Kendrick Lamar drops first song since 'Not Like Us'

Months after the beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake seemingly reached a conclusion, Lamar has dropped a new track.

Lamar posted an untitled song to his Instagram Reels without a caption on Tuesday evening. He uploaded the post right as the MTV VMAs were starting.

Lamar’s smash hit “Not Like Us,” which disses Drake, was nominated in three categories at the VMAs on Tuesday but did not snag any awards.

The new untitled track was only released on Instagram. Lamar similarly released one of his diss tracks against Drake, “6:16 in L.A.,” on Instagram only.

While many fans believed it was a continuation of Lamar’s disses against Drake and his associates, others felt it was an indictment of the current state of rap.

The new track features some scorched-earth lyrics about how he wants to “watch the party die.” He also references burning a village down, starting over and envisioning a “new Earth.”

Fans also speculated about the meaning of the track’s cover art, which depict black Air Force 1 sneakers. Black Air Force 1s have become a meme in recent years, representing nefarious behavior, according to Complex.

Lamar was embroiled in a monthslong feud with Drake that produced nine diss tracks between the two rappers. Lamar was crowned the winner of the feud by many fans after the widespread embrace of his last track, “Not Like Us.”

“Not Like Us” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was one of the top songs of the summer, according to the outlet’s summer songs chart. At Lamar’s Juneteenth “The Pop-Out” show, the song was so popular that the rapper performed it six times in a row.

Lamar was recently announced as the headliner for next year’s Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans.

“Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date,” Lamar said in a statement when the news was announced. “And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one.”

Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino is a culture and internet reporter for NBC News.