To lifelong rap fans, even considering these questions borders on the baffling — akin to imagining past vitriolic, subterranean classics like Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline,” Tupac’s “Hit ’Em Up” or Nas’s “Ether” as inescapable, mainstream hits.
“It’s by far the biggest diss record of all time,” said Charlamagne Tha God, the radio and television host best known for his syndicated morning show, “The Breakfast Club.” “There’s not even a debate about that. It’s bigger than ‘Hit ’Em Up’ ever was, more culturally relevant than ‘Ether’ ever was — it led to an unprecedented lawsuit from the person that it was targeted at.”
“There’s a difference between hit records and anthems,” he added. “You can think about a lot of hit records, but how many cultural anthems are there that transcend race, the genre of music, region, anything? Not many. ‘Not Like Us’ is a cultural anthem. Ironically, it’s going to end up on Kidz Bop.”
It’s not that Lamar hasn’t had a big song before. Tracks like “Humble” and “All the Stars,” with SZA, who is scheduled to appear at the Super Bowl as a special guest ahead of a joint tour, are both popular and recognizable, each topping two billion plays on Spotify.
But it’s worth recalling where Lamar seemed headed before he and Drake goaded one another into battle: deeper inward.
An underground mixtape artist until his lauded major-label debut, “good kid, m.A.A.d city,” revitalized L.A. gangster rap in 2012, Lamar favored complexity on the jazzy, searching follow-up, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” in 2015, before balancing storytelling and commercial hitmaking on “Damn.,” which went on to win the Pulitzer for music in 2018.