DeMar DeRozan is in the middle of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s rap feud, but the new Kings star has favored one side.
While DeRozan, 34, spent his first nine NBA seasons with Drake’s home team, the Toronto Raptors, and since has grown close with the Canadian rapper, the six-time NBA All-Star notoriously was raised in Compton with Lamar, 37, and the pair always proudly has worn their Los Angeles heritage on their sleeves -- never more than lately.
DeRozan remains tight with Drake. However, DeRozan overwhelmingly was a part of Lamar’s posse during the feud’s prime. After DeRozan appeared on stage and in a music video for Lamar, it is clear which side Sacramento’s wing favored; Still, DeRozan clarified his relationship with Lamar and stance on the feud in an exclusive interview with The Sacramento Bee’s Jason Anderson.
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“It was fun to be a part of [‘Not Like Us’],” DeRozan told Anderson. “For that moment, it was so much bigger than what people look at it as a beef between [Lamar] and Drake. It brought our whole city together in a different type of light where there wasn’t no issues, no violence. Everybody was coming together in a peaceful manner and that was the beauty out of those moments.”
Lamar name-dropped Sacramento’s star in the second verse of “Not Like Us,” saying, “I’m glad DeRoz came home, y’all didn’t deserve him neither,” in regards to Drake “having” DeRozan in Canada with the Raptors.
Afterward, DeRozan appeared on stage during Lamar’s first performance of the song at his unifying Juneteenth concert, “The Pop Out: Ken and Friends” in Inglewood, which saw rival gang members, NBA stars such as LeBron James and Russell Westbrook and average joes rejoice at the Kia Forum.
🚨RUSSEL WESTBROOK AND DEMAR DEROZAN GO ON STAGE WITH KENDRICK LAMAR TO PERFORM "NOT LIKE US" pic.twitter.com/EEKLjFzGaj
— bobo (@ohitsbobo) June 20, 2024
NBA
Then, the Kings’ newest star made a cameo in the song’s official music video released on the Fourth of July.
DeMar DeRozan makes appearance in Kendrick’s ‘Not Like Us’ video pic.twitter.com/Fuw8KTivQ5
— Complex (@Complex) July 4, 2024
The ramifications of “Not Like Us” encapsulated Lamar’s efforts to unite California -- from Los Angeles to the Bay to Sacramento -- in his attack against Drake and his fanbase.
“One thousand percent, that’s the most significant part, and it’s so easy to get overshadowed by all the other stuff, but that’s definitely the most important part,” DeRozan explained to Anderson. “It was even a conversation I had with Kendrick where I just told him, ‘You don’t know how great you really are being able to pull everybody and everything together in the manner that you did.’ "
Of course, Lamar’s diss tracks toward Drake accuse the megastar of some heavy allegations. But DeRozan emphasized that Lamar’s ability to unite numerous, often-rival names, brands and colors in California, specifically Los Angeles, was his main takeaway.
“There was never one issue,” DeRozan said about Lamar’s unifying efforts with Anderson. “Not an argument, not a fight, not a discrepancy of any sort whether it was the concert or the video. It was just everybody coming together and showing appreciation and love for where we came from.”
It is up to the listener to decide who won the rap beef between Lamar and Drake.
DeRozan, while key to Lamar’s side, didn’t formally admit to favoring one or the other to Anderson.
Instead, he explained how he is a fan just like everybody else.
“Drake’s still my man, still my man, none of it changed,” DeRozan added to Anderson. “It’s so easy to get overlooked and look at it for what it looks like, but at the end of the day it’s music, entertainment. Two of the biggest rappers in the world went at it from a competitive standpoint and they battled it out.
“That’s what you want to see as a fan: Kobe [Bryant] playing [Michael] Jordan 1-on-1 and see who wins, see the trash talking, and whoever wins out of that, you’re still going to have the debate, so that’s all that is.”
California surely has picked a winner: Lamar.
DeRozan, though, wasn’t in it to win or lose. He just enjoyed being a part of a special Los Angeles-based movement that happened to embarrass Drake.
DeMar DeRozan was just introduced to the crowd in Sacramento to the tune of Kendrick Lamar’s “They Not Like Us.” pic.twitter.com/yhFu6hy1m7
— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) July 7, 2024
DeRozan sure does carry "Not Like Us" everywhere he goes.