts" vs. "Runaway Train" https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-poll-hurts-108879544

With this I am officially on vacation. Desperately need some time off because my brain is incredibly fried. Like, you have no idea. My brain needs desperately away from the computer

/edit some minor stuff fixed. the annoying thing is that i already had fixed them before you guys said anything, i just linked the wrong version on patreon. so now you think i'm just a lazy person who doesn't notice that there's a big blank space in the middle of video

POP SONG REVIEW: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar POP SONG REVIEW: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar

Comments

Just another day without a new video... ;>( One day Todd... right? :/ ;_v()

plusmin

Agreed; it's an uncomfortable chorus. I'm not sure I want crowds of people chanting "they not like us" in 2024, even if it's nominally about music genre.

Lanth

Hyperpop is when ONLY the gays like it.

Clementine Danger

He said the full UNCENSORED video is only on Nebula.

Chazie

These dis tracks have become as scripted as tag team wrestling and just about as relevant. Manufactured feuds to pull in all the suckers

Wendi Wonderly

I watched Todd's review after watching FD Signifier's 3-hour video essay on this beef. I see Todd's review as the "non-black pop enjoyers" take on the public execution of Drake. Because they are both grappling with the same thing. What does it mean now when Kendrick has just shown that real artistry matters? Maybe it means nothing and rap will go back to being vapid after this is all a faded memory. But right, it is making people question if we really did ever accept that rap no longer means anything.

Tinni

the genre respectability discussion was really edifying! I've been wrestling with the concept of poptimism for a while, and the involvement of gay rights really does clarify the whole situation. ok that's the fun stuff, now I've got a bunch of rumination about the sexual misconduct accusations (stop here if you don't want to read about that!): I think it's somehow even trickier to get hard evidence of grooming specifically (compared to other sexual misconduct), because it can take years to realise what happened/assess the damage as an adult. kids don't always recognise the power imbalance between them and adults, and so they often keep quiet about what they perceive to be an "equal relationship" while it's happening. later on down the line it gets harder to say anything because of the shame and guilt of not having said anything at the time/feeling "stupid" for being a child who didn't know better - doubly so if a famous/powerful person is implicated. these material dissuading factors against reporting form a situation in which whisper networks are more trusted than usual - because the possibility of hard proof ever coming out is slimmer than usual. so I think I understand why *Kendrick* would believe what he's saying about Drake. that + the surrounding miasma might be enough to make the call, given the genuine possibility that evidence might not come until the dude is dead and unable to retaliate. by which time plenty more kids could be victimised. it's a fun trolley problem, the reputation and career of one man vs the potential victimisation of multiple kids. I'm not making that call myself, but I imagine that better access to those whisper networks might change my mind. all this to say that there is room for nuance in judging this other guy's judgement of whether sexual misconduct has occurred

big bird (not that one)

"A film by Kendrick Burns" A+ joke

Taylor Abrahamse

I have weird feelings about "Not Like Us". It's a catchy song and I love the beat, but I'm not comfortable with the accusations, and "They not like us" is such an ugly line. I could totally imagine a Trump rally where they say "The Washington elite? They not like us! They not like us! They not like us! Illegal immigrants? They not like us! ..." and so on.

Nigel G

that outro song tho šŸ’€

Ɓkos Varga

Hey man I get it. But I think this song is bigger than what we typically give credit to ā€œbig hitsā€. This is more than a diss track against a person but more about black culture and how anyone can appropriate it without respecting black American history and lived experiences just for money.

Steph

I get burnout, it's real, and there's really nothing else popular to talk about now. But I'm really not comfortable with the big summer jam being this, I can't possibly understand how it's a good thing

Cody Baird

Carry on then. You missed the whole point.

Steph

Great video! This is super minor, but the genius lyric card at 22:19 says Artist, "Song Name" instead of the specifics

Riley Greenstein

Love this video, excellent work Todd

Joseph Bergeron

yeeeaaaa i thought abt that last point too, he wasn't just cosigning kodak black but actively hyping him up too

Arbor Rainier

It's not the same version. The ad points out that the full _uncensored_ version is on nebula.

Reena SetƤlƤ

man the guy is clearly burnt out, give him a break. i quite enjoyed this video fwiw, probs my favorite pop song review of his within the last year and a half or so

Arbor Rainier

I hope you have a wonderful vacation, btw!

AlexKorobeiniki

Especially since Somerton was a fellow youtuber and saw real (deserved) career consequences due to those videos - neither Kendrick or Drake is going to be substantially harmed by one more video covering this. It's just not even in the same ballpark of impact. (Also I think it's valuable to have different perspectives on things! FD's video goes very deep on backstory and has the perspective of an insider of rap culture, while Todd is looking at this from the perspective of the broader music industry/culture and how it fits into the present moment)

Esther Mackenzie

This song rules. I know the 'zinger lyrics' are kinda basic for Kendrick standards but I don't care. This was a genuine cultural phenomenon and I'm glad to have witnessed it. Whether this is going to affect Drake's commercial performance in the long run is another question entirely

Judgesaturn507

Same, that's like the only thing I could think of

Judgesaturn507

And I don't find songs that revolve around calling someone a pedophile to be "fun."

Anthony Skatz

I'm gonna be real, this is probably the worst review I've seen on this channel in a long time. I can't follow the thesis, I don't know what the big deal is, and it's going to look extremely tedious in a few months. Think of how virtually no diss tracks from the 90s hold up because they just sound pissy and futile; dedicating an hour worth of video essay to a feud is tawdry and pointless. I can't say I'll be watching this episode again like I do with almost every other video

Cody Baird

Fun music is more replayable than not fun music. *shrugs*

Gemini Man

omg nsync mentioned

mully

While I like your video a lot, I kind of hate that it exists because I pretty much detest "Not Like Us" as a song. I find the beat extremely grating, especially that repeating cleaning-glass-with-Windex-knockoff-cleaner sting every second. I think his voice matches that, too, as I don't get why it's in a persistently high and nasally state in a way that I know he doesn't sound like often. Lyrically, sans the final portion where he dismantles all of Drake's "colonizing," it retreads the same territory as the prior songs to worse effect ("Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles!"...really?...are you twelve?...THAT'S the insult???) And like you said to a point, I too do not really feel like getting down to what is mostly, like, The Pedophile Bop of the Summer for what the most notable content and lines are. It's the least essential song of the ones he's released. Even though the prior two big tracks he "officially" released charted pretty well ("Euphoria" was I think 12th and "meet the grahams" was around 3rd or so), it's clear that "Not Like Us" is the one that's sticking around with the most people...but it's also the one that's the most "dumbed down" of his songs. You said this is Kendrick proving he can do what Drake can do, but for me, it also says that the people kind of don't REEEEALLLLLLLY care THAT much about what Kendrick says or does until he gets "Mustard on the beat, ho", because that's when the people truly latched on. I also don't get why you'd want to try to do a "Drake" song after you ripped Drake for doing his Drake songs? Why even think of dropping to that level you're ripping him for that to begin with? "Not Like Us" feels like a bit of a philosophical own goal: Kendrick kind of proved that Drake's approach ultimately DOES work best; Drake just hasn't been doing it well for a long time.

Anthony Skatz

That thugnificent scene basically summarizes my experience with this song. I don't have strong feelings towards Drake's songs one way or the other and 95% of my exposure to Drake is through these reviews. What I am familiar with is Drakes annoying as all hell marketing techniques especially his tendency to start feuds for the sake of going viral. When I heard that he got into beef with Kendrick my first thought how did Drake convince Kendrick to lower himself to using a fake feud? I then did everything I could to avoid giving Drake attention. As you can imagine this didn't work for very long and eventually I went "Ok, fine! What's goin--- wait... why is Kendrick pissing on that pile of ashes?"

Adequately Sized Dog

That statement about ā€œauthenticity and artistry actually matteringā€ is precisely the reason why Chappell Roan & Charli XCX are having such big moments right now.

Christian Samples

It's just nice to see all these crowds sing along lyrics that don't involve Fudge Rounds.

Paul Anderson

There are so many videos about Kendrick vs Drake that have come out since the feud started. I doubt those two will get viewed that way at all.

James Fetner

I am trying to figure out if the two videos go together or not. FD talks a Lot more about the history of Hip Hop giving tons of context both for the genre and black culture and diss culture. He knows a lot more about it than Todd, who himself admits he mostly knows about pop music. So the two videos dont overlap that much. FD does speak a lot more confidently about things Todd isn't sure of and in some cases, I think Todd legit might have gotten some things wrong? But its probably wise to give some space otherwise we might start a beef between Nebula creators!

GregD

The only person that thought about drake more today is Akademiks and what a cursed existence that is.

Sarah L

What if Kendrick Lamar made the rumor up about underage girls regardless of whether he knew or even cared if it was true because he’s actually hood like that; like he knows if you go to prison they don’t f- around with pedophiles so that’s his message to Drake is watch out now or you’re really getting f’d. So thanks actor for appropriating our hood culture to make money.

Steph

I mean, if Drake is creeping on juveniles I would give a shit. And there is definitely a reason Drake got this reputation well before this feud. I agree with Todd though about being uncomfortable lobbing accusations when there is no accuser. But this is a rap beef, and Drake did kind of invite it on Taylor Made Freestyle

Jon

That Oingo Boingo song at the end is frickin’ wild

Ryan Massey

KISS definitely alienated a lot of fans with that Music from the Elder record(Which is definitely worthy of a Trainwreckords episode)for sure and they pretty much had to take off their makeup in order for them to survive(Which Paul Stanley said in his biography)as a group. Kendrick just comes off as a hypocrite to me with trying to go after Drake for sex abuse stuff yet he has no problem palling around with abusers like Kodak Black, makes it hard for me to take him seriously.

RedBedroomRecords

Honestly this feud has made me lose respect for Kendrick as a person, I don't give a shit what Drake did, does not magically make Kendrick a hero for making a diss track.

RedBedroomRecords

besides the 69 God part, which is obviously a reference to 6ix9ine, I think one part you should change completely is the Nebula ad read part. If I’m not mistaken, Lindsay has posted the entire Yoko & Beatles essay on Youtube, since it was not necessarily a Nebula exclusive.

meffeww

Amusingly, about halfway through the video i basically decided on the same conclusion wrt "poptimism". The thing that has changed isn't that pop isn't lacking in cred, it's that it's not inherently damaging to your credibility to make something fun and catchy. What damages it is doing nothing but that with no substance behind it. Which is probably the best way it could've gone because art generally is better if it has meaning.

Katastrophe

when you said you were going to do a sequel on a previous video i was expecting a lulu trainwreckord

gerald oxford

24:31 'this guy also not like us' the image covers the whole screen, so you vanish, doesn't look intentional. Great vid!

Jaszon Alexzander

The Oingo Boingo clip at the end was just (chef's kiss).

David Dixon

great video, Todd! I hope you enjoy your vacation.

Wicked Dreamer

No, he meant that Drake was both protagonist and antagonist of the drama at that point because he Kendrick was being so quiet. Like Todd says, "Kendrick was a phantom" - he was haunting the story but none of the talk was about him

Esther Mackenzie

well, it’s both

pigeonb0y

2 minor things possibly worth changing: You mentioned Kendrick had 3 diss songs but he actually has 4 (not counting ā€œLike Thatā€), the other one being ā€œ6:16 in LAā€ which often gets forgotten about since it is not available on streaming due to sample clearance issues, but is still an integral part of his diss series And it may be worth noting that the Camilla Cabello album had 2 Drake songs, instead of just ā€œa Drake featureā€, which makes its failure even more interesting imo These are very minor nitpicks of course, but I just wanted to say in case it can be seen as helpful. Great video as always man, and please enjoy your time off.

Christian Reiswig

Didn’t know that, just thought it was a play on Drake being the ā€œ6 Godā€

Christian Reiswig

Banger video; I wasn’t expecting Todd to have a ton left to say after the first video about this topic, but I think there was a lot of interesting discussion, especially the points about the legacy of Poptimism. I also just really love the line that Not Like Us is ā€œa victory lap for shit mattering in general,ā€ which I agree with. I’m not exactly a chart watcher myself, so maybe there’s some stuff I’m forgetting, but so far the 2020s have felt like a decade where popular music hasn’t had much of a cultural impact, except for the times when it crosses over with culture war politics (i.e. WAP, Montero, Unholy, Oliver Anthony and Jason Aldean’s big songs, etc). Even Charli XCX’s brat, the other big thing going on in popular music rn, feels like it needed a boost from a political figure to really get people outside of online music fandom paying attention to it from my perspective. So weirdly, even though Not Like Us is the product of a big celebrity feud that mined topics usually seen as dark and ugly, it feels refreshing in the landscape of popular music because Kendrick was able to make the general public stand up, pay attention, and memorize every single lyric largely by himself.

Rei The Gei

Kendrick Burns. That was good, that got me.

Deanna Banana

Glad you expanded on this! I would love to hear a comparison of Kesha's Joyride and Katy Perry's Woman's World btw. I think there's a whole lot of context to get into there.

Benjamin Haworth

Hell yeah most significant hit song in the last 10 years

BloodyM

Drake has called himself the "6 god" referring to toronto. it just cheapens that i guess

Matt McCole

Just be careful with the timing as F D Signifier is just about to release his 3 hour video on the feud so you might be perceived as "and here come Todd with a steel chair" after a big vid like with Somerton. I may be off base though

Suede

The discussion on authenticity and poptism is an interesting one. Here's my thoughts as a queer person who likes rap, rock, and pop... Despite the fact that pop music was considered more shallow and artificial by the music press for a long time, I think the gay community still embraced it because a lot of those same artists embraced their gay fans. There's very few fakes and phonies I can think of in that regard, because embracing anything gay publicly was still taboo. Even rock fans will at least respect pageantry and spectacle as long as you're not a phony about it. Gene Simmons has openly said on several occasions that he doesn't care about being the best musician. He just cares about putting on a good show, getting paid, and getting laid. Even if I think he's a prick (and he is), at least he admits it. Even so, KISS still had a wilderness period when they started chasing trends and alienated their OG fans. Kendrick even admitted "I like Drake with the melodies, I don't like Drake when he act tough." Kendrick is fully capable of making a catchy pop hit. This song is proof of that. Even before this beef, Drake was coming off as very inauthentic. If he had only done Pop Rap, he might not have been considered a rival because he wasn't even playing the same game. But no, Drake started co-opting other artists' scenes in a bid for cred, and it finally blew up in his face. Even if (best case scenario) he's not a creep, he's undeniably a dick rider. It's one thing to use ghostwriters, it's another to use them and still put out tons of mediocre crap. "Not Like Us" doesn't feel like gate-keeping. The message is "Respect our community and our culture or GTFO."

SPBurke

Also holy fuck "the gays like it" was a left turn I was not expecting god damn.

Herbieguy98

The references on this episode were on point. A+ editing, some of your best.

Herbieguy98

I don’t know that I’d go that far re: Black women. But definitely hypocritical. Especially since an underpinning theme of Mr. Morale is that abuse begets abuse, and those cycles can’t stop if we pretend they don’t exist. For better or worse (worse), Kodak is there *because* of his past, not in spite of it. It’s an idea that Kendrick executes pretty poorly. And now he has kinda disregarded what he was saying there. I dunno. Ultimately, Kendrick has a deep hatred for Drake in his heart and I think that overpowered any actual convictions Kendrick might hold. Mostly he pushed on pressure points that have been bubbling on the internet for a while. I recently asked a friend if he heard this song and he actually said ā€œNo. I already knew Drake was a pedophile.ā€ Kendrick just popped the cork. And he hates Drake more than he is concerned about contradicting the message of his last album

Jon

Hi Todd, beautiful video. Just wanted to let you know that the "69 God" line is definitely a reference to Takashi 6ix9ine's child sex abuse stuff

pigeonb0y

it's already in the previous video

Juliane Davis

Yup I saw that, too.

SPBurke

It felt like he meant to say Kendrick is the antagonist and Drake is the protagonist

iBolt07

See, my perspective on poptimism is that the contention of ā€œpop is consumable and that’s okay!ā€ Has a lot harder of a time nowadays when the consumability of the goods we consume is increasingly becoming a problem. It starts feeling procedurally generated, like its musical planned obsolescence. I like a good jam just as much as I did when I was in high school but I don’t want to spend my time listening to just another good jam. It has to be an all time jam. Otherwise, why would I listen to this months pop sampling as opposed to the classics i already know I like or a video essay or a let’s play or a bunch of shit.

AlexKorobeiniki

what State was he in for that performance?

RedBedroomRecords

but it does reek fo hypocrisy for Kendrick to nail Drake on something Kodak himself is guilty of, it kinda reeks of Misogynoir, sadly it seems Kendrick does not really care much about black women.

RedBedroomRecords

i was waiting for the best list because I knew this would be in the top 10

duke86fan

might be a stretch but also i heard this as ā€œsixteen-eyeing godā€

Jacob Barry

Todd, great video. I appreciate you actually critiquing Kendrick. No one really wants to grapple with the ā€œIt’s funny but is it right?ā€ question and you do a great job addressing it. Interesting you bring up Kendrick being so happy after Mr. Morale. It makes sense to me, because on that album he kind of conflates acknowledging generational trauma with setting yourself free. I don’t love that album (meaning it’s still pretty good, but the weakest of his discography) I can rationalize some of the messier aspects, like the presence of Kodak Black. To me, Kendrick is not asking us to look past Kodak’s crimes, but trying to tear himself down to Kodak’s level in the eyes of his fans. ā€œLike it when they pro Black, but I’m more Kodak Blackā€ But I think he severely undercut his message on that album with this feud. Kenny….Kodak’s got a weird case, why is he around? Anyways, Not Like Us is a fucking banger but Kendrick is not your savior.

Jon

I know but he shouldn’t be using this ad if the video is available on YouTube now

Riah_Lexington

Out of place? Wym?

Riah_Lexington

Not the PDF file šŸ’€

Rachel

How is a video not evidence?? Also she’s literally underage??

Riah_Lexington

Wow, this was a phenomenal review. The history of rockism vs poptimism and the Kendrick retort to that was inspired. Bast part of the review in my opinion!

Andrew Hitzhusen

That's not what pedophile or evidence means and also you can just say pedophile here.

Clementine Danger

If someone told me three months ago that I was going to consume 4 straight hours of Drake content in one afternoon I'd have sued them for defamation.

Clementine Danger

In terms of evidence of Drake being a PDF file, there’s a video of him continuing to kiss and flirt with a 17-year-old girl on stage after finding out her age. Drake was 23/24. That might be worth mentioning.

Zack

The explanation I saw for the 69 god thing floating around was it was a reference to tekashi 6ix9ine, which whether or not it's true is an explanation people are going with

Jess

Oooooooooooh

Clementine Danger

Small mistake I noticed: the "this guy: also not like us" graphic looks like it's supposed to appear over your footage of you at the piano, but the whole thing cuts to black when it's on screen.

Shiny Skunk

I assumed it was an illusion to 6ix9ine, (one of) his ā€˜legal troubles’, and how that ties into the allegations Kendrick is making.

Adam Weller

FINALLY someone as confused as I am about how "69 god" is an insult. Thanks Todd. And while we're at it, has enough time passed for us all to agree that "other vaginal option" is whack as hell? Not because it's homophobic or sexist or whatever, just because it's whack.

Clementine Danger

It did, but this ad is old and has been used multiple times.

James Fetner

The closing song was perfect. Listen to the live version from 1995, the band basically turned it into a pretty good pop punk tune by then.

Keith Badje

24:31 - I think you wanted the arrow and text to be overlayed on your footage, rather than on a black background?

Adam Weller

Damn, the analysis of Poptimism in the middle of this is straight-up brilliant criticism, imo.

Shiny Skunk

Damn, guessed it wrong. Looking forward to watching when I get off work!

Gordon Stearns

You mentioned early on talking about how it was a one character drama, you mentioned Drake as both the protagonist and the antagonist. This felt out of place and I wasn't sure if this was a mistake

iBolt07

Wait, didn’t Lindsay Ellis put the Yoko video up on YouTube a few weeks ago?

Call Me Kay

Tiny mistake, Kendrick dropped 4 diss tracks, everyone keeps forgetting about 6:16

Anastasi

Hell yeah lesss gooo

Pranav Arora

This is wild that this came out the same day as FD's 3 hour video on Drake. I guess its gonna be a Drake marathon day...

GregD


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