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Kendrick Lamar’s metaphorical beatdown of Drake was so bad, it’s still getting referenced months later in all kinds of contexts outside of hip-hop. For instance, Ken’s fellow Comptonite, Serena Williams, name-dropped him while dancing to his song “Not Like Us” during her monologue as host of the 2024 ESPY Awards.
“If there’s anything I’ve learned this year,” she joked, “it’s that none of us — not even me — should ever pick a fight with Kendrick Lamar.” The show’s DJ took the opportunity to play a clip of the song, allowing Williams the chance to reference one of her own viral moments and do a little C-walk before continuing, “He will make your hometown not like you. The next time Drake is at a Toronto Raptors game, they’re going to Forest Gump him,” she laughed, launching into an approximation of the country bumpkin accent of that film’s protagonist’s bullies. “‘Seat’s taken.’”
Serena Williams crip waking to ‘Not Like Us’ and clowning Drake on stage at the ESPYs pic.twitter.com/y3CUZGmYWO
— AJR (@ajr_bcg) July 12, 2024
It wasn’t the first time she’s referenced the song recently. During a panel at the 2024 Essence Fest, she called “Not Like Us’ the song of the summer (prompting Uproxx’s own Derrick Rossignol to take a swing at identifying all the candidates for that honor). “I love that song,” she said. “It’s like the hit of the summer. When they play that jam, I’m jamming.”
Poor Drake. It wasn’t too long ago, that he was the only makin’ ’em laugh at the ESPYs. Live long enough, you will become the villain (although, again, he brought all this on himself).
