How Kendrick Lamar challenged Drake's cultural identity in Not Like Us

ATLANTA, GA – DECEMBER 9: Rapper Drake performs on stage during “Lil Baby & Friends Birthday… [+] Celebration Concert” at State Farm Arena on December 9, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)

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The public feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake does more than entertain, it serves as a microcosm for larger discussions about hip-hop. Their fight for supremacy, mixed with both a sense of competition and personal issues, highlights Drake's oft-criticized journey in hip-hop, challenging hip-hop fans to consider the authenticity of cultural entry points.

Hip-hop, as a cultural form created by African Americans, incorporates a variety of diasporic influences from African, Caribbean, and Afro-Latino cultures. However, its fundamental roots remain in African-American culture. Ideally, hip-hop practitioners are members of those communities who not only shape the unique experience associated with hip-hop, but also bear the responsibility for managing its customs and trends.

One of the most egregious aspects of the lyrical battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake revolves around racial identity and the degree of connection to blackness. This starts a larger, perhaps uncomfortable, conversation, especially for fans of the rapper's Family Matters, a topic considered taboo in mainstream forums where he's had success for over a decade. For hip-hop purists who favor powerful lyrical content that embodies the genre's Black American aesthetic, the strength of one's connection to blackness is essential in assessing an artist's skill.

Host/singer Drake (right) and his mother Sandi Graham pose on the red carpet at the 2011 Juno Awards in… [+] at the Air Canada Center on March 27, 2011 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage)

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In Lamar's Drake diss track, Not Like Us, the bogeyman of a phenomenon takes several opportunities to examine instances where he believes the OVO Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF crooner misled elements of hip-culture. hop to post positive comments about his career. The chant that they don't like us in the chorus is likely Lamar's allusion to the fact that rap practitioners like Drake are not of his own caliber, one that organically respects the given morals of black culture.

Drake's dual heritage of an African-American father and a Jewish-Canadian mother was an important aspect of his personal narrative. Raised by his mother and educated in a Jewish school, Drake's biracial identity often led to feelings of alienation. He discussed these feelings in depth in a 2010 interview with the Jewish Chronicle, where he described the difficulty of integrating into black or Jewish communities. He explained the social challenges this posed during his school years, explaining: “I went to a school where no one understood what it was like to be black and Jewish, and how that ambiguity often left a feeling of exclusion from social circles.

Given his predominantly Jewish upbringing, it is reasonable to assume that Drake was not widely exposed to the dynamics of the black community. However, because his heritage includes African-American roots, elements of black culture naturally appeal to him. This connection, however, is complicated by what Kendrick Lamar critiques in Not Like Us, where he suggests Drake's portrayal of blackness, comparing it to Malibus Most Wanteds B-Rad, where the “B” stands for bitchis is just an adaptation to soothe his insecurities.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar attends the ceremony honoring him with the keys to the city of Compton,… [+] Compton, California, February 13, 2016. / AFP / VALERIE MACON (Photo credit should read VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

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Kendrick Lamar's formative years in the Comptona community, heavily impacted by the crack epidemic and characterized by its majority black and Hispanic population, shaped his outlook, as detailed in a 2012 interview with the Guardian while promoting from his first album, good kid, mAAd city. Born into a family plagued by gang life but seeking to escape, Lamar observed firsthand the impact of absent parents on his friends, many of whom had no parental supervision, often incarcerated fathers and mothers drug addicts. But since their birth in the 1980s, when crack was everywhere, they no longer had a figure to guide them. Father in prison, mother on the loose, Lamar said. He credits his more stable home environment, with the presence of both parents, for giving him the confidence that many of his peers lacked.

Hip-hop has long been a voice for societal critique, a tradition ushered in by tracks like Grandmaster Flash's The Message (1982) and The Furious Five. Renowned for its raw depiction of the struggles of life in poverty-stricken urban areas, the record features Melle Mel's unforgettable lyrics: It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from sinking. Although globally applicable, these words are a direct commentary on the impoverished conditions of the Bronx, making The Message one of the pioneering records of socially conscious hip-hop.

The importance of understanding both the history and current challenges facing the Black community cannot be overstated, particularly in how it informs artistic creation. This principle underlies Kendrick Lamar's criticism in his diss track against Drake, where he raps, Once upon a time, we were all in chains / Homie doubled down again on calling us slaves / Atlanta was the Mecca, building railways and trains. Here, Lamar accuses Drake of not only misusing the term slave in Family Matters, but also suggests that his collaborations with black Atlanta artists are calculated strategies rather than genuine connections. The inclusion of this historical reference amplifies Lamar's message that Drake may be far from understanding the sensitive nuances of the Black experience.

The clash between Kendrick Lamar and Drake acted as a catalyst, waking up sleeping hip-hop fans and prompting them to take a purist stance by delving into the nuanced lyrical battles between the two. This confrontation clearly illustrated what happens when hip-hop artists authentically or not represent the environments that shaped them. Both artists undoubtedly appeal to black audiences, but the broader meaning lies in the demand for fidelity to cultural representation, a demand strongly supported by hip-hop advocates at all levels.

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