| Song Title | Album | Theme | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | To Pimp a Butterfly | Self-loathing and regret over failed relationships due to his own depression and ego. | | “PRIDE.” | DAMN. | Wishing he could be a better person, acknowledging his flaws that push people away. | | “We Cry Together” | Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers | A brutal, theatrical argument between a couple who have become toxic strangers. | | “Mother I Sober” | Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers | Deep generational trauma and the loss of trust in intimate relationships. | | “The Art of Peer Pressure” | good kid, m.A.A.d city | Growing apart from childhood friends who have become dangerous or unfamiliar. |
Gotye’s original song is a duet about a romantic breakup where blame is a boomerang. You cut me off, I felt used, but wait—you say I left you with nothing. It is a perfect loop of resentment.
Kendrick rarely writes straightforward break-up songs. Instead, he applies that same emotional framework to:
While there is no official collaboration, the internet has created a strong association between Kendrick Lamar’s style and the Gotye song due to . Kendrick Lamar - Somebody That I Used To Know -...
As the car pulled away, he started humming a verse under his breath, a rhythmic eulogy for the Kendrick who didn't have a Pulitzer or a crown. He realized that success hadn't just changed his life—it had cut him off from his own history. He was a king now, but to the streets that raised him, he was just a melody they used to know.
He sat in the back of a black SUV, the window cracked just enough to let the smell of wet asphalt and childhood nostalgia seep in. On the radio, a stripped-back, soulful flip of an old Gotye sample played—a haunting loop of xylophones buried under a heavy, West Coast bassline. He wasn't thinking about a girl, though. He was thinking about the version of himself that used to stand on the corner of Rosecrans, dreaming of a way out.
If you want the feeling of “Somebody That I Used To Know,” here are the three Kendrick tracks you need to hear. | Song Title | Album | Theme |
Kendrick tells the true story of how his father, Ducky, and his future label boss, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, knew each other in a different life (at a KFC) before Kendrick was even born. It’s a story of how a small act of kindness prevented them from becoming "somebody they used to know" through tragedy. Comparison of Themes Gotye Original Kendrick’s Storytelling Core Theme Romantic breakup and emotional distance. Survival, growth, and societal trauma. Perspective Two people blaming each other. Multiple characters shaped by their environment. Outcome Total estrangement. Often a mix of regret and hard-won wisdom.
To understand the power of this musical crossover, one must first look at the foundation. Released in 2011 by Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Gotye featuring New Zealand artist Kimbra , "Somebody That I Used to Know" became a record-breaking global phenomenon.
"I'm grown now, I'm on my own now, I'm poppin'... Change my phone now, when I get home now, I got options" The Comparison: Leaked Version vs. Official Release | | “We Cry Together” | Mr
The search for "Kendrick Lamar Somebody That I Used To Know remix" yielded results that don't seem to directly mention Kendrick Lamar. Result 0 is an article about T.I. explaining why the Gotye sample wasn't cleared for "Memories Back Then". That's valuable context.
But there was a major obstacle: sample clearance. Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" was one of the most commercially dominant songs of the early 2010s, and clearing its sample proved impossible for T.I.'s team. The clearance couldn't be arranged in time for the album's December 2012 release.
It was an unlikely candidate for a hip-hop remix, yet Kendrick Lamar—riding the momentum of his breakout Section.80 —saw an opportunity to dissect the song’s emotional landscape through a rapping lens. Kendrick Lamar’s Lyrical Re-interpretation
: The video for "Anxiety" explicitly references the iconic Gotye music video style. 4. Fan Mashups
These are all unofficial mashups. A producer takes the acapella of Kendrick rapping about fractured relationships (from tracks like Pride. or Feel. ) and lays it over the Gotye instrumental. The keyword stuck because the emotional Venn diagram is a perfect circle.