The whole city of Los Angeles is riding behind the strength of the Kendrick Lamar “Not Like Us” music video, and a rising tide lifts all boats. Moreover, per TMZ, the Tam’s Burgers restaurant that K.Dot and Mustard pull up to in Compton is seeing a massive increase in sales following its appearance in the music video. Lauro Hernandez, the manager of the Rosecrans Ave location, and his son Bryan Noe reportedly told the outlet that tourists and locals have come in droves and got sales up by 30 to 40 percent since the video dropped. Hernandez spoke of knowing Kendrick for years (he’s shouted Tam’s out before on songs like “ELEMENT”) and still marveling at how connected he is to his community.
In addition, Tam’s Burgers’ Compton manager said that he didn’t charge Kendrick Lamar for the visit or music video inclusion, but agreed to have the Tam’s logo in the visuals. The Dave Free-co-directed treatment for “Not Like Us” has over 37 million views at press time, so it’s likely that Tam’s will continue to have some great kickback from the homage. Seeing this view count skyrocket was an unsurprising feat, but still a pretty impressive one. However, what’s most astonishing is just how clean and striking much of the video is.
Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” Video Gives Tam’s Burgers A Boost
Also, we already knew that Kendrick Lamar could cook up some beef angles to make a restaurant pop. On one of his other Drake disses, “Euphoria,” his mention of the New Ho King restaurant in Toronto also caused a huge surge of customers for the location. In fact, the eatery even introduced a special meal that comprises of Kendrick’s exact order in the track. We even saw Drizzy himself seemingly pull up to it recently: one of his many bitter but still funny IG trolls against his Compton rival post-battle.
Meanwhile, with Spotify reportedly denying botting allegations for “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar’s track clearly resonated with a massive number of people. It’s amazing to see that the song didn’t inspire folks to buy owl piñatas in droves, but rather that it drew them to Los Angeles’ great food, culture, and history. We’ll see what other successes result from this music video and rollout, and whether there’s even more to come. It does seem like the perfect time to start an album cycle…
About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a music and pop culture news writer for HotNewHipHop. He started in 2022 as a weekend writer and, since joining the team full-time, has developed a strong knowledge in hip-hop news and releases. Whether it’s regular coverage or occasional interviews and album reviews, he continues to search for the most relevant news for his audience and find the best new releases in the genre. What excites him the most is finding pop culture stories of interest, as well as a deeper passion for the art form of hip-hop and its contemporary output.
Specifically, Gabriel enjoys the fringes of rap music: the experimental, boundary-pushing, and raw alternatives to the mainstream sound. As a proud native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, he also stays up-to-date with the archipelago’s local scene and its biggest musical exponents in reggaetón, salsa, indie, and beyond.
Before working at HotNewHipHop, Gabriel produced multiple short documentaries, artist interviews, venue spotlights, and audio podcasts on a variety of genres and musical figures. Hardcore punk and Go-go music defined much of his coverage during his time at the George Washington University in D.C.
His favorite hip-hop artists working today are Tyler, The Creator, Boldy James, JPEGMAFIA, and Earl Sweatshirt.
