Kendrick Lamar's KILLSHOT Not Like Us Lyric Breakdown | DeCypherEd
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- On this episode, Skip and Dj breakdown Kendrick Lamar's electric,
culture-shifting final death blow of a diss track "Not Like Us". We break down the lyrics line by line to search for any hidden meanings, entendres, metaphors, or just petty lines that we may have missed or ignored when the song was first released.
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#kendricklamar #disstrack #drake #hiphop #rap #euphoria #jcole #pushups #familymatters #616inla #meetthegrahams #taylormade #mustwatch #notlikeus #pglang #hiphoppodcast #ovoxo #hiphopculture #hiphopnews #theheartpart5 #popout #thepopout #podcast #songreaction #lyricbreakdown
“…which we won’t be covering…”😂😂😂
You caught that too 😂🤣
Sacramento just signed and introduced DeRozan this past weekend and he came out to Not Like Us.
Proud to have him here❤
As a native Chicagoan and Bulls fan, I’m glad DeRoz came home, we didn’t deserve him either 🤦🏾♂️
He back home…almost….damn it Lakers. Smh.
The Kings?? Thought the Lakers were gonna catch that one.
@@RevengeOfThaNerd Unfortunately (for us fans), the Lakers are chasing ghosts.
“Not Like Us” was purposefully more catchy than his other songs for all of the haters who said that “Kendrick doesn’t know how to make a club banger” as if that is the main point of a beef lol
The texture of each diss was extremely different, it was like a 4 course meal.
@@rp2010 and he dumbed it down intentionally each song Kendrick dropped cause drake fans couldn't understand
@@richardbrown2755 FACTS
"We outside" is what we west coasters would say when we getting ready to fight someone, we would wait outside their house and yell "we outside" lets fight, bring your ass out!😆
everyone says that
God I love smart people who critically analyze things and have deep discussions
Yup
Headshots for the year man
Thats my favorite line also. "Beat yo a$$ and hide the bible if God watching"
So cold
The “pop out” bar is a callback to the lyrics in ‘Element’ too, in my opinion-
“If I gotta check a (fake one)*, I'ma make it look sexy
If I gotta go hard on a b-, I'ma make it look sexy
I pull up, hop out, air out, made it look sexy”
Also, “jabroni’s” is what Drake called Joe Budden and his crew in the angry DM’s he sent complaining about them talking about his affinity for younger women on their podcast.
*(a clean interpretation for the comments section)
Calling that record a kill shot is an understatement tbh
It was more of like a mortal kombat “finish him” move
@@bobbytropo2314thats exactly what i hear every time I hear not like us 😂
I legit got goosebumps when he explained the "up the score" 🤯 KENDRICK MURDERED THIS!!!
Had to add it, his take was perfect
Wow, I can't understand how Drake thought it was cool to say, "Whipped and chained you like American slaves."
Me either.
I can. What I can’t believe are the amount of Black people that let that slide.😒
Because he's white deep down it's all shits and giggles to him.
I totally get DJ's point. Meet the Grahams was a little hard to get over so you needed a minute to really 'hear' Not Like Us'. I loved it the minute I heard Mustard.
There's so many great quotes from all of Kendrick's songs from this beef, stuff that can just be used in response to whatever drake does from now on. Kendrick might be a psychopath
“ Meet The Grahams” is my favorite of all the discs tracks from KDOT!… it made me feel 😢 for Aubrey 😂 it hit my spirit
Opposite of a psychopath. Drake’s behavior is closer to psychopathy then Kendrick. Did you hear the heart part 6?
@@KaylaMarie_ I just meant that Kendrick lived up to his boogeyman name, no disrespect meant lol
Mustard said he didn’t use the Ether sample period. Just internet lies!
They don’t even sound similar to me.
@@angelique707 people really have Sugar Daddy’s in their ears.
"He's a weird dude." 🤣🎯
39:00 🤣
He is a diabolical smart man
OVO mascot being an owl is crazy considering owls are birds of prey
😳
The musician explaining the up the score line 🤯
I had heard about this in YT comments but I know nothing about music really, so yes to hear it explained really was amazing!
Further shows how meticulous and intelligent Kendrick is
That part. 😯👏🏽
ua-cam.com/play/PLcNqpK3Z-oC4pBGs_HqwDeYV6BSgTssoY.html&si=RaQc2JX2SgkHiCiU
This is what Up the score reminded me of. He orchestrated a rap 😏
Migos were headed up before Drake. I know about them because of Donald Glover and Atlanta, not Drake. Won’t deny he helped boost them, but it was mutually beneficial. There are so many Drake features that I really can’t distinguish between who he helped and who helped him, with very few exceptions.
Exactly
True he did help but tbh he wasn’t even on Culture that’s by far their biggest album. Atlanta their own breed tbh that city is special and their sound doesn’t really need outside help. Still can’t deny the homie hopper got his bag off of them.
He started Family Matters making a point of not listening to his mom!!!
this channel is pure quality! i hope you guys break down DAMN and section 80 one day.
🙏
And you even look at the fact that Cole and Kendrick were fr PATNAS like they had a mixtape they were planning to drop. Drake putting Cole ‘on’ and heavily featuring was 100% a subliminal shot at Kendrick💯 Drake was trying to be Palpatine and control the Clone Wars from the background the whole time mannnnnnn
a liar and manipulator like Kendrick said😂
Exactly ! I love the star wars reference
Glad I caught a premiere! Y'all always made quality content. Can't wait for a live!
“Pssst I see dead people” was a call back to Drake saying “your dead!” at the end of Family Matters!
I don’t disagree, but the connection to sixth sense and that being the most iconic line from the movie is undeniable. Both can apply.
Ghost writers?
Mustard didn't sample Ether. He sampled _Monk Higgins's 1968 rendition of "I Believe to My Soul."_
Mustard was interviewed, and he said being from Cali, he wanted Kendrick to use a beat of his. He said he was sending Kendrick five beats/texting him daily so that he could stay on Kendrick's mind. He did this for a few months and found out his beat got used when people started hitting him up as he was driving on the interstate, heading to a baby shower.
what i like about that pop out n show niggas bar is it kinda goes back to the part in kdot like that verse when he was like it’s time for him to prove that he’s a problem, everytime kdot step out he flip the rap game if u the greatest prove it
He said NLU dont have bars but didn’t realize what Kendrick was saying with the bars lol
He Said It Ain’t Super Bar Heavy, That Don’t Mean Ain’t No Bars
We help each other up, that’s what makes the team work.
@@wearedecyphered dont get me wrong. I loved the video. And yalls back and forth make it more engaging then if both of y’all know everything. Its like yall are having a real convo about the music.
Sorry if my comment seemed harsh. It was just something that made me giggle lol
@wearedecyphered Love your breakdowns. One thing I also think about when he says Sweet Chin Music and he won't pass the Aux is Oxycodone. You just got kicked in the chin, right? I'm not passing you any medication. You gonna FEEL ALL this pain.
I loved this conversation and how y'all were calm and informative. Keep going! 🎉❤
Thank you so much ! You guys keep us going
I just subbed recently but I enjoy your videos, it breaks down a lot of information and perspectives that a lot of other channels don't cover. Thank you so much and keep up the great work.
I love the way you guys assess and articulate EVERYTHING. It's becoming a rarity for US to understand and convey what we're seeing ACCURATELY. You guys need to start a faction with a political agenda to open our eyes on that front also. Thank you for your ability to provide information that feels unbiased.
Believe it or not, on our old pod…. We discussed politics (along with music sports , etc) during the Biden trump election cycle and things got wild with our viewers lol
@@wearedecyphered That's unfortunate for us.
The other entendre in “How many stocks do I really have in stock…” is Stockton which is a street in Compton. He has mentioned it before in Element, “I be hangin out at Tam’s I be on Stockton…I don do it for the gram I do it for Compton!” How many stocks…Stockton but we all pronounce it as StockTen. 1,2,3,4,5+5=10. Stockton.
btw mustard did a longer interview about the track...he's been hoping to get Dot on his album so he'd been sending multiple beats by text and kendrick didn't really respond other than to ask for stems a few times
not like us was part of a pack he sent in april so it wasn't in the vault as long as people might assume
This started as 'I don't think this was all that deep' to 'aw, nah... you kidding? That's tough."
I’m glad you explained the Cole thing. I expressed similar sentiments the moment it happened and dudes just couldn’t grasp that concept. I’m like ya’ll niggas ain’t ever been through shit
Yall finna cover the music video? Tbh it made a lot of the lines hit different.
I'm so impressed with the mv from the beginning (the knock) to the end (the owl being uncaged from its perspective, caged from Kendrick's).
💯 😊
A lot of folks was saying that Gucci was always hollering the 6. Then when he got locked up, he adopted it and turned it into a “Toronto” thing.
That’s nasty work. And QM said it in those songs he wrote for drake too. So i think the term was popular in zone 6 already and drake said “gimme dat”
You guys are so good at this. Great breakdown, as always.
Shoutout to you for sticking with us, I’ve seen your comments a lot , we greatly appreciate that. We will keep working hard.
@@wearedecyphered 🙌🏾🙌🏾
That reference went over my head. I took the finishing move part atface value. I remember Shawn using the Canadian flag like a towel and rubbing it back and forth on his butt and groin!!! 😂😂😂
Nah that fr made that line one of my favorites from the song🤣💯
@@jalenashley3909 Now that it’s been pointed out, I can’t get that vision out of my head. lol
When he was calling him "crodie" in Euphoria, that is drake cats name. So what does that tell you? Cats are also known as...
It’s worth repeating, for all of the Drake defenders who want to believe that Kendrick’s motivation was purely self-serving, using terms like ‘relevant’ and ‘clout-chaser’ to malign his intentions… go watch the 2017 DNA/Humble performance at the VMA’s. Kendrick changed the chorus to “Drake, be humble”, not just once, but throughout the song. This wasn’t about a rap battle, relevance, or who the GOAT is, we might not ever learn all the reasons why, but Kendrick clearly felt disarming Drake of his influence was a necessity.
Thank you for this I'm going to look this up on UA-cam right now
I guest Dot is just trying to help his lil homie. 😉
"This not about critics or about who's the greatest, it's always been about luv N hate"-Kendrick Lamar (Euphoria).
"They Not Like Us" represents all of Black America and our culture which is uniquely our own. To me this song represents Black pride, Black power, and Black unity.
We're the only people in the world whose culture from fashion, music, slang, and swag that has global recognition.
Talk that talk !!!! 🤝🏾
@@wearedecyphered
✊🏾
Only ppl in the world? 😂 🇯🇲
9:08 yea Mustard did an interview with Big Boy and he said he had been sending Kendrick beats for a little while and he didn’t kno he had actually used one until the song came out. He said his phone started blowing up and people were like, are you hearing this? And he had no idea.
36:23 was also a reference to Drake being a groupie for players & his weirdness w/ basketball. Remember when he randomly suited up in Uni. Of Kentucky warm-up suits, sat in their pre-game meeting and shot around w/ them?? When pics circulated of that along with him going to those sorority houses at 2a.... 😬
ALSO Drake had a photo w/ Karl Malone which made the Stockton line a bit more scathing. Karl was/is apparently his neighbor and people (once they figured out the Stockton/Malone correlation) dug up the picture Karl & Drake have together on their social medias; Drake has since apparently deleted the pic from his IG I think Karl still has his up.😂😂
That’s insane 😵💫
My guy with the UAB hat reading was struggling 😂. Appreciate yall breakdown of the lyrics though. Good shit
17 an Und😮er That’s crazy 👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿.Brothers outstanding reviews ✌🏿
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I hear ya like em yooouuunnggg
Preciate it bro 🤝🏾
Great breakdown/discussion. Thanks! Would love to see your reaction to the music video. It takes it up another notch with all the easter eggs.
Soon as we’re fully capable we will.
Yo shout out to y’all. I’ve been watching drake Kendrick videos all day at work and its 10pm now. This is the only video where I got some new information or takes lmao.
That’s that research helping out lol
You said kendrick had "not like us" already written and changed the family matters line and i agree.
But i think he changed the whole verse. It's the part that has less double entendre, the most straight foward bars, he didn't have the time to write it that way. The whole theme shift on that verse.
For me, he heard drakes family matters slaves lines and was like "oh i got to teach this man an ATL lesson".
The a minor bar is a direct reference to Drake's Dave Free bar on family matters as well
Drake was trying to draft behind Cole as Drake took shots at Kendrick. Or use Cole as a shield 🛡️as Drake attacks from a safer position…
I agree. J Cole backing down ruined drake’s plan.
Cole : This watch came from Drizzy. He gave me a gift
Me: Nnnnnnah...
This breakdown was amazing 🖤
Thank you so much 🙏🏾
40:12 "LEAVE THAT WOMAN ALONE" yeah Drake leave THOSE WOMAN ALONE LIKE UGHHH🙄 (I HAD TO REMIND MYSELF THAT HE WAS BEEFING WITH KENDRICK NOT WITHNEY ALL ALONG BECAUSE THE WAY HE ALWAYS BROUGHT HER UP 🤦🏾♀weirdoo...)
That was insane how all of his angles basically came from her IG account. His relationship with women is insane. That was his undoing though.
really love the detail in yalls breakdowns ✌
Much appreciated we work hard on these !
How many nails are in Drakes coffin now? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 plus 5
I can’t wait to see him perform this at the Grammys
If that happens… I don’t even want to think about it
7:40 I don’t think we can just dismiss the nuggets when “deciphering” KDot’s lyrics… that’s the beauty of his intricacy. I see dead people? Yes… theres the initial understanding of the six sense reference and the ghost writer reference... BUT Kendrick is known for his entendres… so there is room for expansion.
Not Like Us looks into the moral differences between himself and Drake…
James 2:26… he literally see’s dead people… Drake lives the life of a spiritually dead individual.
The boys name in sixth sense is Cole, which is interesting.
I've heard Dot say in interviews that the dead speaks to him in dreams.
@@MaynardsSpaceship I believe it… it’s not uncommon for people who are in tune and willing to speak on it
🧐
Amazing perspective. This battle felt spiritual in a lot of moments. So it makes sense, and damn and Mr morale are spiritual in nature of the content. Heck, GKMC starts with a prayer.
Great breakdown, as always.
I think Kdot also resents what PDrizzy *represents, as well - the co-opting of an art form he *loves and *reveres - the gentrification/ theft of this expression from those who had no voice. Drake is a *character played by Aubrey - he’s more palatable and poppy because he’s *not really like those *others whose plight generated this art form.
Accidentally caught the premiere again, we up
🔥🔥🔥 breakdown🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Aubrey Drizzy Drake - Freaky A$$ Nugget
I really enjoyed the banter at the end I know that I'm going to watch this at least two more times so good job fellas🎉🎉🎉
Glad you enjoyed it 🤝🏾
You guys did an amazing job, I learned a lot ❤
Much appreciated !! So did we
At 44:00 or so, you guys talk about Drake repurposing shit and trying to make it stick as being a Toronto thing. I think it's uncalled for to infer that Toronto ain't got nothing. It does. Toronto has its own thing, even in terms of Toronto's hip hop scene. Almost all places do.
The problem is that Drake doesn't live and breathe Toronto. He never did. Drake has to do this, not because Toronto doesn't have anything, but because Drake is an outsider to his own city. He doesn't know!
Anyway, just had to point that out. Only criticism the entire video, and maybe I didn't even understand you guys right! Amazing breakdown as always brothers, can't wait for whatever's up next!
The John Stockton bar is a triple because Drake and Karl Malone have a picture together.
Don’t forget the slave line that started the Atlanta’s colonizer verse was a response to Family Matters as well. Not just dropping the name at the end
He takes the new artist best song, How can they survive after?
Good question
Dot showed everybody that there's levels. I never understood why people really thought Dot was going to lose
Sidenote about the Baka case. He was trafficking his then girlfriend, that makes the situation that much crazier in relation to Drake. It also raises the question of how trustworthy is he as a man, because if he's willing to do that to a woman he's in a relationship with what will he do to you?
He would probably Completely disregard you.
@@wearedecyphered he's probably one of the ones Kendrick was referring to on 616, but Drake doesn't realize it's even happening.
Stealing a whole city’s nickname is such a weird move!
Zone 6 isn't the whole city of Atlanta
I’ve always said that he was a lil mental for that lol
Stole zone 6’s nickname and threw away the game he stole the nickname from 😂😂 the boy is really sinister man
51:24 it's even giving him too much to merely say it's a gift and a curse
It's a momentary gift but lifelong curse
Another music theory note: B# is a note. It’s the same as C. But its very rare to ever call it B# because it makes the music difficult to read and why say all that when you can just say C lol
But also B#/C has A Minor as its relative scale. C Major is A Minor So Drake just walked back into A Minor by trying to be clever lol
🫨 this thread of the battle’s fabric is so insane to me. The way music theory has been injected is beautiful. I have a lot to learn. Long way from my elementary school saxophone days
Drake has always come off as someone acting like a rapper. The ghostwriters add to it. Kendrick is a pure artist. People love to make it seem like it’s so bad Kendrick took so long to drop Mr Morale. Well if you’re a real artist and you have writers block or you feel musically uninspired then yea, you wait until you feel it. But Drake just needs someone to bring him a hot song and do it. (I’m not saying, oh it’s so easy to just make hits for as long as Drake has been doing. That’s not just something anyone can do. Drake has had a run that is no joke. But it’s a different thing.)
I agree. And their types of content are completely different. There’s not much change in drakes lyrical content since views, so it’s easier to keep creating the same stuff over and over, but it comes at a cost of maintaining quality.
Idk if this is true but one breakdown video i watched said the reason jcole said that line in first person shooter is bc he thought kdot was going to be on the song. Apparently drake didnt tell cole this.. Thats why kendrick says "You did Cole foul" in "Not Like Us." Idk if its been proven actually true but I wouldnt be surprised if it is sounds like some sneaky shit Drake would do 😒😒😒
yea cole didn’t know drake was dissin kendrick!
You talking about the big 3 line ?
I can agree Cole got caught in the crossfire until he dropped 7 min drill. That made it real.
@@wearedecyphered yea his diss (cole) was because he thought dot was coming at him but it was drake being shady af and when he realized that he pulled back not because he was scared he genuinely fw kenny
The Beard line could mean Drake is a beard covering his crew questionable behaviors, he doesn’t like women because he likes young girls…
He really has enough drake diss songs to make a whole album
40 mins of full on high level diss tracks
Tbf I love "meet the grahams" more than "not like us"
I like not like us too, but for me not as much a targeted art as meet the graham
Not like us is like an anthem, a larger conceptual thing
Which again, is totally my thing
Meet the grahams just better in the context of the beef for me
The magnitude of not like us made it a spectacle unto itself, but the actual song that ended drake was meet the grahams.
we in here lets gooo!!!!
Like the breakdown, but some things get missed because it’s regional. For example, having a weird case is how you say a pdf or S*x offender on the west. It’s not saying it’s confusing or suspect. “We outside” is saying we active. It’s a flex. It’s saying we ain’t hard to find and you still won’t do nothing. We ready to bang on you. It’s like “whooping feet” is WC slang for beating the breaks off you.
Somebody said they beat light skinned kids on their feet so bruises don’t show. 😢
Yeeaaah boy
You start Christopher Walken!!😂
Know I'm late, but the reason Metro is mad at Drake is because when Metro's mom passed Drake called him about a beat. Metro mentioned he was in mourning and Drake said so. That's why Metro said their beef wasn't about a girl.
Dat editing splice was dope af 🤌🏾
👨🏿🍳
10:56 Karl Malone also stopped by Drake’s house to watch the game and they got a picture together
Great podcast
Much appreciated 🤝🏾
how yall presented drake at the beginning omg 😭😭😭💀 cant even they yall wrong this sht crazy smh
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Drake got in trouble for moving his plane 3 times in 6 weeks. 3 short flights of an "empty plane" to Hamilton (port city in Ontario), now go look at Drake's plane, the skin on the plane is the same as the background in the tightrope scene...those shipping containers looking real symbolic. They say "barbados" on them, huge trafficking place.
Hmmmmmmm 😵💫🧐 I’ve heard that too, but the plane movement thing is brand new and very strange. No flight logs of any passengers ? That wreaks of trafficking
@@wearedecyphered I talked to someone who checked celebrity flight logs and they say Drakes went dark on April 6, 2024. Isn’t that suspicious??
Bro face at “Tryna strike a chord” 😂😂😂😂😂😂
“I forgot I had it wrote down, oh well” 😂😂😂😂
Mustard was sending kendrick beats everyday (this is from his bigboy interview). He said he always wanted a kendrick track aside from the beef, but never got the chance and he didn't even know he was going to use the beat let alone say the tag until he heard it for the first time
😂😂😂 I can't. Never old but I am trust me my knees😂😂😂 are telling me am old 😂😂😂😂
i feel like even if Cole goes scorched earth on the next rapper that tries to go at him, it would still be a net loss, or at least a win with a huge asterisk -- you won, but not against Kendrick -- you did well, but you ducked Kendrick -- that will always follow him now. i think the monk route is the more agreeable option. try to spin it like youre on some Andre 3k typa energy instead
He put himself in a weird space. BUT I think if he flames somebody bad, ppl would excuse it but the real would always know you ducked the one true fade of your career.
Love to see Kyrie Irving doing reaction videos and breakdowns.
😂
The fact that Toronto (and probably Canada as a whole) doesn't have a unique rap/hip-hop culture is probably another Drake crime. For 12 years, almost every up-and-coming Canadian rapper was manipulated and swallowed into the OVO sweatshop. Xevi covered several stories on his channel on the Drake Stim Package.
One of the reasons his so bitter at The Weeknd and Kendrick is not because of their talent, but because he now has to share the spotlight.
I’m gonna check that xevi channel out , this is the dark side of a bigger artist managing your career or jumping on your songs, you end up playing background.
Mustard said he sent Kendrick 5 beats a day for a while, he had no idea that Kdot was using that beat so the Ether connection is dead, he didn't even know this would be used in a diss.
Bravo!🎉
The sample is “In My Soul” by Ray Charles
Here after Port Antonio
I think September or October would be a great window for a drop, but yeah, likely next year to make sure it is as polished and hard hitting as possible.
I wouldn’t be surprise with either route honestly. I just want good music.
11:56 bit late to the time stamp but imagine Eminem cadence from “hi my name is” saying beat yo ass And hide the Bible if god watching”
Drake was basically acting like a high school girl. I got beef with Kendrick so ima take Cole from you and use him against you and j Cole was naive and fell for it. I don’t think they link up was genuine at all for first person shooter
That's possible, even probable. If so though he tried to use Cole and got bodied on his own song ala Jay-Z.