Kendrick Lamar‘s opening “Not Like Us” use of the line “I see dead people” from the film The Sixth Sense has quickly become iconic. But now the movie’s writer/director himself has weighed in.
While appearing on Way Up With Angela Yee with his daughter Saleka, M. Night Shyamalan discussed his indirect involvement in the Kendrick Lamar/Drake beef.
When host Angela Yee raised Kendrick’s use of the line, Shyamalan first was full of praise for the rapper.
“We kind of lightly know each other, and I did know [he was a fan],” the director said. “He’s very gracious with me, and I love him.”
Shyamalan then recalled first hearing Lamar’s “Euphoria,” the first Drake diss he released, which also references The Sixth Sense.
“The first song [of the Drake disses] ends with it,” the filmmaker remembered. “So someone in the office was like, ‘Oh, Kendrick just dropped something and it references one of your [movies].’ I was like, ‘Oh, cool.’ That was before everything blew up.”
Check out the exchange at the 14:53 mark below.
In other news about the Drake/Kendrick feud, it has now found its way onto the small screen.
The beef made it into a Jeopardy! category last week, along with other famous feuds among their peers.
Dubbed “Diss-track-tions,” the category described key players or songs in the feuds and had contestants referencing 2pac vs. Biggie, 50 Cent vs. Cam’ron, Nas vs. JAY-Z and The Game vs. Eminem in addition to K.Dot and Drizzy.
Posting the clip on their official account, the Jeopardy! team even pointed to Drake and Kendrick in their caption, writing, “All we gotta say is… THEY NOT LIKE US!!! #Jeopardy! #hiphop #rapmusic”
Jeopardy is far from new to Hip Hop references; even if contestants are not always well versed on the genre.
Last year, a question involving Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice ending up fully stumping contestants.
In November, host Ken Jennings asked the contestants this final question in the “pop music” category:
“Ice Spice and this singer whose fans are called Barbz are fittingly on the Barbie soundtrack with ‘Barbie World,’” Jennings asked, with one contestant thinking that the answer was Aqua, the Danish-Norwegian pop group who had a hit song with “Barbie Girl” back in the 1990s, the track sampled on the “Barbie World” song in question.
Of course, the answer was Nicki.