Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ Isn’t the First Top Grammy Contender Conceived as a Drake Diss Track
If Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” wins record and/or song of the year at the 2025 Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, it wouldn’t be the first hit conceived as a Drake diss track to do so.
Childish Gambino’s 2018 smash “This Is America” started off as a funny Drake diss record, the rapper revealed in a 2023 GQ cover story. “This idea for the song started as a joke,” he said. “To be completely honest, ‘This Is America’ – that was all we had was that line. It started as a Drake diss, to be honest, as like a funny way of doing it. But then I was like, ‘This s—t sounds kind of hard, though.’ So I was like, ‘Let me play with it.’”
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It wasn’t the first time Gambino (real name Donald Glover) took shots at The Boy. In 2014, he shut down Drake comparisons by rapping, “’This n—a think he Drake.’ Nah, I ain’t Drake. I sing better. I do better. My s—t’s wetter” during his show in Australia, where he also claimed he was “the best rapper” over Lamar, Drake and ScHoolboy Q. However, two months later, Gambino clarified that he didn’t hate Drake during a one-on-one conversation with Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
“This Is America” went on to win four Grammys at the 2019 ceremony — record and song of the year, best music video and best rap/sung performance. Fast forward four years later, Drake projected the headline “The overrated and over awarded hit song ‘This Is America’ was originally a Drake diss record” during his performance of “Headlines.”
“Not Like Us,” which arose from Lamar and Drake’s epic rap beef last year, is also nominated for best music video, best rap song and best rap performance on top of the two Big Four nods. It’s not the only accomplishment the song shares with “This Is America.” Both songs spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. “Not Like Us” and “This Is America” also won both best hip-hop video and impact track at the BET Hip-Hop Awards and have been nominated for best video at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
“Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now,” Drake rapped on “Family Matters” last year. And guess what, Drizzy? Someone just might.
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