Kendrick Lamar Performs Drake Diss Track 'Not Like Us' at Super Bowl 2025 — With Slight Lyric Change
The GNX rapper performed 'squabble up,' 'Humble,' 'DNA,' 'euphoria,' 'man at the garden' and 'peakboo' before teasing that he wants to 'play their favorite song but you know they love to sue' — a reference to the Drake diss track 'Not Like Us' and the current lawsuits surrounding the song. He decided against it, instead slowing it down, going into 'luther' and 'All the Stars' with Grammy Award-winning singer SZA.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Kendrick Lamar Delivers Electric Performance With SZA During Super Bowl Halftime Show
Tom Brady's $740,000 Jacob & Co. Watch Is Among the Status Brands at Super Bowl LIX
Trump Tells Fox News He Is Serious About Canada Becoming 51st State in Super Bowl Interview
Fans have been speculating whether or not Lamar would perform the diss track during the NFL's biggest stage. The 37-year-old rapper wasn't too forthcoming about performance specifics ahead of the game at a pre-Super Bowl press conference on Thursday, but he did tell fans to expect a performance with 'storytelling.' The Compton native had Samuel L. Jackson introduce the performance and brought out his producer Mustard to perform. It was previously confirmed that SZA would be joining in during the performance.
Finally, Lamar went into the chart-topping 'Not Like Us.' The critically acclaimed song, released amid an ongoing feud with rapper Drake, is one of several diss tracks the rapper released against the Certified Lover Boy artist, including 'euphoria,' which he also performed.
Sticking to the song's original lyrics in the moment, Lamar called out Drake by name. He noticeably skipped over the use of 'pedophiles' in the song but had the entire stadium screaming at full volume 'Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor.' Tennis superstar Serena Williams was also shown dancing in the performance. 'I did not crip walk like that at Wimbledon,' the sports icon said in a video posted to X. 'I would've been fined. It was all love.'
Super Bowl halftime show babyyyyyyyyy pic.twitter.com/zufoSNdNhe
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) February 10, 2025
'Not Like Us' was one of 2024's biggest hits, spending two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and 20 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. The song won all five of the Grammy Awards it was nominated for, including song and record of the year, transcending a simple diss track and becoming an international and cultural anthem. As The Hollywood Reporter's Janeé Bolden put it, the recent achievement is 'latest FAFO moment for the track's intended target.' The song also recently crossed over a billion streams on Spotify and was inducted into the streamer's Billions Club.
'Not Like Us' is at the center of a defamation suit from Drake against Universal Music Group, the parent record label to which he and Lamar are both signed. The new lawsuit claimed UMG 'approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track' that was 'intended to convey the specific, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.'
In November, Drake's Frozen Moments company filed a petition in a New York court alleging that UMG 'launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, 'Not Like Us,' in order to make that song go viral, including by using 'bots' and pay-to-play agreements.' Both Spotify and UMG refuted the claims, with the record label saying the allegations were 'offensive and untrue.'
'UMG and Spotify have never had any arrangement in which UMG charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for 'Not Like Us' in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending ['Not Like Us'], including 'to users who are searching for other songs and artists,'' the streamer said in a statement following the petition.
Lamar made his Super Bowl debut during the 2022 halftime show when he joined rap legend Dr. Dre and other titans of the rap and R&B world, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige.
The Philadelphia Eagles lead the Kansas City Chiefs 24-0 as of halftime during Super Bowl LIX.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More
Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2024: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo and More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
2 hours ago
- CNET
Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for July 7 #287
Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today's Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles. I saw the Brad Pitt movie F1 last week, and it was excellent. Thrilled to see it turn up in today's Connections: Sports Edition. That green category is pretty simple, but if you need help with the puzzle, read on for hints and the answers. Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That's a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn't show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic's own app. Or you can continue to play it free online. Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta Hints for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group. Yellow group hint: Gridiron numbers. Green group hint: Car cinema. Blue group hint: Touch 'em all. Purple group hint: Color inside these. Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups Yellow group: Stats for a football defensive player, in singular form. Green group: Racing movies. Blue group: Last four HR Derby winners. Purple group: Line ____. Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words What are today's Connections: Sports Edition answers? The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 7, 2025. NYT/Screenshot by CNET The yellow words in today's Connections The theme is stats for a football defensive player, in singular form. The four answers are forced fumble, interception, sack and tackle. The green words in today's Connections The theme is racing movies. The four answers are Days of Thunder, F1, Ford v Ferrari and Talladega Nights. The blue words in today's Connections The theme is last four HR Derby winners. The four answers are Alonso, Guerrero, Hernández and Soto. The purple words in today's Connections The theme is line ____. The four answers are change, drive, judge and of scrimmage.
Black America Web
4 hours ago
- Black America Web
A Kendrick Lamar Class Will Be Offered At Temple University This Fall
Source: PA Wire – PA Images / Getty This fall, you can get some class credit for your obsession with Kendrick Lamar. Well, only if you are enrolled at Temple University in Philly, where noted professor Timothy Welbeck will teach an inaugural class on the 'Not Like Us' rapper. Welbeck is a professor in Temple's Department of Africology and African American Studies and the Director for the Center for Anti-Racism, who has taught at the school for 14 years. The course will be called Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D City , referencing a track from Lamar's 2012 sophomore release Good Kid, M.A.A.D City . The professor told NBC10 in Philadelphia that he's been using Lamar's music in his classes for at least the last decade and that the department was receptive to the idea of a class on the Los Angeles-based rap star. He won't be the first musician the university has offered a class on, as Jay-Z, his wife Beyoncé, and Tupac have all been studied there as well. 'My current department chair was very open to the idea and received it almost immediately,' Welbeck told the outlet. 'In a lot of ways, our department at Temple specifically, and Temple more broadly, has embraced the study of hip-hop in academic spaces.' Lamar, 38, created a viral sensation in 2024 with his Drake diss track 'Not Like Us,' which he performed at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February. He's the only rap star to win a Pulitzer Prize, which he did in 2018. He's also won 22 Grammys, placing him third behind Jay-Z and Kanye West. Lamar is currently on the international leg of his Grand National Tour with SZA in support of his sixth studio album, GNX. Welbeck says the class will cover Lamar's music through the lens of the changing demographics in Compton, California, and its impact on Lamar's life and career. He hopes his students will come away from the course with a renewed appreciation for the artist and how he fits into the Black cultural zeitgeist. 'Kendrick Lamar is one of the defining voices of his generation, and in many ways, both his art and life is reflective of the Black experience in many telling ways,' Welbeck said. 'Being able to discuss his art in the environment that helps lead him into being the man that he is in a lot of ways can tell you about him as an individual, but can also talk about the journey towards self-actualization, particularly as it is related to the Black experience.' SEE ALSO A Kendrick Lamar Class Will Be Offered At Temple University This Fall was originally published on
Black America Web
4 hours ago
- Black America Web
Drake's New Track 'What Did I Miss?' Addresses Beef & Betrayal, Social Media Reacts
Source: Carmen Mandato / Getty Drake's been hinting at his new album —allegedly titled Iceman — for weeks, but last night, July 4, he ushered in his latest era with a new single. It all began when he cryptically posted to his social media, alerting fans that he'd be dropping something at 9pm. Eventually, a livestream YouTube entitled 'ICEMAN EPISODE ONE' launched, showing a back room of a random warehouse for about an hour with random glimpses of Drake walking around like a blue-collar worker on his lunch break. Then, the beat finally drops and he premieres his new song, 'What Did I Miss?' The scene quickly changes to Drake surrounded by dozens of long guns meticulously laid out near a backyard pool while dancing. Although he may have claimed that he was done rapping about his tiring beef with Kendrick Lamar, he immediately falls back into addressing his newfound enemies. 'Askin' me, 'How did it feel?' Can't say it didn't surprise me,' he harmonizes in the chorus. 'Last time I looked to my right, you n-ggas was standing beside me, How can some people I love hang around p-ssies who try me? ' The revenge talk continues in the first verse where he debates his get back with bars like ' You n-ggas just better not ask for no favors, It's love for my brothers and death to a traitor ' and ' You switched on the guys and supported a hater .' It's unclear who the bars are directed at and could reference several sideshows in the beef like Rick Ross, Future, The Weeknd, and A$AP Rocky, all of whom he's worked with on chart-topping hits. Drake's gets more pointed in the second verse when he raps, 'I saw bro went to Pop Out with them, but been d-ck riding gang since 'Headlines.'' Not only is this a reference to Kendrick Lamar's 2024 Juneteenth The Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert that served as a victory lap for winning the beef, but it could also reference LeBron James, who was seen at the arena singing along to 'Not Like Us.' The paranoia continues in the third verse when he repeatedly asks himself how he missed the backstabbing signs of people who he gave verses to, gave guest spots at his tours, and put money in their pockets. ' Word for word at all of the shows, You always felt like this, man, what did I miss? ' he says as the track ends. In the second part of the livestream, he's seen driving around in a delivery truck with another released song on the aux, tentatively called 'Super Max,' as hometown fans chase him down in real time. While whipping the truck, someone in the street yells, 'Drake's a b-tch,' which he quickly claps back at. 'What Did I Miss?' is currently available on streaming services. See social media's reaction to the new release below. Drake's New Track 'What Did I Miss?' Addresses Beef & Betrayal, Social Media Reacts was originally published on
