How the Kendrick-Drake Beef Became a Viral Video Game

“Whoah, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop.” Those five words are among the most memorable of all the vicious punches Kendrick Lamar threw in his Drake diss track “Not Like Us” — and now, they've inspired a video game. Not Like Us: The Game is an online whack-a-mole clone based on the imagery from the song's music video, in which, accompanied by these words, Kendrick whacks an owl piñata until its candy spills.

But for the game's designer, Richie Branson (real name Marcus Brown II), the game itself is about love — for hip-hop, gaming and, of course, virality.

“I did this for the world,” Branson says Rolling rock. “I did it as a love letter to hip-hop and music, so I wanted to make sure people enjoyed it. The particular game and the way it was created, [with] Kendrick banging owls – I thought this would be the sweetest way to express my love for hip-hop music.

Not Like Us: The Game it is extremely simple. After loading the site in a web browser, users play as Kendrick, bat in hand, waiting for owls to appear in one of four directions, with progressively increasing speed, to strike. The addictive loop is enhanced by a chiptune rendition of the title track that Branson himself produced in just a few hours.

“I didn't want to put the actual music in there,” he says. “As a musician, I understand that you just can't rip off someone's song. Since I'm a music producer, I was like, “Let me repeat the beat.” At the 11th hour, I felt the recipe was there. The hit was the sugar on top of what would have been an already great sundae.”

Branson has a long history of working in the crossover space between music and gaming. Beginning his career as a producer at companies such as Def Jam, his work has drawn inspiration from anime and Japanese RPGs such as Chrono Triggerand appeared on channels such as Adult Swim, where his song in 2012 “Bring back Toonami” became part of the official show for the return of the programming block.

After dropping out of college, Branson taught himself the basics of game design after working on pieces for titles such as Marvel Heroeswhich eventually led to being approached by Harmonix, its developers Rock band. The musician turned designer was working for the studio when they were acquired by Fortnite creators of Epic Games, who brought Branson into a project that would be made later Fortnite festival, a feature released in December 2023 for the free-to-play multiplayer ecosystem. After nearly two years with Epic, Branson left to pursue his own ambitions.

Like the rest of the known world, Branson saw the release of the “Not Like Us” video as a huge cultural moment and was instantly inspired by it.

“As soon as I saw the piñata scene,” she says, “I was like, 'This should be a game.'

But work on the game didn't start right away. Instead, the designer waited a few days before getting food poisoning. In bed, he returned to his idea.

Branson explains that the original iteration of the game saw Kendrick hitting the owls into cages for points, but it didn't quite click. Going even further, it was inspired by games like 2013 Flappy Bird and of 2014 Crossy Roadwhose simplicity belied the addictive gameplay that led to their virality.

According to Branson, development of the game took approximately seven days from start to finish, including both versions of the game and the music production. Programming the game entirely himself, he then partnered with the Coexist Gaming collective to secure the domain.

Although the game was born out of Kendrick's perceived dominance of the public controversy, Branson wants people to know that he's “absolutely not a Drake hater.” In fact, he says Drake is probably the most played artist on Spotify. He just doesn't let his prejudices get in the way of making a good game. He says it's a skill he picked up creating viral content for brands like Bleacher Report.

“I used to create memes when sports teams would lose and when sports teams would win,” he says. “And sometimes my favorite team didn't win, but I would have to make the meme. It hurt a bit, but at the same time it really thickened my skin. It's a motto you have to live by: Viruses don't play favorites, and neither does viral content. When a social moment comes and you want to capture lightning in a bottle, you can't play favorites.”

In response to Drake fans dissing the game, Branson has the evidence to show his lack of bias. After all, this isn't his first game inspired by a public feud with Drake. He previously developed another online game called Meeky Mill in 2016, centered on Drake's then-beef with rapper Meek Mill. The game allows users to take on the roles of Drake and 50 Cent throwing L's at Meek with side-scrolling mechanics.

A fan of both artists in this year's biggest beef, Branson admits that Kendrick wins. He says he would have made a game starring Drake if he came out on top. But it just isn't like that. With that, he's committed to making the best possible game for fans, right down to the lyric-based Easter eggs.

In a posting on Xthe designer teased a feature of the game where it actually gets harder after hitting a score of 18, a direct reference to Kendrick's claims that Drake has been involved with minors under the legal age of consent (which Drake has denied).

“Once you get to 17, the difficulty increases to a very high degree,” says Branson. “That was definitely intentional, obviously, [with] the 'A minor' bar. If you make it past 18, you should be proud of yourself. If you're under 18, you might not be like us.”

But there's another secret that the game's creator says hasn't been discovered yet, at least not as far as he knows. It's also a direct reference to visuals from the “Not Like Us” video.

“The way the collision boxes are set up on the faucet,” he explains, “there's a certain level where you can hit near Kendrick's body, but not near the owl—between Kendrick and the owl. By stepping there, the owl will be hit without Kendrick moving. This is a reference to the scene in the music video where Drake is kind of sneaking back [Kendrick] and telepathically moves him away.”

All in all, Branson is just happy that people are enjoying the game, regardless of their level of fanaticism. For him, creating viral content that connects with audiences is the most important goal: He wants to show fans from backgrounds like his that game development is a viable path for everyone.

“My greatest flexibility,” he says, “is the fact that I'm doing this and I can show people who look like me that there are other paths to being successful. [in] game design. It's not rocket science.”