Kendrick Lamar takes 'Not Like Us' victory lap in Drake's native Toronto
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SZA, Kendrick Lamar win big at 2025 BET Awards
Kendrick Lamar won Album of the Year for his critically acclaimed GNX LP and Mariah Carey performed her hit song 'It's Like That' at the BET Awards.
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Toronto may be Drake's home turf, but even crowds in the 6 can't resist that catchy Kendrick verse.
During a concert in the Canadian province Thursday, June 12, fans chanted along as Kendrick Lamar performed his viral Drake diss track "Not Like Us."
Part of what feels like a never ending victory lap, Lamar's performance punctuated just how universal the song has become. In Toronto, where maple syrup is a more common export than rap, Drake is an artistic icon.
But, as concertgoers parroted back Lamar's cruelest verses, calling Drake a "colonizer" and "pedophile," even his home court advantage seemed to fade.
The episode is another nail in the coffin of a slow-motion rap battle, the likes of which the hip-hop world has not seen in decades.
The roots of Lamar and Drake's feud go back more than a decade to 2013, though things quickly intensified in spring 2024 as the two traded bars and barbs with shocking allegations.
Over the course of nine songs, both rappers hurled insults at one another in rapid succession, with nothing off limits – looping in city pride, claims of physical and sexual abuse, and parental absenteeism.
Then, "Not Like Us" blew the beef wide open, bringing it into the mainstream as Lamar's lyrically rich takedown became a streaming hit.
Kendrick Lamar, Drake beef explained after the Super Bowl halftime show
A sold out Los Angeles Juneteenth concert and much-discussed Super Bowl performance later, "Not Like Us" has become not just a Drake diss track but a symbol for peak hater status, us vs. them fervor and racial reckoning.
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