Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The most emphatic victory lap of 2024 originates in rap, not sports.
The rap beef between industry titans Kendrick Lamar and Drake captivated the world over the weekend, and as the dust settles we see one person’s tracks become celebrated everywhere, including in the world of sports. As Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux walked up to bat in the third inning of the Dodgers’ game against the Miami Marlins, he used Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ as his walkup music.
At this point, this feels like a victory lap for Lamar as the dust settles on this beef. After dropping relentless pressure on Drake via hit songs such as ‘Euphoria’, ‘6:16 in LA’ and ‘Meet the Grahams’, Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ sounds less like a diss track and more like a summer anthem (which it more than likely will be). The entire world tuned in to see two of the best in the rap game go at it, and over the weekend it quickly turned into a tour de force for Lamar. Lux using that as his walkup music just feels like icing on the cake, a crossover of sports and culture that drives the nail in this rap beef for good.
This wasn’t the only place that used ‘Not Like Us’, too. During the Timberwolves’ game two rout of the Denver Nuggets, the song was used as bumper music. Drake can’t even watch basketball without hearing Lamar diss him, that’s tough.
Anyway, ‘Not Like Us’ is going to be one of the songs of the summer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s used even more by LA teams.
