- Music
- 20 Jun 24
The performance took place at Lamar's Juneteenth concert in Los Angeles' Kia Forum on Wednesday, intended as a show of unity for the West Coast rap fraternity.
Kendrick Lamar performed the first outing of his viral Drake diss track 'Not Like Us' in LA last night to rave acclaim.
The song was so well received that the artist ended up performing the track five times before exiting the stage to a sixth, instrumental version of 'Not Like Us'.
The show, intended as a show of unity for the West Coast rap fraternity, saw more than 20 musicians made guest appearances, including Dr Dre, Roddy Ricch, Ty Dolla $ign, Tyler The Creator and Steve Lacy.
Titled 'The Pop Out: Ken And Friends', the show was streamed live on Amazon, it opened with sets by DJ Hed and DJ Mustard, who held a moment in memory of LA rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was murdered two years ago.
The Pulitzer Prize winning rapper took to the stage at 6.30pm, opening with a performance of another Drake diss track 'Euphoria'.
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The song included a new line, in which Lamar rapped: "Give me Tupac’s ring back and I might give you a little respect", making reference to a ring previously owned by the late Tupac Shakur, that was purchased at auction by an anonymous bidder for over $1 million last year. The buyer was later revealed to be Drake.
Lamar went on to play hits including 'DNA', 'Alright', 'Swimming Pools (Drank)' and 'King Kunta'.
However, there was one song everyone wanted to hear as the crowd chanted 'Not Like Us' lyrics during Lamar's set.
To kick off the first round of 'Not Like Us' Lamar brought out West Coast rap legend Dr Dre, who opened up the first performance of Not Like Us by whispering the opening line, "I see dead people".
With each repeat performance , Lamar was joined by more and more guests.
By the end of the night, there were almost 30 people on stage, including YG, Steve Lacy, Schoolboy Q, Big Boy, G Perico, DJ Mustard, and basketball stars Russell Westbrook and Demar Derozan.
Pausing to take a group photo, Lamar told the crowd: "This is unity, y’all just don’t know man".
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He dedicated the show to the musicians and friends they had lost to violence, saying: "Everybody on this stage got fallen soldiers. For all of us to be together, that is fucking special," he continued.
"We put this together with peace... I promise this won’t be the last of us."
The show ended with a sixth, instrumental, version of 'Not Like Us', played as fans left the arena.
You can check out part of the performance below: