They Not Like Us: GNX a Bust? Kendrick Faking Streams? Misinformation, I Can't Trust

I've always been them—wholly other. A Square. Dweeb. Herb because I wasn't following trends.

If a majority of people are saying something is dope, I'm staying away. That's how dope (crack cocaine spread) spread. Consumer culture is corny. Childish Gambino once said culture isn't about enjoying art anymore; it's about consuming, offering a sigh of relief, and acknowledging we were part of the wave.

Few leaders. Plenty of followers.

I'm not like them

During the Drake and Kendrick lyrical dance, I didn't listen to any of the songs. I didn't care. But I followed the social theme playing out. This was the end of Drake and soft rap vibes. This was about "Us." Blackness, and everyone who wasn't foundationally Black (or ADOS), was not Us. I'm Haitian. I know I'm not like ya.

Kendrick Lamar once indirectly admitted to being a murderer. "When gangbanging make me kill a nigga Blacker than me. Hypocrite!" I don’t want to be part of Us.

Although Drake represents the soft-man era/vibe, his work and collaborations support a new wave of artists looking to emerge into music. A Drake co-sign is elevation into the limelight to do with it as you wish.

• Thank Me Later (2010)
• Take Care (2011)
• Nothing Was the Same (2013)
• If You're Reading This It's Too Late (2015)
• What a Time to Be Alive (2016)
• Views (2016)
• More Life (2017)
• Scorpion (2018)
• Certified Lover Boy (2021)
• Honestly, Nevermind (2022)
• Her Loss with 21 Savage (2022)
• For All the Dogs (2023)

Drake has kept his foot on the neck of rap music for the past decade. If it isn't his own project, he's offering features for up-and-coming artists, dropping singles, and keeping the pulse of the rap genre alive.

Outside of Jay-Z's impact with immortalizing rap during the Super Bowl, Drake is the only artist who has the reach to keep rap music as the dominant genre. But he's not like "Us." We're saboteurs. Crabs in a barrel. I wouldn’t want to be like ya either.

Displacing Drake from rap and dethroning the current king won’t bring any value to the Black experience.

Kendrick drops every few years, shifting the culture for abit and going back into hibernation. As he should, art should be a blip and offer you time to reflect and change your life.

• Section.80 (2011)
• Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012)
• To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
• Untitled Unmastered (honorable mention, 2016)
• Damn (2017)
• Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022)

Enter GNX (2024)

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was groundbreaking. One of the greatest artists of this generation tackling:

• mental health
• gender identity
• fatherhood
• Black vulnerability
• Sexual addiction
• performative culture
• cancel culture

On the first listen through of GNX, it felt disconnected and scattered. I’m used to interludes and recurring themes that bring cohesiveness to Kendrick’s unique storytelling of life in Cali, the Black experience, and the pain of an individual soul.

Just what happens on Earf Stays on Earf!

They not like us, but apparently, Black prayer isn't as impactful?

Kendrick's intro/outro cohesiveness is magnifique. The first song of a project sets the tone for the vibrational journey you're about to experience, while the outro always offers resolution.

wacced out murals and reincarnated automatically stood out. drums. rhythm. bass. pattern. vibrations!

reincarnation felt reminiscent to a Tupac record, and I naturally gravitated toward the storytelling, but lost interest with the duality of artist and god talking. It wasn't original.

What happened?

I gave GNX a second listen yesterday. I have to be fair and not judge art based on my first interpretation. Where am I when I'm listening? What inner struggles are present that might be keeping me disassociated from the project?

I listened to The Star Report, and callers discussed their opinions on the album. The consensus was that it was fire. One caller, who dislikes what Kendrick represents, considered it buffoonery.

Today I went for a walk and listened to GNX for a third time, and it finally clicked. I knew who "Us" is.

LA rap is my favorite rap subgenre. Eazy E. Kendrick Lamar. The Game. Jay Rock. Dom Kennedy. Tupac Shukar. The album is reminiscent of Cali rap. Their stories are real, vivid, and represent the ongoing struggle of Blackness within The Black Experience. I love gangsta rap because it's the ongoing, necessary "fuck you" to society. But it’s also reminiscent of the crab-in-the-barrel mentality.

Black people won't ever be free until Black on Black violence in Cali ends.

Kendrick, going from socially conscious topics in Mr. Morale to reverting back to the 90s/2000s style of Cali lifestyle is a step backwards. Nigga. Bitch. Motherfucker.

But how long will that last?

Grow up

The Black Messiah should feel responsible for pushing the culture forward.

Earlier today, I started watching The Piano Lesson, and I was reminded of the backlash from within the Black experience whenever slavery money is remade or trauma porn is peddled as a reminder of what the Black experience used to go through—a reminder that ain’t shit sweet.

How is GNX any different than black trauma porn?

Prior to my first listen of GNX, I decided to give Will Smith's album a spin. I never cared about his music, but listening to his project, it felt refreshing to hear mature rap. No curse words. No niggas or bitches. Just storytelling about life, love, lost. Growth.

I listen to Drake's music for the melody and storytelling. I don’t expect activism or Black advancement from him. It’s face value, vibrational music. But if you draw a line in the sand within the Black experience, reflect on where you message is evolving.

Now Drake is suing UMG for faking streams to push They Not Like Us. The response on Beige Twitter is that Drake is corny and mad because he lost.

I thought there was a war on misinformation? The same people who argued about the dangers of misinformation think it’s okay to fake streams to influence public opinion.

I eventually listened to They Not Like Us. Shit is fire. But if the machines hyped it, the Black Experience should be offended. Once again, your social culture is reminded that you have no power, unless someone else says so.

The Black Experience matters. ✌🏿