Euphoria - Not like us Kendrick Lamar

euphoria kendrick

"Euphoria" serves as Kendrick's highly anticipated response to Drake's previous actions. First of all, we need to think about what "Euphoria" means, or should as the word could be a password with hidden meanings between the two

When you’re younger, everything feels so permanent. But as you get older, you begin to realize nothing is and everyone you love can drift away, That Euphoria might be.

The song has three distinct parts, playing off his bar on the previously mentioned “Like That” The truth you find will always be replaced by someone else’s.  I hope they came with three switches. Kendrick’s tone becomes more hostile with every switch, and the instrumentation similarly becomes more eerie and aggressive. Kendrick Lamar attacks Drake on numerous fronts, including his behavior, psychology, life choices, public perception, and appropriation of and disconnect from an authentic Euphoria: Black cultural experience.

"It's nothin' nobody can tell me, huh

I don't wanna talk on no celly, huh

You know I got language barriers, huh

It's no accent you can sell me, huh

Yeah, Cole and Aubrey know I'm a selfish nigga, the crown is heavy, huh

I pray they my real friends, if not, I'm YNW Melly

I don't like you poppin' shit at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the beef

Yeah, fuck all that pushin' P, let me see you push a T

You better off spinnin' again on him, you think about pushin' me"

Kendrick Lamar just showed up without a map or a compass, and at some point, you have to make a choice…about who you are and what you want. And therein lies the catch.

"Back To Back," I like that record

I'ma get back to that, for the record

Why would I call around tryna get dirt on niggas? Y'all think all my life is rap?

That's ho shit, I got a son to raise, but I can see you don't know nothin' 'bout that

Wakin' him up, know nothin' 'bout that

Then tell him to pray, know nothin' 'bout that

Then givin' him tools to walk through life like day by day, know nothin' 'bout that

Teachin' him morals, integrity, discipline, listen, man, you don't know nothin' 'bout that

Speakin' the truth and consider what God's considerin', you don't know nothin' 'bout that

Ain't twenty-v-one, it's one-v-twenty if I gotta smack niggas that write with you

Yeah, bring 'em out too, I'll clean 'em out too, tell BEAM that he better stay right with you

Am I battlin' ghost or AI?"

Euphoria Conclusion? Personality depends on context, just like culture. Certain people bring out certain traits in each other [...] You don't always see how much other people are shaping you.

All this being said, I root for these lyrics and love the world of this performance, so if a third attempt ever does get made — I will surely tune in. In the meantime,  I am happy to discover a word with all five vowels - it is euphoria