Kendrick Lamar ‘ends’ Drake on stage with Not Like Us Super Bowl anthem status; epic Goku meme comparisons mount

Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss saga continued on live TV at the Super Bowl 2025, as fans kicked off the meme mania, discussing fears for Drizzy's recovery.

What started as a diss has now officially earned a page in Super Bowl history. Probably an even bigger question than who'd clinch the Kansas City Chiefs vs Philadephia Eagles ahead of the big game was if Kendrick Lamar would drop the beat on his controversial, now Grammy-winning, track “Not Like Us” at this year's halftime show.

Kendrick Lamar and Drake memes exploded online after the former's Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, February 9, 2025. (X)

The answer, as we know it now, is yes.

Bringing the house down at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, Lamar's setlist looked like this: “GNX," “Squabble Up,” “Humble,” “DNA,” “Euphoria,” “Man at the Garden," “Peakaboo,” “Luther,” “All the Stars,” “Not Like Us,” and “TV Off.” The Pulitzer-winning rapper brought surprise guests SZA, DJ Mustard, tennis legend Serena Williams and Hollywood icon Samuel L Jackson.

Kendrick Lamar vs Drake continues

Although the jury is out on whether Kendrick Lamar's halftime show was the best musical display at the biggest sports event of the year, there's no doubt that a considerable faction of fans believe that he “ended” his rival Drake on stage. Midway through spitting fire before sounding off the “Not Like Us” alarm, the music icon’s victory lap took another swing at the Drizzy: “I want to play their favourite song, but you know they love to sue.”

On his part, the “Hotline Bling” rapper's legal team released a new statement about the ensuing legal battle regarding the song.

“UMG is masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment’, but there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world. We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial, including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit, will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth,” the legal team said ahead of the halftime show, per NYT.

Drake previously sued the label Universal Music Group (also reps K.Dot) over the “Not Like Us” release, citing its promotion as defamatory. The case, though not naming Lamar as a defendant, claimed that UMG pushed for the song's promotion despite it spreading a “malicious narrative” that Drake is a pedophile. K.Dot's Sunday performance distanced itself from the word's mention in the wake of the ongoing legal tussle.

Fans react to Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance

Netizens instantly swung to X/Twitter, dropping their two cents on the matter. “Oh don’t end Drake like that on the Super Bowl stage,” a user commented online. More reactions poured in, hitting back at the Canadian rapper as comments like “Drake getting destroyed on live National TV,” “OH DRAKE YOU ARE OVER,” and “Kendrick owns Drake” took precedence on the micro-blogging platform.

Kendrick Lamar-Goku comparisons shoot up

As Lamar’s Super Saiyan-esque hating streak took the lead again, netizens couldn’t help but return to anime legend Goku comparisons. In January, K. Dot revealed channelled Dragon Ball Z icon Goku on his GNX album. “When I heard the beat, I just felt like Goku or something,” he said of his song “Hey Now.” Explaining further, he told the Recording Academy, “Yeah, when I hear certain s— on your beats, it brings out something else in me, so I just did whatever I felt.”

Even anime streaming giant Crunchyroll picked Team Kendrick ahead of the Super Bowl. Linking the “Mustard” meme (Lamar name-drops prod DJ Mustard on the track “tv off”)

Check out Drake memes on X after Kendrick Lamar's halftime show: