Catharsis Through Hip-Hop: The Success of Not Like Us

By Kyle Halligan-Duffy 

Music Journalist  

In the wake of Kendrick Lamar winning five awards for “Not Like Us” at the 2025 Grammy’s, curiosity struck as to how the diss track turned cultural phenomenon took off like it did. It wasn’t just the clever yet nuclear lyrics that atomized Drake, or the catchy Mustard produced beat that made this track ascend past the genre of hip-hop and the entire musical category. It was the population’s desperate need to release a mixture of emotions through this highly publicized feud. In a world where people are still feeling the aftereffects of COVID, war is escalating in Ukraine and Gaza and the election season in full swing, “Not Like Us” could not have come at a better time. In the same way that punk and metal can give rage an outlet, or country can help us deal with grief and loss, hip-hop has a way to give us an outlet through comedy. This third diss track by Kendrick Lamar gave society a scapegoat to vent all this frustration through laughter.  

      “It has broken through, like its broken through (the) culture” – Woolie Madden (Castle Super Beast 268)                                     

Comedy and music have come as a package deal for decades, especially in hip hop circles. From story filled tracks like R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet”, Eminem’s mid 00’s parody songs like “Just Lose It” and even artists like Lil Dicky who go all in on the satire, its clear comedy has a place in the rap community. The ways that “Not Like Us” borrow from these ideas can be heard very early on in the lyrics. Lines like “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophile” and the frequently repeated “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor” not only serve Lamar’s purpose in tearing up Drake like a paper napkin, but they give the audience its punchlines. The things we all need to get a joke and laugh along. Diss tracks have the tendency to do this tenfold. From the old Biggie and 2Pac beef to Eminem’s “Killshot” aimed at Machine Gun Kelly, and now Drake’s downfall with “Not Like Us”, diss tracks are a cultural zeitgeist. They are a generational pulse detector where they can divide, unite and in Lamar’s case, expunge people of negativity by giving them a musical fall guy to rally against. Only the state of the world left people so cynical and pessimistic that the sheer amount of negativity that needed erasing created a pedestal that hoisted Kendrick Lamar’s fame to even more ludicrous heights than anyone could imagine.  

Consider May 2024 when “Not Like Us” dropped. Only 4 years after a worldwide pandemic and multiple countries at war. The state of the U.S. is going to be in voter’s hands come November and once in a lifetime events and disasters are plentiful. People are a mix of apathetic, frustrated and downright fed up with it all. How are they going to release these emotions? Some decide to protest, others seek therapy and most twiddle their time away on social media with memes and pop culture news. This is where Kendricks’s success lies. After the conflict became public it wasn’t long before “Euphoria” was dropped. The duel started off with not just a bang but a bomb with bars like “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress, I hate the way that you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it’s gon‘ be direct, We hate the b****** you f***, ’cause they confuse themself with real women, And notice, I said “we, ” it’s not just me, I’m what the culture feelin‘”. “Euphoria” caught the culture’s attention alright, but it was held by the tracks, and more importantly the memes, that followed. This war between Drake and Kendrick sparked so many posts and news stories that it escaped its own bubble and became something more. Something that people could latch onto where the rest of the world was falling apart. Just like a comedy bit or nice concert can make you forget about your day at work, “Not Like Us” was able to help the world forget about all the terrible events happening around them.  

“Not Like Us” is not only a multiple grammy award winning song, or a track that could very well have ruined Drake’s career, it was a catalyst for an explosive, cathartic release of so much negativity that society was experiencing within our current times. Kendrick Lamar was able to help us deal with the stress of it all like moshing to metal, crying to pop songs, or drinking to country music helps us deal with similar things. Its clear after the 2025 Super Bowl, and the A minor heard round the world, that Kendrick’s fame has broken the glass ceiling and can only continue upwards.