"Rigged" - Internet reacts to Kendrick Lamar winning Best Cinematography for "Not Like Us" at the VMAs

Kendrick Lamar's hit song Not Like Us continues its winning streak after its music video took home Best Cinematography at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) on September 7, 2025. For those uninformed, Not Like Us was released at the tail end of Lamar's 2024 rap beef with Drake on May 4 and became a global hit. The music video, released on July 4, 2024, currently has over 392 million views on YouTube.

The 2025 MTV VMAs were held at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. Lamar was not in attendance despite multiple nominations, including Artist of the Year and Best Album for his 2024 LP, GNX.

Kurrco

@Kurrco

#VMAs Best Cinematography Winner: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar 🏆

Lamar's win for Best Cinematography sparked debate online. One netizen alleged that the awards ceremony was rigged.

"Rigged."

𝐑𝐓𝐑 𝐉𝐚𝐞 💿🎶

@FeedMyFeins

@Kurrco Rigged

Several netizens expressed their discontent with Not Like Us winning the award, wondering when the song's popularity would subside.

Pearnivore

@Pearnivore

@Kurrco We almost in 2026 and still acting like not like us wasn’t a 2 month fad

(st_ides)

@benjamins_st

@Kurrco All you need to win this is to gather a bunch of your street people and that's it?

Brandon

@kysbrandon666

@Kurrco When can we be f**king done with this song

just a liltte bit Too smoove

@SNightmare13

@Kurrco I knew it I f**king knew it. This stupid a** song is gonna keep on winning awards while everybody around him doesn’t win a goddamn thing

Meanwhile, others seemed elated, adding that the win was "well-deserved." Some referenced Drake and his ongoing defamation lawsuit against UMG regarding the song, jokingly claiming that the Canadian rapper would add the win to his lawsuit.

The Mad Rapper

@RappMaddd

@Kurrco Over a year later NLU still winning awards 😭 Meanwhile all 28 songs from the “mOsT sTrEaMeD aRtIsT” failed to achieve one!

yaya

@PhucShuMeanMane

@Kurrco Well deserved

THE INVESTOR

@Investeasy2024

@Kurrco Not like us still hunting “the boy” I bet he includes the VMAs in his lawsuit

spider

@BaccaWatch

@Kurrco They gone say the VMAS is compromised and working with UMG now

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Exploring Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us' popularity and wins

Kendrick Lamar won five awards at the 67th GRAMMY Awards (Image via Getty)

Not Like Us swept the music industry following its release as Kendrick Lamar's last diss track aimed at Drake during their heated back-and-forth that summer. Produced by Mustard, the song targeted Drake with allegations of being a p*dophile and a colonizer. Notable lines from the track include:

"Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young/ You better not ever go to cell block one/ To any b***h that talk to him and they in love/ Just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him."

"Certified Lover Boy? Certified p*dophiles/ Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, Dot, f**k 'em up/ Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, I'ma do my stuff/ Why you trollin' like a b***h? Ain't you tired?/ Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor."

Not Like Us debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and broke various streaming records on Spotify. According to Billboard, Lamar live-debuted the song during his pop-out concert in June 2024, performing it five consecutive times.

The music video, released on July 4, 2024, featured appearances from ScHoolboy Q, Roddy Ricch, Jay Rock, and Steve Lacy, among others. Lamar's partner, Whitney Alford, and their two children also appeared in the video.

The song's biggest win came in February 2025 at the 2025 Grammy Awards, where it won all five nominations, including Song and Record of the Year. The following week, Lamar performed the track when he headlined the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, albeit censoring the "certified p*dophile" line.

Kendrick Lamar performing at the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show (Image via Getty)

Lamar's halftime performance came a month after Drake filed a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Not Like Us. According to The Guardian, the Canadian rapper alleged that the label “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal p*dophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response."

Following the Super Bowl performance, Drake filed an amended complaint in April 2025 to include the halftime show, stating:

“The Recording was performed during the 2025 Super Bowl and broadcast to the largest audience for a Super Bowl halftime show ever, over 133 million people, including millions of children, and millions more who had never before heard the song or any of the songs that preceded it...It was the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist.”

UMG has denied all allegations. In March 2025, the company filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, accusing the rapper of suing "in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds" because he “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated."

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In other news, Kendrick Lamar recently won an Emmy award for 'Outstanding Music Direction' for 'The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar' on September 7, 2025.

This is Lamar's second Primetime Emmy award, with his first being for 'Outstanding Variety Special (live)' for the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, titled 'The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent.'