Mustard on the beat: Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ was a surprise, even for the DJ
DJ Mustard, like most Kendrick Lamar fans, was in disbelief when he first heard the rapper’s “Not Like Us” — even though he provided the song’s catchy beat.
The L.A.-based producer unveiled his role in Lamar’s diss anthem, revealing to Billboard in a video interview published this week, “I heard the song when everyone else heard it.”
“I never heard it before, I wasn’t in the studio with him,” he told the outlet.
This was Lamar’s first live set in Southern California since he and Drake scorched the earth with reams of diss tracks that topped charts and changed their legacies forever.
In May, Lamar dropped “Not Like Us” amid his public feud with Drake. Over Mustard’s bouncy beat, Lamar takes shots at the “God’s Plan” rapper with lines accusing him of child sexual abuse and disrespecting hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur. The song, the fifth diss track Lamar has dropped since March, became a near-instant hit. It quickly went viral on social media and landed on dance club playlists.
Mustard said he wanted to “get a song with Kendrick” and had sent “him five beats a day,” uncertain how he would use them. The producer, whose collaborators also include YG and Wiz Khalifa, said he only heard back from the Pulitzer Prize winner late one night. Mustard (real name Dijon Isaiah McFarlane) recalled Lamar’s response: “ ‘This is fire.’ ”
The Grammy-nominated DJ told Billboard that Dr. Dre and Lil Jon inspired the final snippet. “It took me approximately 30 minutes to make” the “Not Like Us” beat, he said.
“I didn’t know [Lamar] was gonna gas that beat like that,” he added.
On a quiet Tuesday night in September, in an overly air-conditioned Mid-City recording studio, DJ Mustard was alone and preparing to work.
“Not Like Us” has been more than the song to seemingly bring the Lamar-Drake feud to an end — at least for now. At Lamar’s Juneteenth “Pop Out” concert at the Kia Forum, it made for an unforgettable grand finale.
Lamar delivered his first live performance of “Not Like Us” on Wednesday — then he performed it another four times. Each time, he paused at the popular lyric, “A minorrrrrrrrrrr,” a note that he and the audience held for an extended period of time.
During his final “Not Like Us” performance, Lamar brought guests — including Mustard, singer Steve Lacy, L.A. Clipper Russell Westbrook and radio host Big Boy — on stage to sing along. The concert, which streamed on Prime Video, concluded with an instrumental version of “Not Like Us.”
“This s— gets me emotional,” Lamar said moments before launching into his finale, and before taking a legendary group photo. “We done lost a lot, a lot of homies to this music s—. A lot of homies to some street s— and for all of us to be on this stage together; unity from each side of motherf— L.A.”
He added: “We put this s— together just for y’all.”
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