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
Comments (60)
Just another day without a new video... ;>( One day Todd... right? :/ ;_v()
These dis tracks have become as scripted as tag team wrestling and just about as relevant. Manufactured feuds to pull in all the suckers
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
"A film by Kendrick Burns" A+ joke
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.
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.
that outro song tho 💀
Great video! This is super minor, but the genius lyric card at 22:19 says Artist, "Song Name" instead of the specifics
Love this video, excellent work Todd
I hope you have a wonderful vacation, btw!
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
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
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
omg nsync mentioned
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.
Fun music is more replayable than not fun music. *shrugs*
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?"
That statement about “authenticity and artistry actually mattering” is precisely the reason why Chappell Roan & Charli XCX are having such big moments right now.
It's just nice to see all these crowds sing along lyrics that don't involve Fudge Rounds.
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.
That Oingo Boingo song at the end is frickin’ wild
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.
He said the full UNCENSORED video is only on Nebula.
24:31 'this guy also not like us' the image covers the whole screen, so you vanish, doesn't look intentional. Great vid!
The Oingo Boingo clip at the end was just (chef's kiss).
great video, Todd! I hope you enjoy your vacation.
2 minor things possibly worth changing: You mentioned Kendrick had 3 diss songs but he actually has 4 (not counting “Like That”), the other one being “6:16 in LA” 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 “a Drake feature”, 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.
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 “a victory lap for shit mattering in general,” 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.
Kendrick Burns. That was good, that got me.
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.
Hell yeah most significant hit song in the last 10 years
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
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!
Also holy fuck "the gays like it" was a left turn I was not expecting god damn.
Hyperpop is when ONLY the gays like it.
The references on this episode were on point. A+ editing, some of your best.
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
Didn’t know that, just thought it was a play on Drake being the “6 God”
See, my perspective on poptimism is that the contention of “pop is consumable and that’s okay!” 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.
i was waiting for the best list because I knew this would be in the top 10
Todd, great video. I appreciate you actually critiquing Kendrick. No one really wants to grapple with the “It’s funny but is it right?” 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. “Like it when they pro Black, but I’m more Kodak Black” 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.
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.
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!
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.
That's not what pedophile or evidence means and also you can just say pedophile here.
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
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.
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.
I assumed it was an illusion to 6ix9ine, (one of) his ‘legal troubles’, and how that ties into the allegations Kendrick is making.
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.
24:31 - I think you wanted the arrow and text to be overlayed on your footage, rather than on a black background?
Damn, the analysis of Poptimism in the middle of this is straight-up brilliant criticism, imo.
Damn, guessed it wrong. Looking forward to watching when I get off work!
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
Out of place? Wym?
Wait, didn’t Lindsay Ellis put the Yoko video up on YouTube a few weeks ago?
It did, but this ad is old and has been used multiple times.
Tiny mistake, Kendrick dropped 4 diss tracks, everyone keeps forgetting about 6:16
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...
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.