Kendrick Lamar Has a Lifetime Eat-for-Free Pass at Tam's Burgers Thanks to "Not Like Us" Video

The rapper praised the restaurant for its "street-sloppy" burgers during an interview with Complex in 2012.

July 12, 2024
Kendrick Lamar smiling, wearing a patterned cap and earrings
(Photo by Pierre Suu / Getty Images)

Kendrick Lamar has helped bring attention and money to local California restaurant Tam's Burgers, which was highlighted throughout various scenes in the official music video for "Not Like Us." Now, he can eat there for free whenever he wants.

TMZ recently caught up with Spiros Vovos, the owner of the fast food eatery, for a conversation about the boom in business Tam's saw following the release of the music video. In the visual, directed by Dave Free and Lamar, the rapper is seen coming out of the restaurant and dancing alongside Mustard while eating food, presumably from the restaurant.

Vovos also claimed Kendrick's favorite meal at the spot is a bacon cheeseburger and that Tam's allegiance is to the pgLang rapper and the city of Compton when asked if Drake is welcomed to the eatery. He then stated Kendrick has a lifetime supply of anything he wants, free of charge, at Tam's.

"We're so lucky and very thankful to him and his whole team that they came back here and did this music video for us here," he continued. "Anything he wants, it's on the house."

According to Vovos, "Not Like Us" was a blessing as the video feature pushed people to visit the restaurant and spend their money.

"We've had a lot of foot traffic. It's been pretty good, fantastic, I would say, and the business, especially that week, we did a slight increase of people coming in and out," Vovos said. "Things have kind of quieted down a little, but it's ok. I hope people still keep watching the music video and come in and enjoy the same food that Kendrick likes."

Vovos added that the whole thing happened because someone from Kendrick's team asked if the space could be used in the music video. According to Vovos, the request was a no-brainer, and he revealed that his grandfather, who was the original owner of Tam's, may have served K Dot as a kid.

Back in 2012, Kendrick shouted out Tam's Burgers in a Complex feature where he named some of the staples of the Los Angeles era he grew up in. "Everybody loves In-N-Out, but it's a very clean-cut burger," he told Ross Scarano. "Tam's is street-sloppy, burgers and shakes. It's a chain, but it's still hood."

Earlier this week, Tam's manager, Lauro Hernandez, and his son, Bryan Noe, claimed the video rollout for "Not Like Us" helped bring 40 percent more customers that wanted to eat the bacon cheeseburger K Dot likes to grub on.

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