The West Coast obviously has a lot to say about Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track “Not Like Us.” That’s not only because of their support of K.Dot in the battle, but because of how much the track pays homage and reference to Los Angeles gang culture in various forms and puts it in a different context. Cali rappers D Smoke and The Game recently sat down for an interview with Rocsi Diaz, during which they ranked out the best hits from the West and spoke on the Mustard-produced chart-topper in particular. Smoke started things off with a pretty solid summary.
Kendrick has such a special place in the West,” D Smoke expressed concerning Kendrick Lamar and his “Not Like Us” diss track. “Because everything that gang culture established for the West, Kendrick, on one hand, continues the camaraderie element of gang culture, but he elevates it to this intellectual, loving, Malcolm-Martin kind of perspective.” “I think Kendrick does the best job possible at explaining who we are, what we are,” The Game added. “Even though we have this stigma on us as a culture, he does an amazing job at explaining to the world how and why they should understand why we are the way that we are.
