"This the best Juneteenth since 1865" – Fans left in awe as Kendrick Lamar brings out Dr. Dre for 'Not Like Us' introduction

On June 19, 2024, rapper and songwriter Kendrick Lamar performed at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles as part of his The Pop Out – Ken & Friends Juneteenth concert and took the stadium by storm rapping back-to-back hits.

However, the best surprise was saved for the last when Kendrick Lamar invited longtime friend and rapper Dr. Dre onto the stage toward the end of his gig. The duo performed Dr. Dre’s hit single Still D.R.E. (featuring Snoop Dogg) and the late Tupac Shakur's iconic number California Love (featuring Dr. Dre).

Following the performances, as the founder of Beats Electronics was going off stage, Kendrick Lamar stopped him midway and asked:

“You ain’t gonna say nothin’ else before we continue to party?”

Dr. Dre responded with the first line of K-Dot’s record-breaking Drake diss track Not Like Us, rapping:

“Psst, I see dead people…”

The Pulitzer winner took over from his fellow rapper and continued to perform the entire song, that too, five times in a row. The video of Kendrick and Dr. Dre’s onstage collab has now gone viral with the internet having diverse reactions.

Fans of Lamar have especially expressed their awe for bringing out Dr. Dre for the Not Like Us introduction. Here are some of the reactions from X:

“This the best Juneteenth since 1865,” a fan wrote.

“Having Dr. Dre do the intro, the crowd being so locked in, the camera work… All epic. This was legendary,” another fan wrote.

“King recognizes king. Kendrick and Dr. Dre slaying Drake. What a moment,” a person wrote.

“That transition from Dre was incredible,” another person wrote.

“This might be a defining moment for modern hip hop,” an individual wrote.

“Having Dre on your team is a flex,” another individual wrote.

“There hasn’t been a takedown like this since Hit Em Up,” a netizen wrote.

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In brief, looking at the highlights of Kendrick Lamar’s first Not Like Us live performance

On Wednesday, Kendrick Lamar performed in LA’s Kia Forum to celebrate Juneteenth with his long-anticipated The Pop Out – Ken & Friends concert.

He began his performance by rapping his Drake diss tracks Euphoria, Like That, and 6:16 in LA live for the first time followed by his career hits Alright, DNA, Element, and Money Trees among others. In between his performances, Kendrick Lamar even asked the audience:

“Y’all ain’t gonna let anyone disrespect the West Coast huh? Oh y'all ain't gonna let nobody mock or imitate our legends huh?"

Later, he wrapped up his show by singing Not Like Us live for the first time. It was introduced by Dr. Dre before K-Dot took over and performed it five consecutive times.

Eventually, he was joined by his guest performers, including DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook, Roddy Ricch, YG, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q, and Tyler the Creator.

While transitioning from the fourth to the fifth rendition, Kendrick Lamar took a break and shared the significance of the Juneteenth concert as NBA stars LeBron James and James Harden cheered from the crowd alongside rap icon Rick Ross.

He gave a shout-out to the late Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle, and stated:

“This sh*t is making me emotional. We [have] been f*cked up since Nipsey died. We [have] been f*cked up since Kobe died. This is unity at its finest. We done lost a lot of homies to this music sh*t. To this street sh*t. For all of us to be together on stage, that sh*t is special. Everybody on this stage got fallen soldiers.”

Kendrick Lamar’s fifth Drake diss track Not Like Us was released on May 4 and debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his fourth career number-one.

It also went on to break the record for the biggest streaming day (12.809 million) for a hip-hop song in Spotify history by surpassing Drizzy’s September 2021 single Girls Want Girls (featuring rapper Lil Baby).

Not Like Us also exceeded Drake's 2018 single In My Feelings to become one of the most streamed songs in a week by a rapper with 81.2 million streams on Spotify.