A Kendrick Lamar Mural in Compton Gets Vandalized With Spray Paint
A mural honoring Kendrick Lamar in Compton, Calif. has been vandalized.
What Happened to Kendrick Lamar's Mural?
On Sunday (Sept. 8), a video of a Kendrick Lamar mural in Compton being destroyed hit the internet. In the clip, which can be seen below, a person in a hoodie uses black spray paint to draw symbols over K-Dot's canvas. At first, the anonymous individual writes the letters T and F. Then, they draw X's over Kenny's eyes and write "OK" on the second painting of him before coloring in the "o." However, once the person makes it to the third illustration of Kendrick, they seemingly signal they're a Drake stan. After covering the pgLang founder's face, they write "OVO," an acronym for Drizzy's brand October's Very Own.
The portrait in question resides at the Honduras Restaurant Mi Sabor in Compton and shows three illustrations of the "Not Like Us" hitmaker. One image reflects Kendrick being honored with Compton's key to the city in February of 2016, while the other one showcases Kendrick Lamar accepting the Best Rap Album award for his album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers during the 65th GRAMMY Awards last February. In the middle of the canvas, Kenny can be seen looking up as the minivan from his good Kid, m.A.A.d City album cover is parked behind him.
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Kendrick Lamar's Mural Being Destroyed Could Be a Sign in Taking Sides
The mural being destroyed seems like a side being taken in Kendrick and Drake's lyrical feud. The rap battle commenced in March, and many rap fans and rappers themselves have been picking a side. For instance, rappers like Ab-Soul and LL Cool J declared Kendrick Lamar the winner of the rap war. While Sexyy Red and Capella Grey, to name a few, believed Drake came out more victorious in his rhyming battle with K-Dot.
After proclaiming that he was the only top dog in the hip-hop industry, Kendrick Lamar and Drake engaged in a long rap feud for months. Once K-Dot dropped a lyrical jab at Drizzy in Metro Boomin and Future's "Like That," the Canadian rhymer responded to Kendrick's claims about being the No. 1 rapper in the hip-hop industry, alleged family issues and more with his songs "Push Ups," the "Buried Alive Interlude" parody, the since-deleted "Taylor Made Freestyle" and "Family Matters."
In turn, Kendrick Lamar called Drake out for being a culture vulture and accused the 6 God of having relationships with younger women on his records "Euphoria," "6:16 in LA" and "Meet the Grahams" before lyrically ambushing the Grammy-winning artist with "Not Like Us." Drake responded with "The Heart Part 6," but several people had concluded that Kenny was the winner by that time.
Following its release, "Not Like Us" has become one of the top records this year. Not only has it played at graduations and even been lyrically re-enacted by actress Taraji P. Henson at the 2024 BET Awards, but it's also broken some big records. Following its release, Kendrick's song took the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also reigned atop the Hot Rap Songs chart for 14 weeks and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for 12 weeks.
Read More: Drake and Kendrick Lamar's Beef Took a New Turn Over the Weekend
Take a look at a Kendrick Lamar mural in Compton being destroyed below.