Kendrick Lamar has been labeled a “genius” by fans who think they have uncovered yet another easter egg of a Drake diss in his “Not Like Us” music video.
According to the popular Dissect Podcast, the scene in the video where Kendrick is sitting in a makeshift prison cell seems to be a reference to a similar photo of model and Resident Evil actress Milla Jovovich.
During the scene in the video, the Compton native raps, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one / To any bitch that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him.”
Jovovich herself was caught in the middle of various underage scandals.
The Ukranian-born star was discovered while still a minor by French model agency boss Jean-Luc Brunel, who was later accused of raping a child and supplying young girls to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. He hung himself in prison before trial.
Jovovich also appeared nude in the movie Return to the Blue Lagoon when she was just 15 years old.
When she was 16, she was also briefly married to 21-year-old actor Shawn Andrews and later married The Fifth Element director Luc Besson, who had previously been in a relationship with a 15-year-old when he was 32.
A theme throughout Kendrick’s diss songs was that Drake is a pedophile who preys on underage girls, something the Canadian rapper vehemently denies.
New “Not Like Us” reference revealed
The “Cell block one” scene seems to reference this 1997 photo of Milla Vovovich.
Why? The rabbit hole goes deep… 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/dhGg7wut4B
— Dissect Podcast (@dissectpodcast) July 26, 2024
Released earlier this month, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” video contains a number of other visual jabs aimed at Drake.
It shows him smashing open an owl piñata with a club and staring menacingly at a real-life owl in a cage, overt nods to Drizzy’s OVO bird logo.
The clip also features a cameo from former Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan, who was namedropped on the song (“I’m glad DeRoz’ came home, y’all didn’t deserve him neither”).
But as HipHopDX‘s Jeremy Hecht broke down in a recent episode of The Bigger Picture, the digs seemingly go even deeper.
Kendrick Lamar Claims Another Victory Over Drake With ‘Not Like Us’ Video Views
Kendrick’s fiancée Whitney Alford and their two children appear in one scene, an apparent response to Drake’s claims that their relationship is on the rocks and that one of their kids might actually belong to K. Dot’s longtime manager Dave Free (who also pops up in the video).
Whitney even wears a wifebeater vest, which may be a subtle reference to the domestic violence allegations that Drizzy levied against Kendrick on “Family Matters.”
Elsewhere, the Pulitzer Prize-winner can be seen Jedi pushing a Dark Lanes Demo-esque Drake lookalike, mimicking the “L hands” dance that the 6 God did in a viral video with a young girl and performing precisely 17.5 push-ups (one short of 18).
Kendrick also waves to the camera while smiling and wearing a white tracksuit, a possible taunt at Drake who attended Michael Rubin’s all-white Hamptons party the night the video dropped.
While it’s unclear if these were intentional, Kendrick Lamar is no stranger to implanting multi-layered meanings in his music.
His 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly gradually unfolded with a poem to (and faux conversation with) his hero 2Pac, while he rereleased his follow-up project, DAMN., in reverse order, later confirming the theory that it “plays as a full story” when listened back to front.
“Many of my fans know that my albums get real intricate and there’s always details in there,” he told MTV News in 2017. “For the most part, they usually have a good listening ear to figure out what’s going on.”
