Explaining the "A Minor" Pun in Kendrick Lamar's Mega-Hit 'Not Like Us'

If you watched Kendrick Lamar perform "Not Like Us" at the Super Bowl, you were probably thinking at least a little about what a terrible 12 months Drake has had. If you had another thought, though, it might have been that the whole audience seemed to sing along as soon as Kendrick to "Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor."

Given the reaction that line got with the audience at the game, many naturally wondered what that line means, and why it's become so popular among fans of the song. Here's what we know.

"Not Like Us" is explicitly targeted at Drake, and many of the song's lines are about allegations that suggest Drake has groomed young women throughout his career.

"Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young. You better not ever go to cell block one," Kendrick raps in the song before later adding "to any (girl) that talk to him and they in love, just make sure you hide your (little) sister from him."

These allegations specifically relate to revelations that Drake had been texting with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown back in 2018 when she was just 14. There were also rumors that he had been talking with Billie Eilish while she was quite young.

This brings us to the "A Minor" line, which is a pun. In music, there are minor and major chords, and A minor is one of the most frequently used minor chords.

In saying "Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor," Kendrick was referring both to the literal chord and to Drake's rumored affinity for underage girls. The line is so succinct and sharp, and it's probably the most famous line from what has become one of the biggest hits of Kendrick's career. It's yet another reference to Drake's grooming allegations, and the fact that it has become so famous is just another reason Drake had a bad Super Bowl.

Although there had been rumblings of a feud between the two for some time, things really heated up in 2024 as both Drake and Kendrick released a number of diss tracks about one another. Ultimately, though, Kendrick emerged victorious thanks to the incredible success of "Not Like Us," which he used to attack Drake not just on the allegations referenced above, but also because he, in Kendrick's view, he is not authentic.

The song's main refrain is a suggestion that Drake is something of a "colonizer" who adopted the perspectives of popular hip-hop artists without experiencing the same kind of struggles. In addition to being performed at the Super Bowl, the song also won two major Grammys. Few rap beefs have been this one-sided, but virtually everyone agrees that Kendrick came out on top and that the fight between them wasn't really ever that close.