Kendrick Lamar

California Legends Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, And Kendrick Lamar’s Music Made Its Way Into The State’s 2024 DNC Roll Call

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Snoop Dogg was one of the most talked about non-competing Team USA members. His advocacy reportedly earned him a hefty seven figure check. Before cashing checking for commentary work, the “Gin And Juice” rapper’s music brought home the bacon.

Today (August 20), at the 2024 Democratic National Convention his home state honored his early career. During California’s roll call, led by Governor Gavin Newsom, its delegates subtly paid tribute to several hip-hop legends from the Golden State. As Newsom delivered his speech (viewable here) to advocate for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, songs from California legends Dr. Dre, the late Tupac, Kendrick Lamar, and of course, Snoop Dogg played in the background.

Although none of the living acts were present to perform their classic tracks, that didn’t stop viewers at home from performing karaoke to the instrumentals. Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” featuring Snoop Dogg, Tupac’s “California Love” featuring Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” and “Not Like Us,” all made the state’s unofficial 2024 DNC playlist.

California wasn’t the only state to lean on hits from beloved natives. As a proud product of Atlanta, Lil Jon threw his support behind the Georgia delegates with a performance of his song “Turn Down For What” with DJ Snake.

Dre Dre Credits Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” For Unifying Compton

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Dr Dre has seen it all and done it all. He’s one of the pioneers of G-funk, and one of the most respected figures in the history of California hip-hop. His co-sign means a lot, which is why his appearance at the Pop Out show on Juneteeth was so special. Dr Dre introduced Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” in what turned out to be an iconic moment for the genre. Dre reflected on the performance during a chat with Complex Magazine, and how it was actually more important than fans might have realized at the time.

Dr Dre was questioned about Compton’s unity, or lack thereof, during the interview. He was fed a line from Vince Staples, who claimed that Compton gangs had been more unified than the media portrayed, and that Lamar’s Pop Out Show merely shined a light on it. Dr Dre disagreed with Staples’ take, but was hopeful that the success of “Not Like Us” will bring about change. “I’m not sure if that’s true or not,” Dr Dre asserted. “But I think Kendrick was able to bring that together for that moment. Hopefully that moment can move forward.”

Read More: Dr Dre Gets Offer From Olympic Archer To Train With Him For 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Dr Dre Admits Things Feel “Different” After “Not Like Us”

Dre voiced uncertainty over the future, especially given the history of gang violence in the city. “I’m not sure if that’s possible or not,” he noted. “Because it’s gonna take more than just one event to get that accomplished. Once it’s done everybody goes home to their home teams. And then they go back.” The interviewer asked whether the Pop Out felt different from Dr Dre’s perspective, and he agreed. “It does feel different,” he noted. “But hopefully it can continue.” Snoop Dogg accompanied Dre during the interview, and he was similarly enthusiastic about Kendrick Lamar’s post-“Not Like Us” success.

Snoop Dogg was more aligned with Staples’ sentiments, but noted that someone of Kendrick Lamar’s caliber was needed to showcase it. “What Kendrick did was he united the whole city based off of him being a king,” the rapper noted. “Creating peace, giving homies the opportunity to come on stage. He’s about peace. He’s about love.” Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg credited Lamar’s big picture mentality to the fact that he doesn’t belong to any one gang. “He ain’t from no gang,” Snoop noted. “He’s from a city full of gangs and he unites cities.”

Read More: Dr Dre Blasts Olympics For Not Having Better Breakdancers In Competition

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Dre Dre Credits Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” For Unifying Compton

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Dr Dre has seen it all and done it all. He’s one of the pioneers of G-funk, and one of the most respected figures in the history of California hip-hop. His co-sign means a lot, which is why his appearance at the Pop Out show on Juneteeth was so special. Dr Dre introduced Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” in what turned out to be an iconic moment for the genre. Dre reflected on the performance during a chat with Complex Magazine, and how it was actually more important than fans might have realized at the time.

Dr Dre was questioned about Compton’s unity, or lack thereof, during the interview. He was fed a line from Vince Staples, who claimed that Compton gangs had been more unified than the media portrayed, and that Lamar’s Pop Out Show merely shined a light on it. Dr Dre disagreed with Staples’ take, but was hopeful that the success of “Not Like Us” will bring about change. “I’m not sure if that’s true or not,” Dr Dre asserted. “But I think Kendrick was able to bring that together for that moment. Hopefully that moment can move forward.”

Read More: Dr Dre Gets Offer From Olympic Archer To Train With Him For 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Dr Dre Admits Things Feel “Different” After “Not Like Us”

Dre voiced uncertainty over the future, especially given the history of gang violence in the city. “I’m not sure if that’s possible or not,” he noted. “Because it’s gonna take more than just one event to get that accomplished. Once it’s done everybody goes home to their home teams. And then they go back.” The interviewer asked whether the Pop Out felt different from Dr Dre’s perspective, and he agreed. “It does feel different,” he noted. “But hopefully it can continue.” Snoop Dogg accompanied Dre during the interview, and he was similarly enthusiastic about Kendrick Lamar’s post-“Not Like Us” success.

Snoop Dogg was more aligned with Staples’ sentiments, but noted that someone of Kendrick Lamar’s caliber was needed to showcase it. “What Kendrick did was he united the whole city based off of him being a king,” the rapper noted. “Creating peace, giving homies the opportunity to come on stage. He’s about peace. He’s about love.” Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg credited Lamar’s big picture mentality to the fact that he doesn’t belong to any one gang. “He ain’t from no gang,” Snoop noted. “He’s from a city full of gangs and he unites cities.”

Read More: Dr Dre Blasts Olympics For Not Having Better Breakdancers In Competition

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Michael Rubin Had To Stop Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ From Playing At His All-White Party Because Of Drake

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Drake attended Michael Rubin’s annual Fourth Of July all-white party in The Hamptons, and his presence directly impacted the party’s playlist.

Rubin confirmed to The Breakfast Club that there was truth behind rumors claiming that Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping Drake diss track “Not Like Us” was not allowed to be played at the party.

“Drake’s my friend for a long time,” Fanatics CEO Rubin said. “I’m not gonna invite him and then have, you know, look, he’s obviously going through a little bit of a battle right now. I’m not gonna have him come there — I just didn’t think it was appropriate. So, I just sent a note, I said, ‘Hey, let’s not play anyone’s music that’s feuding with anyone that’s there.’”

Rubin noted that Drake had not asked Rubin to prevent “Not Like Us” from playing.

“The day before, we had a small barbecue for a few hours that was supposed to be thirty people [but] turned into 200 people for about ten hours,” he added. “That was the pre-game to the white party. When they turned the music on, just like in my house, they put RapCaviar, and ‘Not Like Us’ came on. It was in the middle of ‘Not Like Us.’ I’m like, ‘Get that off! Get that off!’ [Drake] was pulling up soon.”

Elsewhere this week, former US President Barack Obama raised eyebrows by omitting “Not Like Us” from his 2024 summer playlist.

Watch Rubin on The Breakfast Club above.

Haley Joel Osment Defends Kendrick Lamar After Confusing “Euphoria” Bar

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Haley Joel Osment being a talking point in a 2024 rap battle was not on anybody’s bingo board. The actor was referenced by name on Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Euphoria.” Well, kind of. Lamar clearly references Osment, and the films he starred in as a child, but he seemingly confuses him with someone else. The someone being pastor Joel Osteen. “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI? N**ga feelin’ like Joel Osteen,” Lamar raps. “Funny, he was in a film called AI. And my sixth sense tellin’ me to off him.” Fans have tried to make sense of the reference, and Osment has finally given his two cents on the matter.

Haley Joel Osment talked about “Euphoria” during a recent AP interview. He made it clear that he doesn’t think Kendrick Lamar made a mistake with regards to his name. Osment’s reasoning? Lamar is too sharp a wordsmith to be that sloppy. “The way I’ve heard people talk about that and certain analysis that I’ve read about it,” he explained. “I think that it’s an intentional scrambling of my name and that other guy’s name because Kendrick’s too precise to just make a mistake like that, I think.” Haley Joel Osment does admit he could be wrong, but is confident in the rapper’s abilities. “I think he’s too precise,” he added. “I mean, I don’t know for sure and I’m not going to assume that he knows my exact name.”

Read More: Kendrick Lamar Fans Debunk Claim That TDE Didn’t Support Nipsey Hussle’s Funeral

Haley Joel Osment Doesn’t Think K. Dot Messed Up

Haley Joel Osment loved the reference. He was shooting a film in Ireland when “Euphoria” dropped, and was subsequently bombarded with messages from friends. “[I] got like a hundred texts in the middle of the night,” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘What is going on?!’” Haley Joel Osment isn’t the only Sixth Sense alum who is a K. Dot fan.

M. Night Shyamalan, the film’s director, talked about the “honor” of being referenced multiple times by the rapper. Not only does the film get a shout out on “Euphoria,” but Lamar quotes the iconic line “I see dead people” at the start of “Not Like Us.” “Someone in the office was like, ‘Oh, Kendrick just dropped something and it references one of your [movies],” Shyamalan told the Breakfast Club. “We kind of lightly know each other, and I did know [he was a fan]. He’s very gracious with me, and I love him.”

Read More: Barack Obama’s Summer Playlist Excludes Drake And Kendrick Lamar

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Barack Obama’s Summer Playlist Omitted A Massive Hit, And Fans Wonder If The Former President Is On Team Drake

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Barack Obama is listening to everything from Charli XCX to Shaboozey, but apparently wasn’t feeling Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” leading to fans wondering whether the former President is on Team Drake. While “Not Like Us” has turned out to be one of the biggest songs of the summer so far, climbing to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 multiple times, it doesn’t appear on Obama’s recently shared summer 2023 playlist — even though the playlist includes entries from hip-hop faves like GloRilla, Megan Thee Stallion, and Saweetie.

The song spawned a browser game, inspired part of Serena Williams’ ESPY Awards monologue, and finally connected Kendrick Lamar to Gen Z and Gen Alpha fans. The song was even a big hit during the Olympics, with Team USA basketball stars Steph Curry and LeBron James debating its merits during shootaround.

It isn’t like Obama dislikes the Compton rapper’s music; he’s hung out with the rapper on several occasions, and even admitted to having him on a much more private playlist. He even predicted that Kendrick would topple Drake in a theoretical rap battle, eight years before the two actually came to lyrical blows. Maybe his excluding “Not Like Us” was an oversight, or perhaps he simply wanted to keep things kosher for the playlist, which still feels like it has some obligation to be at least a little wholesome and less haterific.

Barack Obama’s Summer Playlist Excludes Drake And Kendrick Lamar

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Barack Obama’s summer playlists are an annual tradition. The former president loves to clue fans in on what he’s listening to, and co-sign lesser known artists. Obama’s 2024 playlist has dropped and it has a pretty diverse mix of classics and new releases. The Rolling Stones is sitting comfortably next to the likes of Tems and Billie Eilish. Tems cracked the list with her sultry single “Love Me Jeje,” while Eilish popped up with her song “Chihiro.” Fans were just as intrigued by the titles that didn’t make the cut as the ones that did.

Other notable artists who appeared include Common with his 2005 track “The People” and Beyonce with her latest hit, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The latter makes complete sense, given how close Obama and the Carters are. Obama’s wife, Michelle, praised Beyonce’s album Cowboy Carter on social media when it dropped. “With Cowboy Carter, you have changed the game once again by helping redefine a music genre and transform our culture,” she wrote. “I am so proud of you.” The 2024 list was light in the hip-hop department, though. Besides “The People,” the only true blue hip-hop song to make the cut was “How Do U Want It” by Tupac, K-Ci & JoJo. Read the full list below.

Read More: Barack Obama Pens Heartfelt Tribute To Joe Biden After He Drops Out Of Presidential Race

Barack Obama Omitted Both Drake And Kendrick Lamar

R&B got a little more love, between the H.E.R. song “Process” and Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby.” The two biggest omissions, however, were Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Their battle will go down as the biggest hip-hop story of the year, and yet neither of them are represented here. Barack Obama didn’t feel like including obvious hits like “Like That” or “Not Like Us.” He didn’t even go the other way and pick Drake’s “Family Matters.” That said, Obama has made it clear that he leans more towards Lamar than he does the superstar Canadian.

In 2016, Barack Obama was asked whether he preferred Drake’s album Views or K. Dot’s To Pimp a Butterfly. He chose the latter without hesitation. “Gotta go with Kendrick,” the former President stated. “I’m just saying, I think Drake is an outstanding entertainer, but Kendrick, his lyrics, his last album was outstanding. [To Pimp a Butterfly was the] best album I think of last year.” Kendrick Lamar shouldn’t feel too bad, though. His single “Die Hard” made Barack Obama’s 2022 summer playlist.

Read More: Barack Obama Endorses Kamala Harris For President Following Rumors That He Thought She Would Lose

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Haley Joel Osment Thinks Kendrick Lamar’s Joel Osteen Lyric Mix-Up Might Have Been ‘Intentional’

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It’s been quite a year for Kendrick Lamar. “Not Like Us,” one of his many Drake diss tracks, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” show was a one-of-a-kind California performance. He’s even working on a movie with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Really, the only blemish on Lamar’s 2024 is the time he confused Haley Joel Osment for Joel Osteen. On “Euphoria,” he raps, “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI / N**** feelin’ like Joel Osteen / Funny, he was in a film called A.I. / And my sixth sense tellin’ me to off him.” One is an acclaimed actor and the voice of Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video games (Osment); the other is a shady televangelist (Osteen). But The Sixth Sense and A.I. Artificial Intelligence actor thinks the mix-up might have been on purpose.

“I think he’s too precise,” Osment told the Associated Press at the premiere of Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut Blink Twice (via Billboard). “I don’t know for sure and I’m not gonna assume that he knows my exact name, but the way I’ve heard people talk about that and certain analysis that I’ve read about it, I think that it’s an intentional scrambling of my name and that other guy’s name. Because Kendrick’s too precise to just make a mistake like that.”

Or maybe the simplest explanation is the correct one: Kendrick really did confuse the two. Here’s another way to tell them apart so this doesn’t happen again: no one ever found bags of money in Haley Joel Osment’s church.

Drake Surpasses Kendrick Lamar In Monthly Spotify Listeners After Beef

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Drake has had a bad summer. He lost the battle to Kendrick Lamar. He also had to sit around while Lamar’s “Not Like Us” became the biggest song in the country. It played so many places that Steph Curry got tired of hearing it. Lamar was not only winning the discourse war, though, he was winning the streaming war as well. His numbers were up during the battle, while Drake’s were noticeably down. The tables have turned, though. The 6 God is regaining his footing in a post-“Not Like Us” world, according to Spotify.

Hip Hop All Day confirmed that Drake reached a major milestone on August 9. The rapper notched 74.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify. This made him the rapper with the second-most monthly listeners on the entire platform. More importantly, though, it meant he surpassed Kendrick Lamar. K. Dot had been on a role throughout May and June. He accrued 74.7 million monthly listeners during the beef. As noted by a Billboard article, the success of Lamar’s diss songs actually boosted streams for his previous albums as well. The Compton emcee’s entire catalog was up 49% from May 3-6. Drake’s conversely, was down by 5%.

Read More: Drake Reposts A Tweet Ruthlessly Clowning J Cole On His Finsta Account

Drake Has The Second Most Monthly Listeners For A Rapper

The damage the battle did to Drake’s credibility is one thing. The damage the battle did to his streaming numbers, however, is another. Meaning, it didn’t do much damage. He’s still one of the most artists in the world, as evidenced by colossal numbers he’s doing on Spotify. Eminem is the only rapper who has more monthly listeners that Drake. Tellingly, Eminem is the only rapper who has sold more albums that Drake in terms of physical units. That being said, the 6 God has Slim Shady in the overall streams department. Em recently reached 50 billion overall streams on Spotify, which made him the second rapper to do so. Want to guess the first? You’re correct. Drake stands atop the Spotify all-time streams list with an eye popping 101 billion streams.

It gets better for Drizzy. The Toronto superstar recently broke another Spotify record. According to That Grape Juice, Drake became the first artist in history to have 17 individual songs pass one billion streams. “Jimmy Cooks,” the rapper’s number-one single from 2022, was the one that pushed it over the edge. He was previously tied for the Spotify record of 16 songs with Rihanna and Bad Bunny, but know he stands alone. And it sounds like new Drake music is right around the corner.

Read More: Lil Wayne Sparks Drake Beef Conspiracy Theories Thanks To His Latest Move

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Drake Linked To Streamer Accused Of Exploiting Minors For Revenge Porn

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Drake is on the of a PR nightmare. The rapper was in the process of moving on from the Kendrick Lamar battle, and doing so effectively. He dropped “100 Gigs” of content for fans, and teased a collab album with PARTYNEXTDOOR. Unfortunately, dirt from the rapper’s past has been dug up. Drake went on a Kick stream with a woman who goes by the name Snoh. The rapper has given Snoh shout outs in the past, and urged fans to give her a follow. The streamer, however, has been accused of coercing and manipulating minors into performing sexual acts.

Snoh has been accused of making “revenge porn” in which she convinces girls to show off parts of their body on a stream, and then records them without consent. There are allegations that the streamer does this with underage girls as well, but again, nothing has been proven. What has been proven, though, is the fact that Snoh and Drake seemingly have a good relationship. Drake has urged people to follow the streamer’s account, and has even appeared on streams himself. One such stream, which was deleted but was subsequently dug up by fans, is not a good look.

Read More: Drake Slapped With Copyright Strike After Dropping Unreleased Music

Drake Has Urged Fans To Follow The Kick Streamer

Drake appears on the stream with Snoh and a girl who is clearly identified as 18 years old. The clip in isolation is harmless, as the girl and her friend attempt to determine if it’s really Drake or someone who looks like him. In the context of what Snoh has been accused of, though, it’s alarming. The Twitter profile sum_offfff posted the aforementioned clip of Drake. The profile also dug up footage of Snoh coercing a number of different people to show off their bodies on camera. It’s pretty damning.

Drake has, obviously, a dubious track record when it comes to interaction with younger women. Kendrick Lamar based most of his diss campaign on this very suspicion. Dot alluded to these borderline, or maybe even illegal behavior on “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us.” The latter turned a joke about Drake and minors into one of the catchiest phrases of the year. Drizzy adamantly denied these accusations on the song “The Heart Part 6.” As many will remember, though, the rapper’s rebuttal was not the most well received.

Read More: Drake Unveils Massive Renovation Plans For Private Jet “Air Drake”

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