Compton legend and arguably one of the greatest hip hop lyricists of all time, Kendrick Lamar, has occupied the mind space of fans of rap across the globe for a hot minute now.
Doubling down on the momentum from his feud with Drake, the rapper recently released the official video for ‘Not Like Us,’ and safe to say, fans are dissecting every frame for clues to a potential full length project.
Sure enough, one peculiar thing that stood out has been the date on Kendrick’s jacket from the music video, which reads the date “8/8/2024,” which is being widely interpreted as the release date for the upcoming project. Now, one would assume it’s just a coincidence, if it weren’t for the overwhelming evidence in support of the theory — especially considering Kendrick’s love for Easter Eggs with numbers and dates. For starters, his latest concert ‘The Pop Out: Ken & Friends’ took place on Juneteenth, while the music video has come out on the 4th of July (the American Independence Day).
Now, we all know how much Kendrick was inspired by Kobe Bryant (and vice versa), and we also know Kobe’s jersey numbers to have been 8 and 24 respectively. As an LA legend that passed away before his time, the date has special relevance and is one of those rare opportunities for Kendrick to double down on the love he has for LA.
Now at the risk of over-speculation (which hilariously, and even valid reasons, is a mark of the Kendrick fanbase), a personal observation is how the date August 8 when added divided by the year 24, gives us 0.666 [(8+8)/24= 0.666]. This only becomes relevant if indeed intended, and would allude to Drake’s association with the Six, as well as Kendrick’s opening of ‘Not Like Us,’ where he references the phrase, “I see dead people” from the movie, The Sixth Sense.
Now look, we know it seems over the top, but if you’ve heard Kendrick’s mental mathematics on the Pusha T collab, ‘Nosetalgia,’ you just know it isn’t too far fetched for a man like Dot. Not to mention the fact that 666 would tie in well with Kendrick’s portrayal of Drake as the devil who plays manipulative tricks.
All this speculation is, of course, in follow up to a series of diss tracks by Kendrick, one of which was the track ‘6.16 in LA.’ This track itself follows the same kind of patterns Kendrick is famous for: layer on layer of meaning and significance. For instance, 6.16 is speculated to be a play on Tupac’s birthday, the date Kendrick met Drake for the first time, the reference to Drake’s timestamp based releases, and so much more. The video below perfectly captures the hidden (or speculated) meanings behind the track.
With Kendrick teasing a new snippet at the beginning of the ‘Not Like Us’ video, it is extremely likely that a project is coming soon. Even Kendrick’s close associates, the likes of DJ Hed, insinuated that something big is underway. All we have to do now is sit back and wait to see if the predictions are true in any way, shape, or form. Stay tuned!
— DJHed (@DJHed) July 5, 2024
