Kendrick Lamar Breaks Yet Another Drake Spotify Streaming Record With "Not Like Us"

BYGabriel Bras Nevares3.2K Views
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Glastonbury Festival 2022 - Day Five
GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 26: Kendrick Lamar performs on the Pyramid stage during day five of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 26, 2022 in Glastonbury, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage/Getty Images)
Wasn't he not supposed to creep up, numbers-wise?

You probably already heard of Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" breaking Drake's "God's Plan" record for the fastest rap song ever to garner over 100 million Spotify plays. As such, maybe it's not that surprising that K.Dot broke this exact record, but for 200 million Spotify streams this time in just 19 days. Of course, numbers don't mean much in the actual battle, but many predicted that the Toronto superstar would at least outperform his Compton rival commercially. If nothing else, it's just very impressive to see, and regardless of "Not Like Us" getting all the attention, every song in this whole beef did wild numbers that both artists should be very happy with.

After all, it's not every day that a surprise feature on a Future and Metro Boomin project leads to you making three new songs that generate revenue, if we're excluding the IG-exclusive and since-removed "Taylor Made Freestyle." This also comes as fans continue to either boast about Kendrick Lamar's perceived victory or defend Drake against the haters. As for the former category, some overzealous Stans played "Not Like Us" at an OVO store recently. Regardless of who you think "won" this exchange, biased meat-riders definitely took an L on both sides.

Kendrick Lamar Breaks Another Drake Record On Spotify

Also, this new record-breaking moment comes as Drake made his return to new music after the Kendrick Lamar battle settled down. Still, he kept the story going, as he partially rapped over Metro Boomin's "BBL Drizzy" diss beat on Sexyy Red's "U My Everything" off of her new project, In Sexyy We Trust. Obviously, this evoked one of Mr. Morale's lines off of "Euphoria": "When I see you stand by Sexyy Red, I believe you see two bad b***es." If a "bad b***h" churns out hits and carefree verses for cash, that doesn't sound so bad.

Jokes aside, the jury's still out on whether this feature helps Drake recenter in the long run or if it just makes him look more goofy. No matter the case, Kendrick Lamar is still dominating with "Not Like Us," and the hip-hop world is still hotly discussing the feud. Down the line, we'll get to the point where everyone's over it. But according to Spotify streams, it is not this day.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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