Even as we distance ourselves further and further from the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, “Not Like Us,” continues to be the most popular record going. Just a week after performing it at the Super Bowl, Lamar’s explosive diss track has retaken the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
But one of the most underrated elements of the song that makes it so popular is the production. Mustard did an incredible job of giving Lamar a classic West Coast beat that also sounds modern. He gave him the perfect building blocks to create an incredible record.
So how did they do it? Sampling. Both Lamar and Mustard took some great elements from other pieces of art to create this timeless hit that expresses the Compton MC’s disdain for the 6-God.
Here are all the samples they used.
Monk Higgins - “I Believe to My Soul”
Those booming saxophones that you hear before Lamar starts rapping are sampled from Higgins’ track, “I Believe to My Soul,” which is a cover of Ray Charles’ 1961 song of the same name.
The beat used throughout the track is also sampled from Higgins’ 1968 cover. Listen to how Mustard was able to use the song to create the beat for “Not Like Us” below:
Higgins’ work was also sampled on Lamar’s “tv off,” which is also a hit track in its own right. This time “MacArthur Park” was used, which was the title track for Higgins’ studio album.
It can be heard throughout the first half of Lamar’s song, before the beat switches.
“The Sixth Sense”
While this was not technically a sample, Lamar references the 1999 movie, “The Sixth Sense,” when he whispers, “psst, I see dead people.”
This is also a fun callback to K. Dot’s previous diss track aimed at Drake, “Euphoria.” On that track, he raps, “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI? / N***a feelin’ like Joel Hale Osteen / Funny, he was in a film called ‘AI’ / And my sixth sense tellin’ me to off him.”
The name of the actor who said that line in the movie is not “Joel Hale Osteen,” it’s Haley Joel Osment.
However, when asked about the reference, Osment thinks that Lamar intentionally scrambled his name with famous pastor Joel Osteen.
“Mustard on the Beat”
For those who may not be up on Mustard’s music, he includes a “Mustard on the Beat Ho” in almost every track he produces.
YG created the tag on his 2011 track, “I’m Good.”
The tag can be heard on almost every hit record he’s produced, including songs from Rihanna, Big Sean, Ty Dolla $ign, 2 Chainz, and many others.