Lil Wayne Says He Didn’t Know “Not Like Us” Was Kendrick Lamar’s Drake Diss

The rapper admitted he wasn't aware of what he was referencing to in that viral video because he didn't pay attention to the beef.

April 17, 2025

Lil Wayne performing in a gray hoodie, holding a microphone. Kendrick Lamar in a blue jacket and cap, rapping into a microphone.

Greg Doherty / Stringer and Gregory Shamus via Getty Images

Lil Wayne has addressed his place in the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef and clarified the video in which he was seen rapping an apparent reference to “Not Like Us.”

In a new cover story with Andre Gee for Rolling Stone, Wayne stressed that things are “fine” between him and Kendrick after the mention on “Wacced Out Murals,” which prompted a tweet in which Wayne wrote, “Let this giant sleep.” Wayne, who also expressed his disappointment about not being picked to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show this year, was asked about the tweet and appeared not to recall what he was talking about.

“I sound like I’m talking about the media, because I said ‘they,’” he said. Wayne didn’t insert himself into Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef, and he wasn’t following it either, even if there was that video of him rapping the chorus of “Not Like Us.”

“I went onstage and I was singing this song, and they thought I was dissing,” he said, clarifying that he wasn’t aware that it was a diss against his longtime collaborator and friend Drake. “I ain’t want my dude to be mad at me. I didn’t even know it was Kendrick!” He added, “If it don’t happen on [ESPN] or FS1, I wouldn’t know that happened.”

In the clip, Wayne appeared to reference the song's chorus by rapping, "They don't like us." At the time, a source said that Wayne rapped the lyrics to show support for Drake.

Elsewhere in the interview, Wayne also expressed surprise when the interviewer referenced Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaborative album Watch the Throne. “They did an album?” he asked. He didn’t recognize “Otis” when it was played to him, but he did recognize “N***as in Paris” and “No Church in the Wild.”

He also said that when Tyler, the Creator told him he was going to feature on “Sticky” with Sexyy Red, his collaborator knew that he wasn’t going to know who she was. “[Tyler] was like, ‘I know you don’t know who that is,’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘I damn sure don’t. Red who? Sexyy what?’” Even though he didn’t remember her at the time, he thought her verse on the track was “dope.”