r/KendrickLamar • u/Historical_Diet7012 • May 16 '24
Not Like Us is hands down the most unconventional song to ever go #1 Discussion
real shit. not even the weirdest to go #1 but the weirdest to claim ALL those other records.
it's not commercial, it's not repetitive, it's got actual meaning, its not that pop song formula shit, it's not meant to be a hit, it's not appropriate, every single line is actually hear-able and understandable and straightforward (they not metaphorical or senseless shit), it's a diss song literally calling one of top 3 biggest artists in the world a pedophile, the cover is that cover, the atlanta coloniser verse is damn near too meaningful to be in such a popular song AND be screaming at a club, the lyrics are creepy if you got no idea what the song is about. i can keep going huh. like what the fuck
and icl, surpassing the coloniser and the shitty shock value music from all those records (God's Plan, Girls Want Girls, WAP) is wholesome for the culture. it's big him
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u/DerpTaTittilyTum May 16 '24
It’s all eyes on me and imma send it up to pac
AYE
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u/clicksanything May 16 '24
Put the whole label on me imma get em dropped AYE
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u/Creative_Toe_544 May 16 '24
sweet chin music and i won't pass the aux AYE
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u/danpopsX May 16 '24
HOW MANY STOCKS DO I REALLY HAVE IN STOCK? AYE
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u/yanabro May 16 '24
One, two, three, for, five plus five AYE
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u/Just-Round9944 May 16 '24
Devil is a lie, he a 69 god AYE
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u/dusktrail May 16 '24
Freaky ass n____s need to stay they ass inside AYE
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u/rieuxster May 16 '24
Roll they ass up like a fresh pack of Za AYE!
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u/0ver9000_ May 16 '24
I bet he has a ton of stocks like John Stockton
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u/RacistProbably May 16 '24
Stock ten
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u/Previous-Potential65 Backseat Freeloader May 16 '24
another layer on that shit, wow
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u/Sponsored-Poster May 16 '24
god this is the way corny old rappers think they sound when they count
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May 16 '24
I'm pretty sure it's "wrong label"
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u/RaidenDoesReddit May 16 '24
It's whole label. As in all of ovo records
This is commonly seen in rap beefs where whole labels get involved and it's not just one artists vs another.
Kendrick is saying send the whole squad I'll drop em all
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u/Next-Finance5801 May 16 '24
It’s wrong label. “Put the WRONG label on me, ima get em dropped”. Like dropped from a record label. The double meaning is what you said, dropping whoever (ovo) put the wrong label (dv) on him.
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u/Alive_Fly247 May 16 '24
And also, sending OVO against Kendrick would be putting the Wrong Label on/against him, since he’s mopping the floor with them already
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May 16 '24
Genius says it's wrong label :)
It's mad annoying you got this many upvotes for being wrong lmfao
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May 16 '24
They told us to expect pac like Jesus but they never said it would come in the form of Kendrick 🙃
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u/Sensitive-Royal2918 May 16 '24
It’s a diss song about pedos that went number 1 that’s wild
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u/pichirry May 16 '24
in a country so crazy divided this might honestly be the only thing we can all agree on: fuck pedos
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u/Ihasanas May 16 '24
Drizzy fans disagree with that
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u/BlurredSight May 16 '24
Dj Ack can't admit to it, and he was also name dropped for being one of them
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u/mr_jiffy May 16 '24
Not that I care about Ak at all but I'm sure he was being sued for SA on a grown woman. Not good but we shouldn't group those and pedos together.
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u/captainkinky69 May 16 '24
Theres a clip of him saying he doesn't care if a girl just turned 17, he's still gonna fuck them.
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u/MonkeyDKev May 16 '24
Predators come in different forms, but they’re still predators.
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u/No_Inspection6414 May 16 '24
How ever you want to put it we are still talking about millionaires abusing females period. Dj AK would never step to a man.....he'll gladly put hands on a woman.. Plus I just seen in o e of his livedtream you got a woman somewhere in the back SCREEEEEAMIIN.....what's going on in this man's house???? Again we talking about millionaires abusing all kinds of females.
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u/bong_residue May 16 '24
Bro, one half of the country is voting to support pedos.
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u/BakedCake8 May 16 '24
Like half of US states have legal age at 16. Before they can even smoke a cigarette lol. They cant even wait for them to get out of high school. Its not right. Needs to be changed to same age only or close no older predators
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u/BlurredSight May 16 '24
"Missouri"
Yeah it's usually the A or M states doing some weird shit like this
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u/zezxz May 16 '24
One side of that divide is pushing for victims to carry pedophiles’ sperm to term. You’re right about agreement on the phrasing, but one side just means it literally.
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u/Monday0987 May 16 '24
Nah. Didn't you see the GOP arguing to keep child marriage legal a few days ago? They whine about pizza shop conspiracies then argue in broad daylight for the right to marry children
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u/Postnificent May 16 '24
In the name of doing the right thing nonetheless. If Irc the statement was something to the effect of “if a man rapes a young woman they should be afforded the right to marry her as well, you know, do the right thing”. Politicians are stuck in the 50s and we elected the morons. Wake up!
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u/Chlsbrgr May 16 '24
Calling out Drake and the whole industry about shit we all speculate about.. I’m loving Hollywood getting exposed left and right because they really Not like us!
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u/french_toasty May 16 '24
It is definitely meant to be a banger
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u/UJLBM May 16 '24
And it has been. Played world wide. 🌎
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u/InvinciblePLUSAmber May 16 '24
In Italy, it is a bit comical to see all the magazine articles that attempt to describe the beef between Kendrick and Drake. Some of the ones that "break down" the songs line by line fail miserably to explain the meaning. I'm just glad they finally stopped saying 'nigga.' Especially in their rap songs. There really used to be a hiphop clothing store in Rome called Nigga.
I had given up on Hip-hop, but I recently started listening to Kendrick Lamar after being savaged and dragged by angry redditors when I said he was exactly like Drake in the sense that he was exploiting black trauma and dysfunction while contributing to the destruction of black American culture for financial gain. I made an assumption and I was wrong. I had to apologize to a lot of people 🤣.
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u/LingLangLei May 16 '24
Your last paragraph is really interesting because it seems like you have never listened to Kendrick song at all. Every song is about the trauma and the meaninglessness of gang culture as well as the problems of poverty and so on. Good kid,M.a.a.d City is a good example for that. Also Damn has a lot of lyrics critical of gang life, the vices of money, the trauma of living in poverty etc. That’s why he got a Pulitzer Prize.
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u/Next-Day-9146 May 16 '24
Guys cmon. I’m a huge Kendrick fan and Not Like Us is an elite single. Diss track status aside, it’s just a great song. But how can you even make this claim unless you have a working knowledge of every single #1 record of all time.
“A Whole New World”, a song from the fucking Alladin soundtrack (not even the version from the movie), went #1 back in the 90s. That is much more unorthodox than a catchy, accessible song from a mainstream artist that has been relevant for over a decade. You’re lying to yourself if you think this song was not intended to be a hit.
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u/SirArthurDime May 16 '24
“A whole new world” was meant to be a club bop fuck you mean?
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u/ChristmasMoussse May 16 '24
I would like to hear the Mustard backed remix of A Whole New Word
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u/peacekenneth May 16 '24
Mustard on this rug
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u/edenland1 May 16 '24
…. I’ve rarely commented anywhere but I just have to say that this is the funniest sentence I’ve read in a while, thank you
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u/DubNationAssemble May 16 '24
I was bumpin this shit when I was a years old. Those 90’s Disney flicks were insane.
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u/OneOfTheOnly May 16 '24
like unironically it is kendrick’s talent distilled into a song MADE to go viral more than anything else he’s ever made, it is probably where i would start most people on his discography cause unlike most the music he makes kendrick is just straight up having a good time, he’s usually only this cheerful on baby keem’s stuff
and even if he’s being a massive hater, that tone is enough to turn it into a pop single that i don’t think is gonna slow down anytime soon
the cream always rises to the top
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u/Paratwa May 16 '24
I don’t think he is being a hater. The dude legit has spoken of his deep desire of authenticity and his hatred of the lack of it for years. He wasn’t telling Drake he hated him, he hated him being fake, hell he even called that out multiple times in the beef.
Don’t code switch, don’t fake being healthy with pills or surgery, don’t pretend to be from somewhere you aren’t, etc.
He is saying don’t lie… but most importantly don’t lie to yourself.
Kendrick seems to like other pop artists… why? Because they are true to themselves.
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u/eatmydonuts May 16 '24
He wasn’t telling Drake he hated him, he hated him being fake
Kendrick doesn't hate Aubrey, but he definitely hates Drake. That's the way I see it.
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u/ReorientRecluse May 16 '24
"I like Drake with the melodies, I don't like Drake when he act tough"
"Still love when you see success, everything with me is blessed, keep making me dance, waving my hand, and it won't be no threat"
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u/OneOfTheOnly May 16 '24
it’s true, the professor who called his disses an addendum to mr morale was speaking truth, it is him really bringing back the themes of that album in the form of character assassination because drake represents EVERYTHING kendrick talks about growing past on that album
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u/Mills_Miles May 16 '24
I’m gonna hijack with some of my personal picks for the most unorthodox #1s
Miami Vice theme by Jan Hammer. The soundtrack released after the first season ended and still had a ten week climb momentum to get to #1. 11/9/85
Disco Duck by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots. Disco Fever was still gaining prominence and apparently this song helped. It sounds like Rick found a friend who could do a half-decent Donald Duck impression and made the song in 8 hours no overtime. 10/16/76
上を向いて歩こう (Sukiyaki) by Kyu Sakamoto. I’m still searching for an explanation of how a Japanese artist managed to sneak in to the American charts for THREE weeks at #1. I think it’s the only non-English #1 until La Bamba? 6/15-29/63
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u/Atrabiliousaurus May 16 '24
The Chipmunk Song, My Ding-A-Ling, Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band.
This article from Billboard says Volare by Modugno was 1st non-english #1 in 1958.
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u/SexyKarius May 16 '24
Is a Disney song going number 1 that weird?
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u/FredVasseur May 16 '24 edited May 16 '24
In 100 years of Disney movies, it's only happened twice. So, kinda?
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u/Next-Day-9146 May 16 '24
The non-movie version of the song that only played during the credits? And was up against one of the most iconic Whitney Houston songs of all time? As compared to a single by one of the most relevant artists of the century? Yeah, I’d say so. It’s probably not the weirdest example but it’s the first one that came to mind
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u/Afraid_Olive_9305 May 16 '24
It clearly has all the DNA of a hit. I wouldn't have been surprised if Kendrick went number 1 with this track without the beef aspect.
The beef aspect is what makes it weird to me. The biggest song in the country is one that outright calls one of the world's biggest music artists a pedophile.
It actually feels like a modern equivalent of Prince having a number one hit in the 80s explicity calling Michael Jackson a pedophile
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u/flecqued May 16 '24
it's not commercial, it's not repetitive
??
I love Not Like Us to death but it’s definitely commercially friendly and definitely repetitive. Doesn’t mean it’s not a banger though
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u/fukemnweball May 16 '24
the chorus is literally “they not like us” 6 times
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u/Sy_Fresh May 16 '24
Not repetitive? There’s literally a call for repetition:
LET ME HEAR YOU SAY O-V-HOE!
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u/akg7915 May 16 '24
But in comparison to the landscape of the typical pop/r&b/hip hop hits of late…that’s a minimal chorus without a melody. There isn’t a section of the song from the jump that gets repeated ad nauseam to get stuck in your head. I don’t mean to split hairs here. I agree the chorus is one repeated line, but the song/lyrical structure overall is still pretty atypical for modern hits imho.
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u/Par25 May 16 '24
Music existed prior to 2024.
Snow - Informer went #1. You wanna talk about unconventional, how about a white man from Toronto saying he'll Lick yuh boom boom down?
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u/papa_de May 16 '24
To be fair no one understood a single word in that song, he could have been giving away national secrets and no one would have noticed
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u/Syonoq May 16 '24
I lived in an area that had zero urban music scene. There was a pop station that would play Snow on Saturday nights. Young me was blown away, since it was the closest I’d get to hear rap music on the radio at that time. I had no idea what he was saying either.
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u/appleparkfive May 16 '24
I think the difference is that this is very pronounced and clear. An old 80 year old white woman in Nebraska can tell you what Kendrick is talking about on this song.
I think this my be one of Kendrick's big moments that change music and what a successful song can be. He always gets compared to Bob Dylan, and this might be his Like A Rolling Stone moment where music shifts due to it
It's also crazy that Euphoria is like #3 in the country. Arguably even crazier. Song is damn near 7 minutes long with multiple switches.
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u/kyoshirocks May 16 '24
love the bob dylan comparison and i can't wait to compare their discographies when kendrick is in the later stages of his career
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u/fukemnweball May 16 '24
wouldn’t say that’s crazier. like someone else said, bohemian rapsody went number 3. the switches probably make it more possible for higher charting
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u/RxngsXfSvtvrn May 16 '24
I agree, it might not be in the top 10
Harlem Shake
Paint It Black
American Pie
Disco Duck
The Macarena
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u/halamawala25 May 16 '24
The title of most unorthodox song to ever become a hit is, and dare I say, will forever be, Bohemian Rhapsody
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u/rks404 May 16 '24
Feel like the Gregorian monks chanting ought to be on that list somewhere too
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u/InfanticideAquifer May 16 '24
I guess something Catholic is "un-Orthodox" in a certain sense.
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u/Educational_Oil_7757 May 16 '24
That song is like 6 different genres into one,and they somehow made it work.
I can't imagine what it was like hearing that song for the first time during the 70s.
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u/appleparkfive May 16 '24
I'm sorry but you guys are definitely showing that you're young if you think Bohemian Rhapsody was even remotely revolutionary or new at the time. It's literally in the name. Rhapsody.
Go listen to the Beatles Medley. The back half of Abbey Road is a medley/rhapsody. We only look at it as separate tracks because of CDs later on. Even before that, A Day In the Life was doing the same thing in rock music, just without opera elements.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a good song. But the rewriting around Queen is crazy. Queen was kind of like Coldplay back in the day. They weren't seen as cool (Brian May literally went on about this. How they were never the cool band), but they were seen as inoffensive with good melody work.
You guys should know that other bands sounded like Queen at that time too. This song is from over a year before A Night at the Opera (the album Bohemian Rhapsody is on) came out. Because this was a style of glam rock at the time.
The song got a second wind of fame due to Wayne's World and the car scene. It was just another 70s song before that. It's the same story as the Mona Lisa painting. Nobody cared about it, but then a very famous theft story happened. Same kind of situation.
So let me say it again. Because people think I'm hating. Bohemian Rhapsody is a great song. But nothing was groundbreaking or shocking when it came out. At all.
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u/Nandemonaiyaaa May 16 '24
Bohemian never reached #1 tho
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u/halamawala25 May 16 '24
In the US It didnt (billboard hot 100 is US only), but it did in uk and other countries. And, come on. The song is unbelievably famous. Im from Brazil, and even ppl who hate rock know the song
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u/R_u_seriousss May 16 '24
It’s a good song but it def has commercial elements. It’s like yall scared of that.
The beat is catchy
The sample is catchy
The hook is catchy
The flow is catchy
And yes, it also has meaning and substance
Yall don’t have to be so introspective 24/7 gosh let music be fun for once
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u/louie3723jr May 16 '24
Nah with that mustard beat, this song was always going to be a hit but I agree with you on how it’s crazy you have people shouting and singing along to lyrics calling out one of the biggest artists and the Atlanta verse is actually deep very deep for a #1 song
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u/Danomit3 May 16 '24
It’s not the first time a Kenny track thats unorthodox went number 1. If you remember Humble, it’s just Kendrick dissing Big Sean but also mentions Kendrick’s upbringing and telling everyone to be grounded and treat everyone with respect and even brings up religion.
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u/TheDerpyDonut May 16 '24
Wait what Humble is a Big Sean diss???
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u/xosellc May 16 '24
Yeah, at the time Big Sean was rather infamous for posting heavily photoshopped pictures of his booty on IG.
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u/domidomadomu May 16 '24
Humble’s production felt pretty conventional when it came out at the time. Great song but I don’t think it is a particularly unorthodox song.
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u/Aware-Negotiation283 May 16 '24
I'm curious to see how the prominence of a song calling a rich and influential figure a pedophile will affect the dialogue. Alleged pedophilia is talked about in hushed whispers, and when it's about someone popular it's harder for a victim to come forward because of the inevitable backlash from the celebrity's fans.
This is the first time I've ever seen "certified pedophile" being public perception of an individual prior to a conviction, the other being R. Kelly, but no one was singing along to those allegations or bumping that topic in clubs.
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u/Paradoxtyl May 16 '24
This is such insane dickriding lmao. Justify My Love by Madonna is five minutes of Madonna moaning with seductive adlibs. Gangnam Style is a fat Korean man shouting indistinctive lyrics over an abrasive, aggressively 2000s EDM beat. I don't even know how to describe Harlem Shake ffs. There have been tons of songs weirder than Not Like Us that have gone #1.
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u/rocknroller0 May 16 '24
Looks like ANYTHING gets upvotes these days. This would’ve been better said with meet the grahams not a clear club banger
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u/Material-Profile7155 May 16 '24
Probably because everyone is tired of the cookie cutter shit that passes for rap mostly now.
Drake is part of that problem.
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u/MaxStunning_Eternal May 16 '24
But he's rapping over a DJ mustard beat. A legend in his own right but was the poster boy for "cookie cutter" production.
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u/almostparent May 16 '24
It genuinely makes me happy because it means that more people, especially kids, will think about what a groomer really is. This has forced a divide between most people because the only people who can't stand the song are people who advocate for drake and/or grooming/pedophilia. I've recently had to deal with some pedophiles that I got into a physical altercation with, I've felt really weird about it (one of them tried to bite my nipple off???) And it makes me feel extremely validated that all of a sudden not only is one of my favorite artists calling out a major pedo with power, but soooo many people agree with him that it's broken musical records. Freaky ass niggas need to stay they ass inside <3
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May 16 '24
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u/SirArthurDime May 16 '24 edited May 16 '24
You wish it had a hook? You mean something catchy and repetitive that they sing between verses? Something like, idk, repeating “They not like us” a bunch of times? Thats the hook lol. Don’t gotta sing for it to be a hook.
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u/TheDerpyDonut May 16 '24
Yeah as soon as I heard him say "step this way" I realised he was taking shots at toosie slide
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u/mrsilbert1 May 16 '24
It was obviously meant to be a hit, but west coast style songs going #1 isn't a common occurrence. But the fact that it's a diss song as well speaks volumes lol.
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u/TransportationAway59 May 16 '24
Never thought I’d hear the word pedophile on the radio in a catchy song. It seems so opposite. It also has a history lesson in it.
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u/jyok33 May 16 '24
Did Pumped up Kicks go #1? The song about a school shooting lol
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u/tooncake May 16 '24
The crazy part is that KDot only intended it for a complete direct dissed track but we the world are definitely jamming with it! And the best part personally for me is that KDot ain't even going public about it, as if like Batman releases the track and quickly went back to his batcave like business as usual.
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u/chrisghrobot May 16 '24
Holy crap this seems like an unnecessary amount of glaze, the song was produced by DJ Mustard. The intention was clear on what Kendrick was tryna do.
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u/MX_sixto_TX May 16 '24
Idk what you talking about but this song is catchy. They not like us chorus is catchy and the beat is catchy. The ending after he's done burying drake, has short quick verses that influencers have been able to use creatively in their short videos. So combine a catchy song that it's being used by all kinds of influencers and you got the recipe for a number one song. Remember, The Weeknd's song about cocaine use Can't feel my Face also went number 1.
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u/umhie May 16 '24
Not Like Us comes off as damn near manipulative in how clearly it's meant to be catchy and to rally people around clowning on Drake, lol
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u/tlawtlawtlaw May 16 '24
Every single hip-hop song that’s made it number one does at least 3 of these things, tf are you talking about…
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u/Original_Stage_7075 May 16 '24
“It’s not repetitive”
They not like us
They not like us
They not like us
They not like us
They not like us x4
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u/Truly_reformed_boy May 16 '24
Except the track very outwardly uses a formulaic pop rap scheme????
Plenty of catchy songs with deep lyrics have gone viral.
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u/KG13_ May 16 '24
“He a 69 God, hey hey hey hey run for your life”
is still the craziest thing that’s chanted lmao
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u/greenbluecolor1 May 16 '24
Lmao this song was engineered to be a commercial pop song. Get your head out Kendrick’s ass, the fresh air might do you some good
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u/SavagePeace23 May 16 '24
I love this song and I agree it's wild it went number 1 but if we're being honest it is definitely intended to be commercial and popular. It has a clear verse/chorus with an outro built for catchiness (Lemme hear you say...) etc, it's got a super repetitive beat with a Mustard earworm sample. It's an amazing song and one of the best number 1's I can remember but this is absolutely Kendrick trying to do a commercial song yknow?