Who is TDE? Kendrick Lamar features crew members in iconic shot from the 'Not Like Us' music video

TDE artists made an appearance in the music video for Kendrick Lamar’s hit Drake-diss track Not Like Us. K. Dot released the music video for the track on July 4 and left fans in awe as it became a Billboard chart-topper. Among the many cameos, which also included those from Tommy the Clown and DJ Mustard, numerous singers from the TDE label also showed up in the video briefly.

In the 3:22 section of the Not Like Us music video, one could see several Top Dawg Entertainment artists and members standing alongside Kendrick Lamar. Musicians ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Top Dawg, Anthony "Moosa" Tiffith Jr., and Terrence "Punch" Henderson posed next to the Compton-native rapper.

For the uninitiated, TDE stands for Top Dawg Entertainment, an independent record label that was founded in 2004 by their CEO, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith. Kendrick Lamar is signed to the same.

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More about Top Dawg Entertainment as label’s singers make an appearance in Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us music video

Anthony Tiffith began as a record producer and entered the music industry in 1997. In 2003, he discovered Kendrick Lamar when he was just 15 years old. He went on to sign K. Dot the following year to TDE after finding that the young rapper had earned a respectable following for his own mixtapes.

TDE eventually signed a joint venture with Warner Bros. and Asylum Records. Their roasters now include K. Dot, SZA, Black Hippy, Soundwave, SiR, Isaiah Rashad, ScHoolboy Q, Lance Skiiiwalker, Ray Vaughn, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Zacari, and Reason.

Speaking about the label, Kendrick Lamar, who was initially their main act, said in an interview:

“It was all ours- an independent deal from the jump. I came in at 16 years old so it’s all I know. It’s a family type of environment. It’s not just all about making money every day.”

Although K. Dot has been with the label from the beginning, he announced last year that Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers would be his label project with TDE. He has since founded his own creative communications company called pgLang alongside music producer Dave Free.

The company has won six Cannes Lions Awards and the Independent Agency of the Year Award since its inception.

Along with the TDE artists making an appearance in the music video, DJ Mustard and DeMar DeRozan appeared in the video as well. K. Dot’s fiancée Whitney Ford and their two children were also seen dancing together in the video.

The Compton singer threw multiple shots at Drake. At the beginning of the video, the rapper was seen doing push-ups. This was in reference to Drizzy’s Push Ups track, where Drake referred to a picture of Lamar doing push-ups.

K. Dot also included several visual references to owls, the bird that is associated with Drake’s OVO music label. At one point the bird was sitting on his arm, in another instance, an owl was seen in a cage, and in another hilarious moment, Lamar was seen slamming an owl piñata, with a disclaimer written below reading:

“no OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video.”

The music video was released after K. Dot performed the hit song six times at his Juneteenth Pop Out concert.