Lamar's The Pop Out concert In June 2024, Lamar announced a one-off concert at the
Kia Forum in
Inglewood, California, titled
The Pop Out: Ken & Friends in reference to a lyric from "Not Like Us" ("Sometimes you gotta pop out and show niggas"). The concert was scheduled for
Juneteenth, which
Charlamagne tha God suggested was a dig aimed at Drake. Lamar opened his part of the show with "Euphoria", which contained updated lyrics aimed at Drake's possession of Tupac Shakur's crown ring. Later in the show,
Ab-Soul accompanied Lamar for the debut performance of "6:16 in LA". Lamar performed his verse on "Like That" for the first time before inviting Dr. Dre on stage. Lamar and Dre performed Dre's hits "
Still D.R.E." and "
California Love", the latter of which Dre had recorded with Shakur. After these two songs, Dre performed the intro to "Not Like Us" ("Pssst, I see dead people"). Lamar concluded the concert with a "Not Like Us" encore, afterwards repeating the song five more times while dancing on stage with colleagues and members of many Los Angeles street gangs, including the
Crips and
Bloods, before taking a group photo onstage.
"Not Like Us" music video The
music video for "Not Like Us" was released on July 4, 2024, in celebration of
American Independence Day, at approximately 3 p.m.
PT, after four still images from the clip were
leaked to social media the day before. Dave Free and Lamar directed it, and
Charm La'Donna handled the choreography and is also credited as the
associate producer. The video features cameos from
Tommy the Clown and NBA star
DeMar DeRozan (a Compton native and former star of Drake's hometown Toronto Raptors who is mentioned by name in the track), and is set in Lamar's hometown of
Compton, California.
CNN and
NME noted widespread anticipation for the video up to its release. Numerous publications and websites called it another victory lap for Lamar in his feud with Drake. The video discredited many allegations and claims that Drake had used to diss Lamar with the appearance of his family dancing happily in the video, as well as the video credits reading "Directed by Dave Free and Kendrick Lamar". and was seen as Lamar's "knockout punch" against Drake.
Concert cancellations at History Schoolboy Q was set to commence his Blue Lips Weekends concert tour, in support of his sixth studio album
Blue Lips (2024), on July 18, 2024, at
History in Toronto. The music venue was established in 2021 through a creative partnership between Drake and
Live Nation Entertainment. On the evening prior to opening night, Schoolboy Q announced that the sold-out concert was unexpectedly cancelled. He blamed the cancellation on Drake and Lamar's feud, citing his longtime friendship with Lamar, and claimed the
Toronto Police Service prohibited artists from Top Dawg Entertainment from performing in the city due to safety concerns. The police agency dismissed rumors of their involvement, saying the decision to cancel the performance was made solely by History. The two artists taunted Drake and gloated over the move with Schoolboy Q on social media.
Sir, who is also signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and has close associations with Lamar, announced the following day that his sold-out concert at History was also cancelled.
Drake's comments and legal actions against UMG On November 25, 2024, Drake appeared on a
livestream with Canadian streamer
xQc, describing himself as "fully intact, mind, body, and soul" and remarking that "you need facts to take me out, fairy tales won't do it". He also sent additional jabs at the Weeknd and
Steve Lacy; the latter and Lamar reacted to the stream with amusement. On the same day, Drake filed a petition against
Universal Music Group (UMG)—a label he and Lamar are signed to—and
Spotify alleging they violated the
RICO Act by using illegal tactics to boost streams for "Not Like Us". UMG responded the same day, denying the allegations and stating that "no amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear". On November 26, Drake filed another petition against UMG, alleging
defamation and a "
pay-to-play" scheme between UMG and
iHeartRadio. On December 20, 2024, Spotify released opposition papers in response to the original petition, denying allegations of "any arrangement" between themselves and UMG. Drake's legal representation responded the same day, stating Spotify and UMG "should be perfectly fine complying with this basic discovery request" if they have "nothing to hide". On January 15, 2025, Drake filed a lawsuit against UMG for defamation; Lamar was not included as a defendant. On March 17, 2025, UMG filed a motion to dismiss Drake's lawsuit. On October 9, 2025, the lawsuit was dismissed.
New releases In September 2024, shortly after being announced as the halftime show musical guest for the upcoming Super Bowl, Lamar dropped his first track following the feud, an untitled Instagram-only release known colloquially as "
Watch the Party Die" after its refrain; the song did not mention Drake, and was interpreted as an attempt to reshape the narrative from the beef towards Lamar's broader goals of shifting hip-hop away from glorifying luxury and the celebrity lifestyle (symbolized by Drake) and towards lyricism and music with a deeper meaning. Lamar followed up this teaser track with a new studio album,
GNX, that autumn. The album did not directly mention Drake, nor did it feature any of that spring's diss tracks; however, many of its songs, particularly the opening track "
Wacced Out Murals", were interpreted as containing reflections on the feud and further indirect shots at Drake. Lamar also included a track on the album entitled "
Heart Pt. 6", reusing the title that Drake had earlier claimed for his feud-ending track.
"Fighting Irish Freestyle" (Drake) for having attended Lamar's
The Pop Out concert On January 3, 2025, producer
Conductor Williams, who had previously produced with Drake on
For All the Dogs, posted and then took down a link to a Drake freestyle dubbed "Fighting Irish Freestyle". Drake addresses the feud in the freestyle and, according to many commentators, takes shots at
LeBron James, whom Drake was formerly friends with, and even has a tattoo of, as James attended Lamar's Pop Out concert and has been seen dancing to "Not Like Us". Other lyrics in the song were read as targeting
UMG, DeMar DeRozan, and
Lil Wayne. The song received mixed reactions from critics, with
HipHopDX writing that "after retreating in his beef with Kendrick following the underwhelming reception to 'The Heart Part 6', the tough talk just feels empty".
67th Annual Grammy Awards "Not Like Us" was nominated in five different categories at the
67th Annual Grammy Awards (
Record of the Year,
Song of the Year,
Best Rap Performance,
Best Rap Song, and
Best Music Video) and won all of them. It became only the second rap song ever to win in the Record of the Year and Song of the Year categories, generally considered the Grammys' most prestigious awards for performance and songwriting in an individual song, respectively. Though Lamar did not mention Drake in his victory speeches, instead dedicating them to the city of Los Angeles (which had recently been impacted by the
January 2025 wildfires), his outfit at the ceremony – a denim top along with denim pants, known as a "
Canadian tuxedo" – was seen as a playful jab at the Canadian-born Drake. The Grammys audience, including numerous celebrities, could be heard singing along to "Not Like Us" and its "A Minor" line as it played while Lamar entered to accept his awards.
Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show On September 8, 2024, Lamar was announced as the
headlining act for the February 2025
Super Bowl LIX halftime show at the
Caesars Superdome in
New Orleans. In the video announcing his selection, Lamar said "You know it's only one opportunity to win a championship. No round twos", which was interpreted as a shot against Drake, who posted a few weeks before that "we will win Game 2". Speculation arose as to whether he would incorporate "Not Like Us" into his performance. Justin Sayles of
The Ringer called the halftime performance announcement as the capstone of a year that had seen Lamar "ascend to the highest levels" of popular culture, and seen Drake "sink to the lowest levels" of his career. against Drake, "Euphoria" and "
Not Like Us", at the
Super Bowl LIX halftime show in 2025 Lamar performed "Euphoria" and "Not Like Us" during the show. He also wore a chain with a lowercase "a" on it, which was either referencing
pgLang or the musical chord A minor (which also references the phrase popularised by the latter track). In an interlude during the middle of the set, Lamar teased the latter song and alluded to Drake's litigation by quipping "I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue", which was followed by a brief audio clip of the song's introduction. In another interlude after performing "
All the Stars" towards the end of the set, he said "they tried to rig the game but you can't fake influence", then launched into "Not Like Us". Lamar looked directly into the camera with a smile when he rapped "Say Drake, I hear you like 'em young". The lyric including the word "pedophile" was censored, but the audience could be heard shouting the lyric "tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor" along with him a few lines later. The critical response to the performance was positive. Lisa Respers France of CNN called "Not Like Us" the star of the halftime performance, while Maria Sherman of the
Associated Press called Lamar performing the song on the biggest stage in U.S. sports a few days after it swept the Grammy Awards "another step in Lamar's continued victory lap".
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U and "Gimme a Hug" (Drake) On February 14, 2025, less than one week after Lamar's Super Bowl performance, Drake released a collaborative album with
PartyNextDoor titled
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U. This was Drake's first major release in nearly one year following the beef. Drake had previously stated that he would minimize the beef in the album; however, the track "
Gimme a Hug" contained a verse that was widely interpreted as being about the beef. In the track, Drake touts his resilience despite many fans' desire to see his career ended, says he wants to "get the party lit" (a likely reference to Lamar's "Watch the Party Die" track from September 2024), and makes an indirect diss at his view that Lamar's music is too cerebral to party to, saying it would have "girls...twerking with a dictionary". == Commentary ==