US rapper Kendrick Lamar performs during the 2023 Governors Ball Music Festival at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York City on June 11, 2023. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP) (Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)

The plot thickens…

As if we needed any more of them, we now have a new angle to discuss and break down concerning Kendrick Lamar’s monstrous 2024 run. If you didn’t hear, a Los Angeles Times report claimed that Compton business owners spoke out about suffering financial losses in the thousands due to the “Not Like Us” music video shoot in the city. Apparently, this was because K.Dot’s team and city officials did not properly notify these business owners about the shoot, thus resulting in lack of business and not making back the money they paid their employees. However, one Compton business – Alma’s Food For The Soul – has spoken out against this narrative.

“This entire post is misquoted and pushing a narrative that we do not represent,” Corina Pleasant of Alma’s Food For The Soul said of Kendrick Lamar. “Please, please do not believe everything you read. Words have been twisted, and it’s not right. The city should have made better decisions with notification to tax paying business owners. We, in no way have any negative commentary for Kendrick. This was a city issue. And Akademiks you better be careful about misquoting people and twisting words. We never spoke to you, so how are you misquoting verbiage as fact?”

Kendrick Lamar Defended By Compton Business

Furthermore, it seems like businesses did lose out on a lot of money due to the “Watch The Party Die” rapper’s video shoot. But this particular business frames the issue as a criticism of how the city handled the situation, not about Kendrick Lamar or his team. Hopefully they can still reach out to support them and mitigate these losses, even if this specific business doesn’t feel like they are to blame. Also, this is just one comment from one business, so we don’t know if the others would agree. None of the accused parties (Kendrick, pgLang, the city or state, etc.) have responded to this at press time.

Meanwhile, this debate is somehow not the biggest around Kendrick Lamar right now. There’s still a lot of conversation around his new song and about his Super Bowl halftime show. Surely, we’ll have more to talk about before that February spectacle rolls around. But with this specific issue, it’s clear that this is about more than music.